“BAGHDAD – Iraq wants to eliminate any chance U.S. forces will stay here after 2011 under a proposed security pact, and to expand Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops until then, a close ally of the prime minister said Thursday” to Associated Press. So after all the hours spent debating it on the campaign trail, how and when the U.S. military leaves Iraq may not be a matter for the next decider in chief but instead settled by Iraqis.
Cross your fingers that the Wichita city manager search is homing in on the right man or woman for the job this time, after last summer’s Pat Salerno debacle. Until the city releases the names, perhaps of six finalists this afternoon, and finally opens the doors to the public and media for forums next week, all citizens have to go on are assurances from those few Wichitans involved in the process. “I’m impressed,” said Mayor Carl Brewer. “We have some very good ones.” Of course, Brewer and other council members also were impressed with Salerno (in photo), who was the only candidate to be interviewed last spring, who accepted the $215,000-a-year job, and then changed his mind a week before he was supposed to start, declaring, “I just don’t feel right.” Eleven months after City Manager George Kolb’s forced resignation, the City Council must ensure that the hiring of his successor feels right not only for the candidate but for Wichita. If, as The Eagle reported Thursday, Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan is among the finalists, he would be a strong contender.
Barack Obama may or may not have swayed many undecided voters with his 30-minute campaign infomercial Wednesday night, which included an endorsement from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. But the program was a ratings hit, exceeding the combined regular ratings of all the network shows that normally run during that time period. The Hollywood Reporter joked: “If Barack Obama fails to win the election, perhaps the networks should hire him to entertain viewers on Wednesday nights.”
The Arizona Republic endorsed John McCain, calling him trustworthy and a “voice of credible authority.” Meanwhile, the Anchorage Daily News endorsed Barack Obama, taking pride in Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nod but judging her unready and McCain ill-equipped to deal with the financial crisis: “In a time of grave economic crisis, (Obama) displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand.”
In other home-state endorsements for the tickets, the Chicago Tribune went with Obama – the newspaper’s first-ever endorsement of a Democrat for president – and the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal went with Obama-Biden. The Chicago Sun-Times also endorsed Obama.
Sarah Palin said that recent descriptions of her by unnamed McCain aides as a “diva” and a “whack job” who alienates campaign staff were untrue – and she wants to meet with anyone who might feel that way. “I have never met any of those who I have heard to have written something or say something negative,” Palin said. “I would love to meet these people, have a conversation instead of them superficially making a statement like that.” Palin also is optimistic about the election. “I truly believe that the wisdom of the people will be rebuilt on (Election Day),” she said. “As they enter that voting booth, they will understand the stark contrast between the two tickets.”
John McCain has been treating President Bush as radioactive on the stump, and has appeared with him only once publicly since Bush’s endorsement at the White House in March. Out of the public eye, though, Bush has raised $146 million for Republican Party committees and candidates this election ($40 million less than he raised last election cycle) and offered a pep talk Tuesday at Republican National Committee headquarters. Bush also has done 85 GOP fundraising events, but hasn’t appeared at a single rally for a GOP candidate for Congress. It must be a strange feeling for the campaigner in chief to be on the sidelines for this one.
Of course, Bush’s approval rating has reached a new low even in Republican Kansas, sinking 4 points in a month to 36 percent in October in a SurveyUSA poll co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12. The last time Bush’s approval was as high as 50 percent in Kansas was January 2006.
Funny how Sedgwick County voters last year nixed casino gambling and even slot machines at the now-defunct greyhound track, yet Las Vegas remains the top destination for Wichita Mid-Continent Airport users. That’s according to an assessment by Sabre Airline Solutions of the Mid-Continent market for the 12 months ending in March 2008; rounding out the top five destinations were Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando and Phoenix.
Apparently, area travelers want to gamble, just not where they live. Any bets on whether Las Vegas will slip out of Mid-Continent’s No. 1 spot when Sumner County gets its destination casino?
According to a market assessment by Sabre Airline Solutions, the passenger retention rate in Wichita Mid-Continent Airport’s “catchment” area – two-thirds of Kansas, plus northern Oklahoma – has increased from 56 to 66 percent since 2001. That means that even as commercial airlines have struggled nationwide, Mid-Continent has won back some of the travelers who had been driving to out-of-state airports for cheaper fares.
That improvement is a credit to the aggressive, creative approach taken since 2002 by the city of Wichita, Sedgwick County, Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce, Regional Economic Area Partnership and, as of 2006, the state government to attract and keep low-fare carriers AirTran Airways, Frontier Airlines and Allegiant Air. The affordable airfares initiative, which includes controversial public subsidies, has driven down the cost of business and leisure travel for south-central Kansans during a time when they are eager to hang onto every penny.
Barack Obama will air a 30-minute program at 7 tonight, the first time since Ross Perot that a presidential candidate has aired a prolonged campaign commercial in prime time. Based on the trailer and Obama’s campaign speeches this week, the program will make a closing argument for his campaign and will highlight everyday voters, their everyday troubles and his plans to address them, the New York Times reported. The program will also include a live broadcast from an Obama rally in Florida.
Given that Obama has a lead in polls, is the program a risk? Could it come across as over the top? A “Saturday Night Live” skit had Obama playing it safe by turning the program into a variety show that included a singing Bill Clinton.
We are in a recession and the only question is how deep it will be. A new fiscal stimulus package would, by redirecting spending and employment, prevent the U.S. economy from trending further into the danger zone. How large should the stimulus package be? Given the uncertainty involved, an immediate stimulus package of $200 billion, with preparation of an additional $100 billion to be triggered if unemployment goes over 7.5 percent, would be appropriate. Every taxpayer should be concerned about how this additional spending – on top of the $700 billion bailout package – will further contribute to the budget deficit. If the economy goes into a severe recession, however, tax revenues will fall sharply and the impact on the budget deficit likely will be even worse than the effects of the fiscal stimulus. – Martin Neil Baily, senior economics fellow at the Brookings Institution
The last stimulus plan was a tax rebate for most Americans. It was delivered during the spring and summer and was responsible, some economists say, for what amounted to a brief postponement of the worst of the worst. This is the problem with tax cuts, especially the one-time-only variety: You can buy whatever you want with the money. That includes cheap imports made with the cut-rate labor of exploited workers abroad. Job losses – as much as the credit squeeze that is partly responsible for them – are pushing us deeper and deeper into the hole. House Democrats are correctly pondering an immediate infusion of cash to the states. The second-best expenditure is in public-works projects, such as road repair or expansion and mass transit. Not only does this direct spending produce high-wage jobs, the infrastructure improvements pay off later in greater productivity for the work force. – Marie Cocco, Washington Post columnist
Good news for Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston: After a promising start, Republican Mark Schoenhofer’s aggressive challenge looks to be stuck in the ’30s, judging from Survey USA polling for KWCH, Channel 12. In a weekend poll of 800 adults, Foulston led Schoenhofer 55 to 38 percent, compared with 54 to 39 percent a month ago and 51 to 45 percent in August.
It’s encouraging that more than 42,000 people in Sedgwick County had voted in advance as of Monday. That suggests that voter turnout this election could be high – and that the lines on Election Day might not be too long. Voting delays became a real concern after Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale reduced the number of polling places by 70 percent in 2006. But one proactive part of his plan was an expansion and emphasis on early voting. Voting centers are open at more than a dozen area locations through Saturday and on Monday morning at the Sedgwick County Election Office, 510 N. Main. Voters can still vote by mail if they apply by 5 p.m. Friday. But whether you do so by mail, at an advanced voting center or at a polling place next Tuesday, be sure to vote.
GOP leaders are appropriately turning on Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who was convicted Monday on seven counts of failing to disclose about $250,000 in gifts and services. John McCain said that Stevens “has broken his trust with the people” and should step down. But Stevens has vowed to fight on and urged Alaskans to re-elect him next week.
Kansas remains ruby-red McCain country, with the Republican favored to win 53 to 41 percent over Barack Obama in the latest SurveyUSA poll co-sponsored by Wichita’s KWCH, Channel 12. But Obama led by 10 percent among the 15 percent of Kansans who said last week that they had voted early. McCain led by 15 percent among those yet to vote.
“We’re the bogeyman,” Sedgwick County District Judge Tony Powell told the Kansas City Star, referring to conservative state legislators-turned-judges Powell, Eric Yost and Jeff Goering and Sedgwick County.
“But look at what we’ve done, look at the reality, look at the performance. We don’t bring our politics to the bench. We do what the law requires. And it would be no different in Johnson County,” Powell said, about that county’s Nov. 4 ballot initiative on whether to start electing its judges.
Wichita attorney Ann Soderberg seconded that view: “We have a great bench. Whether they’re liberal, conservative or in the middle, they apply the law.”
The Web site politicalhumor.about.com has been rounding up the best bumper sticker slogans of the presidential campaign. Those for Republicans include “McCain-Palin: A Hero and a Hottie,” “Your Wallet: The One Place Democrats Are Willing to Drill,” “Burly Men for Palin, Girlie Men for Biden,” “Clinging to God and My Gun While I Vote Republican” and “I Wanna Be Sarah’s Intern!” The Democrats‘ include “John McCain: Like Bush, But Older,” “This One Is Voting For That One,” “McCain-Palin: Unstable and Unable,” “Polar Bears Against Palin” and “If I Owned 7 Houses, I’d Think the Economy Was Great Too!”
It was fair game to talk about John Edwards’ $400 haircut (which conservative commentators did for weeks), because Edwards was basing much of his presidential campaign on poverty issues. So why is it sexist, as Sarah Palin’s campaign claims, for the press to report that the Republican National Committee spent $150,000 in one month on designer clothes and accessories for Palin and her family? Or that her campaign spent almost $23,000 in the first half of October on a makeup artist and another $10,000 on a hair stylist? After all, much of Palin’s campaign speeches are appeals to Joe Six-Pack and Joe the Plumber. As columnist Maureen Dowd noted: “Sexism would be to treat Palin differently, or more delicately, than one of the guys.”
An Opinion Line call last week said: “If you’re sitting at a red light without another car in sight, welcome to Wichita.” How would WE Bloggers similarly characterize our town? The floor is open for suggestions on how to fill in the blanks: “If you’re . . . . . . . . ., welcome to Wichita.”
“In the fourth quarter if you’re down a little bit you don’t say, ‘Well, OK, I guess it’s over. It was a nice game.’ No! That’s when you dig in and push harder,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., stumping for his friend John McCain in eastern Pennsylvania last week. Brownback warned that electing Barack Obama would allow “five people in robes” on an activist U.S. Supreme Court to sidestep the rule of law and find new rights in the Constitution. At the McCain-Palin headquarters in Scranton, the local roots of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden also came up. “I didn’t know Joe was from Scranton,” Brownback said.
“Neither did we,” answered several listeners in unison.
More infamy for the “Hosed” campaign ad run by Democrat Jim Slattery against Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. It came in at No. 3 among Politico’s “Ten worst ads of the season,” having been deemed preferable only to an ad in which an Alaska Democrat shows herself scooping up dog doo and an Illinois Democrat’s remake of LBJ’s “Daisy” ad. Of the “Hosed” commercial’s depiction of a gleeful giant CEO type seemingly relieving himself on voters, Politico asked: “Is it a coincidence that the man holding the hose looks like Roberts?”
“BAGHDAD – Iraq wants to eliminate any chance U.S. forces will stay here after 2011 under a proposed security pact, and to expand Iraqi legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops until then, a close ally of the prime minister said Thursday” to Associated Press. So after all the hours spent debating it on the campaign trail, how and when the U.S. military leaves Iraq may not be a matter for the next decider in chief but instead settled by Iraqis.
