Kansas’ weakened economy received a big boost today, as the Department of Homeland Security reportedly is recommending Kansas as the site for a new $450 million biodefense laboratory. The lab, which will be located in Manhattan, is expected to have a $3.5 billion economic impact for the state. But with that amount of money at stake, expect the losing states to try to block the decision – just as Kansas did with the air-refueling tanker contract.
The re-election of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (in photo), R-Ga., gives Republicans a little bit of hope. His resounding win in Tuesday’s runoff election ensures that Democrats won’t hold 60 seats in the Senate. The low turnout, especially among African-Americans, also suggests that Republicans might be able to make some gains in two years. Without Barack Obama on the ballot in 2010, not as many Democratic-leaning voters may go to the polls.
John McCain crushed Barack Obama in Kansas, winning 57 to 41 percent. But according to exit polls, Obama narrowly won among 18- to 29-year-old Kansas voters, 51 to 49 percent. Jenny Davidson, a Kansas Democratic Party spokeswoman, told the Lawrence Journal-World that Obama won this age group because he focused on issues that mattered to them, such as jobs, health care and making college more affordable. But Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, said that Obama got the young adult vote in Kansas “based off of the ‘coolness’ factor, not issues.”
The publication Legal Times noted that Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing in Kansas v. Colorado was the “first time in recent memory that two state attorneys general” argued against each other before the high court. The face-off between Kansas’ Stephen Six and Colorado’s John Suthers also drew attention for an unusual faux pas. During dry questioning about the expert witness fees in the states’ long-running water lawsuit, Suthers referred to Justice David Souter as “Justice Ginsberg,” meaning Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who sits next to him on the bench), to which Souter replied, “I’m greatly flattered” and “You’re not the first to have done that.” Usually, attorneys’ mix-ups have involved Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito or, in the past, Ginsburg and former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
On Monday the Roll Call newspaper noted the prospect of a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate between Reps. Jerry Moran (right) of Hays and Todd Tiahrt (left) of Goddard, or what it called a “Kansas two-step in 2010,” and quoted an unnamed Kansas Republican as saying, “Tiahrt is more your drinking buddy. Moran’s more of your class president.”
The following satirical headlines come from the Web site borowitzreport.com:
CHINA BUYS NAMING RIGHTS TO U.S.; Nation to Be Renamed ‘Panda Garden’
OBAMA NAMES ANGELINA JOLIE, JENNIFER ANISTON TO ‘TEAM OF RIVALS’; Praises Actresses’ Mutual Hatred
OBAMA’S USE OF COMPLETE SENTENCES STIRS CONTROVERSY; Stunning Break With Last Eight Years
BUSH IN RACE AGAINST TIME TO WRECK COUNTRY; Legacy of Destruction at Stake
Kansas’ weakened economy received a big boost today, as the Department of Homeland Security reportedly is recommending Kansas as the site for a new $450 million biodefense laboratory. The lab, which will be located in Manhattan, is expected to have a $3.5 billion economic impact for the state. But with that amount of money at stake, expect the losing states to try to block the decision – just as Kansas did with the air-refueling tanker contract.
