Well, that didn’t take long: In a SurveyUSA poll taken Feb. 20-22 and co-sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, President Obama won the approval of 54 percent of Kansans, down from 62 percent just as he took office a month earlier. The latest approval rating among Kansans puts Obama in the ballpark with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (56 percent) and Sens. Pat Roberts (55 percent) and Sam Brownback (50 percent).
Bob Dole, the longtime Kansas senator and Senate majority leader, gave Gov. Kathleen Sebelius the bipartisan benefit of his presence on the dais Monday as she was nominated to be President Obama’s secretary of Health and Human Services. He told the Topeka Capital-Journal that he supports her and stands ready to help, but foresees a tough road on any health reform plan. “It’s going to take a magician to put together a health care bill, and I don’t know if she’s a magician,” he said.
A sales-tax holiday for back-to-school shoppers would be a modest but well-timed break for Kansas families, which is why the editorial board repeatedly called for one in the middle part of this decade. And Kansans on the border with Missouri, which has such a tax break, are especially attracted to adding one to state law. But the arguments for it are dwarfed by the current budget crisis. “The $5.7 million fiscal note is the biggest problem,” Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon told The Eagle editorial board. She called it a “great bumper sticker” but questions whether it substantively helps stores or families. “We can’t see that this does anything except reduce your tax base.” Lawmakers should defer this feel-good idea for a brighter day.
“I can only assume he chose them because ‘Sebelius’ sounds like a disease and ‘DeParle’ sounds like the cure.” — Stephen Colbert (in photo), on Obama’s health care team of Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy-Ann DeParle
“I’ve not spoken to her the entire session. I don’t know. It seems sort of odd, doesn’t it?” — House Appropriations Committee Chairman Kevin Yoder, R-Overland Park, on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
“If there was one person in a 100-year period who was going to get a Senate seat (for Democrats) in Kansas, it would have been her. . . . To have her gone, Moran and Tiahrt are probably breathing a huge sigh of relief.” — Bob Beatty, Washburn University political science professor, on Sebelius’ unavailability to run for the Senate
“You picked a fine time to leave us, Kathleen.” — Chorus of YouTube song parody, set to the tune of Kenny Rogers’ “Lucille,” by state Rep. Bill Otto, R-LeRoy
