Rep. Jerry Moran (in photo), R-Hays, is running for U.S. Senate in 2010, but might Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, challenge him? Tiahrt isn’t ruling it out but told the Kansas City Star that it was too early for such talk. “Like other Kansans, talk of another political campaign makes me groan right now,” he said.
The political lesson of 2008? According to Kansas City Star columnist Steve Kraske, it’s “attack early.” He noted how Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., “linked the words ‘lobbyist’ and ‘Slattery’ for all to see, thereby undercutting any late-campaign Democratic surge.”
Slattery, who was the Topeka area’s congressman from 1983 to 1995, has no interest in running again for the U.S. Senate, according to spokeswoman Abbie Hodgson.
Time to stop worrying about Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Bill Gale’s deep cuts two years ago in the number of polling places. According to a local SurveyUSA poll taken on Election Day for KWCH, Channel 12, 89 percent of voters said they waited less than one hour at the polls, and 69 percent said they waited less than 10 minutes. Fortunately, many voters also took Gale’s advice to take advantage of early voting options. Gale said last week that about 111,200 people voted before Election Day in Sedgwick County, either by mail or in person. That’s more than 57 percent of the total county vote of 194,688, and dramatically more than the 24,600 who cast early votes in 2004.
With our soldiers fighting in two wars, it is change enough that they are about to get a new commander in chief. Alone in George Bush’s cabinet, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has earned the chance to keep his job. Gates came to the job with a reputation for honest and nonpartisan public service. A career operative in the CIA, he rose through the ranks to become, under the first President Bush, agency director. During his subsequent role as president of Texas A&M University, he served on the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. His track record of success in Iraq adds to that impeccable resume and makes him the right man for our new president. – Michael Goodwin, New York Daily News
Barack Obama’s secretary of defense is predicted to be none other than Robert Gates, who currently holds that post under Bush. Obama should think again. Gates expanded the infamous Bush doctrine, saying, “The United States will hold any state, terrorist group or other nonstate actor or individual fully accountable” for supporting or enabling terrorist efforts to obtain or use weapons of mass destruction. And the definition of “supporting or enabling” was very broad: “whether by facilitating, financing or providing expertise or safe haven for such efforts.” Many people voted for Obama because they believe he marks a clean breakfrom the reckless and lawless unilateralism of the dismal Bush Age. Keeping Gates on would betray those voters. – Matthew Rothschild, the Progressive
