Up here in Lawrence, one of the most liberal cities in the nation, and I had hoped to make it to the protest rally in Topeka today, where Nancy Boyda's campaign was scheduled to complain LOUDLY about Bush coming to Kansas to campaign for the GOP challenger, Jenkins. I guess I stayed up too late reading DailyKos.
Two years ago, in a last minute panic, Cheney came in to Topeka to bat for incumbent Jim Ryun and it was the kiss of death. In one of the two biggest upsets of 2006, the other being Webb's win in VA, Nancy beat a long-time incumbent and legendary Kansas University athlete. (And Ryun lost his primary this year, suggesting that moderate Republicanism is reviving here. Surprising? Kansas may be a Republican state, but it has had moderate traditions in the past. I wrote about that before--link below.)
And today, my mom got a call that I listened in on. A push-poll for the Roberts campaign. Can Slattery pull off an upset here? And can Michael Skelly do in TX-02 what Boyda did in 2006?
First, the Roberts "push-poll". I thought it was a regular poll, starting as it did with the conventional questions, but then, buried in the middle of the call, came the pushy part, or whatever you call it.
"Which of the following things about former Congressman Slattery bother you the most?" Followed by a half dozen things like "supported tax increases as a Congressman", "hired lobbyists in his office", "made abortions easier to get", etc.
As I mentioned in my previous diary about how Kansas may be in the vanguard of a new moderation in GOP trends, this state has long been known as the most Republican state in the nation. And even Lawrence has not always been as liberal as it is now.
Here's what I said about that:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And having lived in Texas for the last thirty years, I guess I did not realize that Slattery served in Congress in KS-02 for 12 years; I guess he lost in the '94 GOP landslide that gave us Texans a new governor who ran on "A queer sent by Ann Richards is on the way to pick up your guns and Bibles".
Can Slattery pick up enough votes in the Eastern half of the state to win this thing? I've run into some young volunteers at the local (Douglas County Democratic party) headquarters who think so. This part of the state is represented by two Democrats, Nancy Boyda and Dennis Moore. The push-polling suggests that somebody in the GOP is worried. Incumbent Senator Roberts may be vulnerable, but I am not seeing any Slattery ads, while I am seeing lots of ads for Boyda in her run for re-election.
Anyway, I told the kids at HQ that Roberts ought to be attacked for his resistance to the 9-11 Commission and his protection of Bush and Cheney's
behind-the-scenes "intelligence" efforts, etc. And in the aftermath of the Iraq war, when things got tough, Roberts, then Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, famously remarked that "Saddam wouldn't let the inspectors in..." I wonder how many people recall or ever knew that we kicked the inspectors out (probably because Bush and Cheney knew Hans Blix would not find anything and then they couldn't have their splendid little war).
Here is Slattery's website:
http://www.slatteryforsenate.com/...
Here is Nancy Boyda's website:
http://www.nancyforcongress.com/
Back in Texas, I see that the Democratic party is now throwing some money to John Culberson's opponent, Michael Skelly, an outstanding candidate who has a lot of money and substantial energy experience. This would be among the biggest upsets in congressional history; Culberson's district is a long-held GOP seat. If I am not mistaken, it was George H.W. Bush's seat way back when (and remember, Bush I was something of a moderate back then).
Skelly has some of the same kind of support that Ron Kirk had in his Senate race in 2002; recent events in Houston are likely to affect the race, and both Culberson and Skelly are doing all they can to send that message, "I care".
Go to Michael Skelly's site here:
http://www.skellyforcongress.com/...
Take a minute to vote in my poll and maybe you'll find yourself predicting one or two HUGE upsets. Can't help reiterating that I predicted Boyda's win in 2006.