Here is the link:
http://www.kansas.com/...
“My parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents were all Republicans. But it’s changed. There’s no room for people who actually think in moderation.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/...
She has not yet announced
whether she will join us Democrats,
or register as an independent.
She was primaried,
and her primary opponent,
the first she's ever faced,
since she was elected to her post in 2000,
her primary challenger,
who defeated her,
is Michael O'Donnell,
who's only 27 years old.
Sounds like the more radically conservative Kansas Republicans
found a trained puppy.
I've noticed,
over the years,
that younger folks,
including my self in my early twenties,
when I voted for Ronald Reagan,
both times,
in 1980,
and in 1984,
I've noticed that such young folks
are easily won over by
simplistic conservative ideals.
I had just joined the Roman Catholic Church,
and Reagan talked pro-life,
so I voted for him.
(I'm now pro-choice,
and my conversion and thoughts
on that topic
might make a nice diary someday,
if anyone asks me to write it.)
This is not the first time in my memory
that a prominent Kansas Republican
has switched parties.
The other one below the squiggly:
Here is the link:
http://ballotpedia.org/...
On May 31, 2006, Governor Kathleen Sebelius announced that Parkinson had switched parties and was her running mate for her re-election campaign, succeeding retiring lieutenant governor John E. Moore (also a former Republican who had switched parties shortly before he joined a ticket with Sebelius). Parkinson's business abilities and willingness to work with both Republicans and Democrats were the reasons Sebelius gave for choosing him.
You may find the name,
Kathleen Sebelius,
familiar;
President Obama appointed her
Secretary of Health and Human Services,
and then,
converted Mark Parkinson
became the Governor of Kansas,
for a while,
until we got our current Governor,
Sam Brownback.
His name even sounds like a bad guy in a movie,
don't you agree?
Here is a link to more about Kathleen Sebelius:
http://ballotpedia.org/...
Sebelius is the daughter of former Ohio governor John J. Gilligan, and thus they became the first father/daughter governor pair in the United States after her election.[3] Her husband K. Gary Sebelius[4] is a federal magistrate judge and the son of former U.S. Representative Keith Sebelius, a Republican.
I had to look it up,
but her father,
the Ohio Governor from January, 1971,
to January, 1975,
was a Democrat,
so she had solid roots
that kept her on track,
even though she married the son of,
and therefore took the last name of,
a prominent Kansas Republican.
In fact,
that may be how she got some of her votes,
when she ran for Governor,
from folks who usually vote Republican,
and recognized the name,
Sebelius.
The point of all this is that,
even in Republican dominated Kansas,
or,
maybe,
especially here,
the Republicans may have gone too far,
and are now driving moderate,
reasonable,
smart public servants
away from the Grand Oil Party,
(did I write that wrong?)
and into the arms of us Democrats.
We can only hope.
Thanks for reading.