In two late-September polls of Kansans, John McCain enjoyed a double-digit lead on Barack Obama. But what to make of the difference in the size of McCain’s lead? Rasmussen Reports had him ahead by 20 percentage points, up from 15 points a month earlier. SurveyUSA put McCain 12 points ahead of Obama, down from the 23-point lead a month earlier (its results are the opposite among 18- to 34-year-olds, by the way, with Obama now on top by 13 points).
Rasmussen Reports also put Sen. Pat Roberts 20 points ahead of Democratic challenger Jim Slattery, up from 19 points in August.
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I don’t think anyone expects Kansas to go for Obama, but the returns will be interesting up in the northeast part of the state.
Since Missouri is very much in play, both campaigns will pour a lot of media bucks into the Kansas City ADI. And there’s a lot of spill-over into Kansas.
Dennis Moore’s seat seems safe for reelection and Lynn Jenkins is running a pretty prosaic campaign in the 2nd District. Traditional Republic Party voters in the 2nd don’t have a big gripe with Boyda and Jenkins doesn’t have the twice-borns’ fury on social issues.
On the flip side, Slattery seems to be pretty lackluster against Roberts.
I still don’t expect Sam (the Sham) Brownback to live up to his promise to retire from the Senate in 2010. He’ll be vulnerable to accusations that he’d be running for Governor just to “get executive experience” to further his quixotic presidential ambitions. I just expect him to suddenly announce for a 3rd Senate term because “too much is at stake” in Washington, or some claptrap.
Kansas knows that William Ayers is a terrorist, and that Obama knew Ayers was a terrorist, and Obama did not care.
Kansas knows that the current financial problems were caused by “affirmative action mortgages” forced on banks and lenders by ACORN, a corrupt political organization that Obama has funded and represented.
Kansas knows that Obama has received more mortgage industry campaign contributions than any other candidate in history.
Kansas knows that Chicago has some of the worst schools in the country, where neary 25% of teachers make over $100,000.00 a year, yet students spend less time, in the classroom, every year, than anywhere else in the country, that the drop out rate is higher, in Chicago, than anywhere else in the country, and that the murder rate, among high school students, is higher than anywhere else in the country.
Kansas knows that when Obama was hired, by terrorist William Ayers, to run the Chicago Annenberg Challenge “charity” — that this “educational” group actually funded ACORN and other radical groups, and did NOTHING to help the students of Chicago.
Kansas knows that Obama is Chicago THUG!
Franklin posted October 7, 2008 at 12:40 pm
“Kansas knows that William Ayers is a terrorist,…”
———-
econ, when is the FBI going to arrest Professor Ayers?
http://billayers.wordpress.com/biography-history
Kansas knows that Sen. Obama is a Democrat, Franklin; in my lifetime, Kansas has gone Democratic only once (1964) in a Presidential election. The trend since then has been uniformly for the GOP, and this will make it 11 in a row.
Kansas, stuck on stupid.
Kansans look no further than the R brand. Their daddies taught them if it has an R by the name, that’s the one you vote for.
Simple as that, simple as Kansas.
Kansas had good reason, in past elections, as well, to vote Republican.
We have even BETTER reason, to vote Republican, now!
The only question in the KS election is will Jenkins beat Boyda? My guess is she will.
“econ, when is the FBI going to arrest Professor Ayers?”
Didn’t you know – the Democratic administration is protecting him. OOPS …
Was Gold Meir a “terrorist?”
You betcha.
Was Moshe Dayan a “terrorist?”
Absolutely.
Was Patrick Henry a “terrorist?”
Well, yeah, but since the revolutionaries won, he’s now a “patriot.”
When you have to go back 40 years, when the candidate was 8 years old, to trump up some guilt-by-association connection, your flop-sweat desperation simply reeks.
And in Kansas of all places!
If you have to work this hard to try to keep Kansas in the column of Red States — and you portray yourself as some sort of Republic Party strategist or insider — something’s afoot. Not likely enough to turn Kansas blue, mind you.
But the CONs’ tap dancing is fun to watch.
I’ve a feeling that trying to exploit the Ayers matter by the GOP and the Keating 5 matter by the Democrats will, by and large, fall upon deaf ears of the average voter this election. It’s the economy (still).
Ayers needs to be arrested and would be if he weren’t “in” with the likes of the crooked Obammas of the world..
The good news is Kansas only gives SIX electoral votes to McCain. No amount of increased enthusiasm for a Republican candidate or his running mate makes that number larger.
Monkey
If John McCain launched his political career in the home of a former KKK member, you KNOW it would matter — even if McCain had only been 8 years old, at the time that the KKK member was burning crosses.
Your argument is weak.
Ayers is a terrorist, and an advisor, cassociate and confidant of Obama!
Obama is leading McCain in the Gallup pol by 9%.
I don’t know why Kansans are happier than a pig in the mud about the republicans. Are most Kansans stuck in the republican rut?
I have always voted republican, but, this year I will vote democrat. I have no loyal party affiliation and don’t see the point behind it.
What’s the matter with Kansas?
Surely VT would have to say the same for Minnesota who has voted Democratic in the Presidential race every year since 1972. Robotic Democrats up there or people who actually agree with the Democratic Party platform year after year?
When a state votes routinely Republican, they are following their daddies. When a state votes routinely Democrat, they are voting with their minds, is that right?
Sounds like an effective way to view things if you are a democrat and you want to believe that those who disagree with you are just stupid.
BlueJay
Posted October 7, 2008 at 1:25 pm | Permalink
What’s the matter with Kansas?
======
People like yourself live here.
rs
List any Democrat you have ever voted against, and the reasons for that vote.
Obama is MORE liberal than any Democrat candidate in history.
The truth is that many polls show the race very close, within the margin of error, once again.
Kansas is actually wise, in that the country, at large, rarely votes for a Democrat President.
What does Barack Obama have in common with Osama bin Laden?
They both have close associations with men who tried to blow up the Pentagon.
Nevada authorities raid ACORN today!
LOL!
Wish they would get a warrant on Obama, he funds them.
True enough, RFL; and, I speculate that if one looked at a number of other states, there well might be similar patterns found, of even longer duration in one or two cases.
You really have to be naive to believe that Ayer’s affiliation propaganda. If the FBI was concerned about Obama, they would have blocked his candidacy a long time ago.
A bigger concern is the Keating scandal that McCain was involved in. That, and the fact that he cheated on his first wife. McCain is neither honorable or conservative.
If the voters in the state of Kansas want to be smart this election, they will clean out the republican cob webs and vote for Obama this year.
And, I would add, in most cases the states with a history of voting for the same party election after election (Presidential) are likely voting like their Daddy, regardless of the party.
rsmueller you started being concerned with prez candidates who cheated on their wifes when exactly?
vt – having grown up in the Deep South (as a Republican by the way) I saw the same thing – people voted straight Democratic ‘because daddy did’.
“hawker
Posted October 7, 2008 at 1:13 pm | Permalink
Ayers needs to be arrested and would be if he weren’t “in” with the likes of the crooked Obammas of the world..”
You should be telling that to your Bush administration.
Lets see the home of the evolution debate, where the chamber of commerce spends millions so that we can all enjoy a coal fired electric plant someday soon, and the Phelps family, this bunch of yahoos are favoring McCain-Palin. Good news for Obama.
Gee, “Franklin” –
Four years ago you CONs were telling us John Kerry was “the most liberal Democrat in history.” Then it was Senator Clinton who was “the most liberal Democrat in history.” Nancy Palosi, I though, was “the most liberal Democrat in history.” And Bill Clinton and Tip O’Neill and Barbra Streisand and Rosie O’Donnell and… and… and….
I mean, really. You guys recycle your rhetoric so often, and you wonder why you’re losing elections?
You obviously don’t know your Democrats and sure as hell don’t know your history.
As for the “KKK” canard, all this time you people have ranted about Robert Byrd, who renounced his association with the West Virginia Klan in 1942.
Unlike you so-called “christians,” we Democrats believe in redemption and forgiveness of sins.
Your little guilt-by-association gambit is a house-of-cards based on forty years ago. Forty years!
If I were to brand John S (for Senile) McCain the Third (for Shrub’s 3rd term) on some specious accusation that Sarah Palin is from the party of Spiro Agnew, would you not find that a tad ridiculous?
The Moose-Dresser is unqualified to be Vice-President because she once gave a 2nd Grade classmate the cooties.
It makes as much since as you do, “Franklin.”
Hey, I love it how you’re so successful selling sham insurance to stupid old Kansans you can spend all day on WE Blog like a rat terrier puppy with a sock ball; constantly trying and trying to win some battle that exists only in your head. (But, at least, the rat terrier puppy doesn’t play tug-of-war ’til after it opens it eyes.)
I once shared an airliner with Wilt Chamberlain. I guess that makes me an NBA Hall of Famer.
You’re a constant self-parody, “Franklin.”
That’s one contributing reason I use a nic, the rest of my siblings, vote like dad did, and although they know I vote differently, it would probably upset them when I attack their idols.
bth
Posted October 7, 2008 at 12:59 pm | Permalink
The only question in the KS election is will Jenkins beat Boyda? My guess is she will.
*****
That would be my guess, as well. I would be glad to see this change. I have been impressed with Jenkins; Boyda, not so much.
I’ve had dealings with the State Tresurer and her shop seems to be very well run. Government that works — something I am in favor of.
MH,
As I was posted yesterday, McCain called his association with Keating a big mistake.
Only problem is he keeps repeating those types of mistakes. Screw up, apologize, repeat ad nausem – the strategy (or maybe a tactic) of John S. McCain.
“Even Jesus cannot save a man who is unwilling to atone.” Angry Johnny
I was raised with a Mother registered D and a Father registered R. We heard for at least two months leading up to elections the banter about how they would cancel out one another’s vote. I have voted in various elections just like Daddy and others just like Mommy.
This election I will vote just like Mommy! Sadly, Daddy is gone and won’t cancel out Mommy’s vote.
McCain can have Kansas as a consolation prize. He’s still in serious trouble:
http://electoral-vote.com/
Look at the numbers in the map legend. Obama’s strong (10+ lead) and weak (5+ lead) states add up to 304 electoral votes. In other words, Obama can lose every toss-up state on the map and still comfortably win the election.
McCain’s got his work cut out for him.
I’d even venture to speculate that if a 3rd term were legal, even given the state of the country, economy, and war, if bush were running again Kansas would be firmly in his column. (but I wouldn’t expect anyone to admit it publicly).
So how many of you cons come from a family that always voted democratic?
Year: 2000
Date: 4 weeks before the election (just like today).
Poll: Al Gore up 11 pts.
And we all know how that turned out. It isn’t too late.
Only problem is he keeps repeating those types of mistakes.
Watched the “Keating Economics” vid yesterday. While it had its share of dramatic music, I was pleased to see that it used a scapel rather than a hatchet.
McCain was rebuked for showing poor judgment and the video pointed out poor judgment (Bahamian vacation for self, wife and babysitter notwithstanding) and also that, while he may have learned his ethical lesson, he didn’t learn (or maybe didn’t comprehend) the regulatory one.
I’m glad the Obama people left it alone until now, but it’s relevant in a number of ways to the current situation. It showed how, in a deregulated climate, those big players who are inclined to break even the existing rules can take down a lot of good people with them.
It seems official Washington didn’t learn that lesson either.
Has everyone heard how McCain plans to fund tax credits to help people purchase health coverage? Sure worth paying attention, especially if you’re in the 55+ age bracket!
McCain’s plan: “would cut Medicare and Medicaid by over 20 percent over the next 10 years. It would dramatically reduce quality of health care for older Americans and the poorest and sickest of Americans, while at the same time adding to the burden of state governments…”
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/06/1500788.aspx
KSGolfnut
Posted October 7, 2008 at 2:12 pm | Permalink
Year: 2000
Date: 4 weeks before the election (just like today).
Poll: Al Gore up 11 pts.
And we all know how that turned out. It isn’t too late.
Well, it ain’t over ’til its over. But here’s this day in 2004, from the same website:
http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Oct07.html
Of course, when examining McCain’s health care plan you need to start with the knowledge that the value of your coverage available through employment will be added to your taxable income. So you’ll start out by paying higher taxes before you ever get to that tax credit. And plan on helping out Mom and Dad more on the little you have left (if you’re younger) or scrimping more to cover health care costs (if you’re older). Maybe you can plan to eat every other day instead of daily.
Yeah, Linda I loved it that the list of “Biden lies” included the part about taxing health-care. Whee! You can claim a tax credit on April 15th after you’ve been paying a higher tax rate the whole year.
And it doesn’t change the reality: health-care benefits are indeed taxed.
“how big McCain wins in Kansas”
What difference does it make? If he only wins by one vote – he wins.
And, in the scheme of things, Ks. is pretty insignificant.
Only question is how big will mccain blow it tonight, or will he just blow up?
Tonight could be interesting. With the economy tanking more each and every day he just might have to field a couple of questions on it.
Meanwhile – winning hearts and minds in Iraq?
Saddam now seen as the “Father of Martyrs” by visitors to his grave
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/53598.html
Hell,I bought some stock today. I’m buying little 25 and 50 share lots of blue chips as they tank. Got an entire utility company for nothing. The price earnings ratio is infinity.
beber
Posted October 7, 2008 at 4:14 pm | Permalink
Hell,I bought some stock today. I’m buying little 25 and 50 share lots of blue chips as they tank. Got an entire utility company for nothing. The price earnings ratio is infinity.
====
Oh yeah, well I bought Tajikistan!
Just don’t know what to do with it yet…
I am thinking if McCain does not lose his temper tonight, there is always tomorrow. His handlers really should tell him that during the debate, there is a split screen for the television audience. During the last debate, people saw an angry, grimmacing, sweating and dumbfounded looking McCain who would not even look over at Obama. McCain has a reputation for his losing his temper.
A recent article in the Economist talks about the practice of most Ex-pat Cubans who now reside in Florida, to vote solidly Republican because of their ill feeling towards Castro and Communism from which they came. They hear the utopian statements made by Obama and it reminds them of that which was spoken to them while living in abject poverty and dependence upon the communist government while in Cuba.
The naive young people who are the offspring of these same Ex-Pat Cubans, which have grown up entirely in the US in South Florida, are leaning Democratic. Many say that they will vote for Obama but without telling their parents.
This shows that in the short term at least, the generations do not always connect the dots in voting similarity. Experience is a teacher not necessarily paternal example.
Younger voters have a tendency to vote more on superficial characteristics of the candidates running. For example, who has the best website, or who looks the best on television.
If we took the R and D off Kansas ballots that would make for some interesting elections. Far too many people just look for the party designation and vote without knowing a thing about the actual candidate.
Think about it.
Good, maybe the poll numbers will be an early indicator for Kathleen Sebelius when she considers running for the U.S. Senate. Hopefully, if she does run, voters will not be deceived once again, into believing she is middle to right in her beliefs!
She has campaigned through out the country for Obama. In comments before voters, she sounds like a typical partisan political hack! Following her controversial comments in Iowa City, Iowa, her office told inquirers that her comments were “property of the Obama compaign”
Cramer says to sell, That means it’s time to start nibbling.
Time to revamp the electoral college. The percentage of the popular vote you get is the percentage of electoral votes you get in the state (round up as necessary to the support of the candidate with the most popular vote).
If this were the case, in 2004 Bush would have gotten 4 of the Kansas electoral votes and Kerry would have gotten 2. THEN, every vote would have counted.
I don’t expect him to lose it tonight. If that happens it will come when it’s least expected. I do hope the cameras on on and the microphone at his mouth if the blow up comes! Tonight he is aware of the stakes and he is a veteran of campaigning. He’ll be the quiet, calm, compassionate man tonight. He has undoubtedly been warned six ways to Sunday and by every person who had the opportunity to speak to him. He’s ready. It will probably be like the other debates — fairly boring. Unless McCain has managed to come up with a detailed plan to get us out of this mess we won’t see a game changer, and that is exactly what McCain needs (again!).
Perhaps all those Republicans voting for McCain should be required to hand over their “socialist inspired” Medicare/Medicaid cards and sign a paper forever abandoning their Social Security benefits. Or maybe many Republicans are socialists at heart.
good point mxyzptlk – of course, when a Republican is at the government trough it is only for the good of the trickle down theory, yeah right?
#
mxyzptlk
Posted October 7, 2008 at 4:44 pm | Permalink
Perhaps all those Republicans voting for McCain should be required to hand over their “socialist inspired” Medicare/Medicaid cards and sign a paper forever abandoning their Social Security benefits. Or maybe many Republicans are socialists at heart.
===================
Sure, then all the taxes that were charged our entire lives can be returned to us in the form of a check.
plus interest :)
You cons are not very smart.
I know, that’s not news.
Kansas’s tiresomely reliable Republican vote gets the state ignored by both parties and the rest of the country.
SO, one consequence of whatever is the matter with Kansas is that Kansas just doesn’t matter.
Great, Reg! Then when your house catches fire, you can put it out with a bucket of water.
“immunis
Posted October 7, 2008 at 4:30 pm | Permalink
If we took the R and D off Kansas ballots that would make for some interesting elections. Far too many people just look for the party designation and vote without knowing a thing about the actual candidate.”
Good call immunis!
Removing party designation from all ballot is something I have advocated for a while now…just can’t seem to get much backing for it though.
I agree with immunis. If we can’t do away with the Electoral College completely, then overhaul the damn thing to reflect the change in this country in the last 232 years.
“Predestined
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:21 pm | Permalink
Great, Reg! Then when your house catches fire, you can put it out with a bucket of water.”
and I guess he would also have to pay a special usage fee everytime he drives on a public road, give his credit card info when calling 911, and personally hire a soldier to defend his share of the country in overseas battles.
More from electoral-vote.com
Dem pickups (vs. 2004): CO FL IA MO NV NM OH VA GOP pickups (vs. 2004): (None)
Senate Dem 58 GOP 42
House Dem 241 GOP 193 Ties 1
Now for KANSAS…
Obama 40%
John McCain: 56%
History:
2004: Kerry 37% Bush 62%
2000: Gore 37% Bush 58%
1996: Clinton 36% Bush 54%
1992: Clinton 34% Bush 39%
Yes, brian, all that, too!
“Predestined
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
Yes, brian, all that, too!”
I hope the government asks for cash up front… I wouldn’t trust a check
Franklin:
Exactly what is a “liberal” and what’s wrong with their political and social philosophies? Do you know that the American liberal movement has its genesis in the Republican party and the New England Protestants of the nineteenth (some as far back as the late eighteenth) century? Did you know that much of today’s social orthodoxy was yesterday’s liberal causes? Do you know the Declaration of Independence contains direct paraphrases of the liberal Enlightenment philsopher John Locke? Have you given the slightest thought to the necessity of balance in our political system? Kansas is a good example of what happens when the system is imbalanced. By necessity, the overly-dominent party splits and turns on itself, which in turn, creates dysfunction in the government. Look at Kansas’ last legislative session. Not what I call good government. Many of today’s conservatives look back to a “better time” that never existed except as a societal myth. They expect that if this imaginary “heritage” were somehow “restored” society’s ills would somehow be cured. I’ve got news for you — it was ugly back then, very ugly. We shouldn’t forget it. Remember what the protaginist in “1984″ did for a living? He changed history — every day. Dictators like to meddle with history. Just remember that next time you re-define and defame the noble term “liberal.”
#
Predestined
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:21 pm | Permalink
Great, Reg! Then when your house catches fire, you can put it out with a bucket of water.
======================================
What does that have to do with Social Security and Medicare?
“GreybeardLoon
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:32 pm | Permalink”
good info GreybeardLoon
and you did not even get into social liberalism vs fiscal liberalism.
“Franklin:
Exactly what is a “liberal” and what’s wrong with their political and social philosophies?”
Unfortunately, people like ‘Franklin’ like to live in discreet boxes, where those who agree with them on an issue are conservative and those who disagree are liberal. It does not matter if the stance on the issue is a conservative one or a liberal one, those are substitute terms for ‘us’ and ‘them’
Ah, GreybeardLoon must be a typical Liberal as he refers to fictional literature (1984) and applies it to reality.
“Regular
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:44 pm | Permalink
Ah, GreybeardLoon must be a typical Liberal as he refers to fictional literature (1984) and applies it to reality.”
So are you saying conservatives are not smart enough to come up with literary correlations?
Anyone who knows anything about liberals knows “typical liberal” is an oxymoron!
their pancake race is fun
Since it’s a given that Kansans will vote Republican no matter how abysmal the previous administration has been and no matter how unfit for high office the current pair of G.O.P. contenders have shown themselves to be, what I’ll never understand is why the leaders of the anointed party in this state continue to stop short of proposing a cancellation of the vote altogether.
It seems almost unbelievable that Huelskamp or one of the other whiz kids of voting reform have yet to turn up in the papers with an announcement that since we know Kansas will go Republican, anyway, why bother spending money on an election?
From a strategic standpoint, it would no doubt be a huge relief to Huelskamp and some of the other psychic geniuses up in Topeka, who keep roaming the Kansas Flint Hills and wheat fields to unearth the vast voter fraud conspiracy.
To hear this bunch tell it every time they gather together to dazzle us in the capital, McCain will likely need about a thirty point lead in the polls to overcome all the fraudulent voting going on out there.
So now Holman posts a thread that puts one reading at a mere twelve points? I hope those guys in the Republican leadership are sitting down. I mean, if I’m Huelskamp and the Secretary of State, I’m modified nervous right now. Twelve is not enough to hold off all the fraud.
Straight away, the Topeka Republicans had better convene a committee to get an investigative team out and about on November 4. More magnifying glasses, Sherlock Holmes hats, and walkie talkies will be needed.
Come on, guys, step to it. That Survey USA poll is a wake up call.
There is a good reason McCain will win in Kansas, and should win everywhere.
” A strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably.”
Barack Hussein Obama
More Barack Hussein Obama pearls of socialist/Marxist wisdom follow.
From Dreams of My Father:’I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.’
From Dreams of My Father : ‘I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s race.’
From Dreams of My Father:’There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.’
From Dreams of My Father: ‘It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.’
From Dreams of My Father:’I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa , that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself , the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.’
And FINALLY the Most Damning one of ALL of them!!!
From Audacity of Hope:’I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.’
Kansan’s brains have been polluted with so much fertilizer runoff that they are officially stupid.
#
brian_nuevo
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:52 pm | Permalink
“Regular
Posted October 7, 2008 at 5:44 pm | Permalink
Ah, GreybeardLoon must be a typical Liberal as he refers to fictional literature (1984) and applies it to reality.”
So are you saying conservatives are not smart enough to come up with literary correlations?
===========================
Smart enough not to be walking/talking cliches.