The bulk of this is
duplicative, but I've added some commentary below the fold.
Following days of rumors, Mark Parkinson, once chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, switched his party registration at noon today.
The Governor will be kicking off her campaign for re-election tomorrow, and introducing her new candiher new candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
Parkinson joins Democratic candidate for Attorney General Paul Morrison as major party switchers. Morrison has been the Republican District Attorney for Johnson County for many years. Parkinson is also from Johnson County, the wealthy base of powerful moderate Republicans in Kansas.
Kansas has had 3 parties for some time now: a moderate Republican party, conservative Republicans, and Democrats. Each occupies about a third of the political spectrum. The tremendous size advantage of the Republican Party means that many centrists have a greater political advantage from caucusing with the Republican party than they would if they were Democrats. This is obviously a self-reinforcing cycle, and it means that the Republican primary is often the only election that really matters, especially in smaller races.
The existence of two switchers at the top of this year's ballot will give a lot of voters a reason to look at Democrats further down the ticket, and will encourage disenchanted moderate legislators to make a similar switch. Splinter groups for moderates like
Kansas Traditional Republican Majority could easily bring together a large enough bloc of legislators to switch power within the legislature.
And by introducing voters to more Democrats, it makes it more likely that we will send Democrats to the House from Wichita and Topeka. It makes it more likely that Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback will have to answer for their extremism.
This switch is good for the Democratic party, and for democracy in Kansas.