What's the matter with Kansas? A whole lot less than there used to be. Welcome to
purple Kansas.
Democrats won three BIG victories last night:
Governor, Kathleen Sebelius trounced her Republican opponent:
D-Kathleen Sebelius 475461 58 %
R-Jim Barnett 335676 41 %
New Democrat Paul Morrison destroyed wingnut, abortion-rights foe Phill (who spells Phil with two Ls anyway?) Kline:
D-Paul Morrison 474893 58 %
R-Phill Kline 340250 42
And in the biggest shocker, Democrat Nancy Boyda ousted Wingnut and Mark Foley neighbor Jim Ryun:
D-Nancy Boyda 111734 51 %
R-Jim Ryun 104103 47 %
More in extended...
A few thoughts on what this means:
1) Sebelius
She just became a serious front-runner for Veep in 2008, provided our nominee is one w/national security experience. She certainly just made it likely she will be able to head to the Senate, either by taking Brownback's seat in 2008 when he runs for Pres. or Roberts in 2010 when he retires.
2) Attorney General
Along with the SD initiative, this was the big victory for choice. Phill Kline has made it a priority to destroy abortion rights in KS and made it clear he will be among those seeking to send cases to SCOTUS to overturn RvW. Its clear Kansans have said they don't like extremists on this issue.
3) Boyda, Boyda, Boyda
Me and a few other Kansas Kossacks have been posting this race everytime it was asked who else we should be supporting. Yet, this was not a top priority race for the netroots, the DCCC, the DNC, really anyone. Despite the fact that Boyda is a chemist/scientist (we need some of them in the House!) by trade and is genuinely progressive. The fact that Ryun is a genuine wingnut makes this even sweeter.
Oh, and perpetually endangered KS-03's Dennis Moore won handily, hopefully freeing him to not vote so conservatively (he was one D with a 'pass' from Pelosi to preserve his district).
This is a huge night for Kansas Democrats. It was the best spanking the wingnut KS GOP has ever had, and they've had plenty. True to form, I predict they'll lurch even further in to wingnut territory next election, hopefully providing even more Dem victories.
IN Kansas, Dems are the grown ups, the responsible party, the people who will make decisions based on the facts and what moves our state forward. That's a good place to be as a party.