header_blog.jpg

Kansas - Changing Hues

Posted by on October 19, 2006 at 01:56 PM

Back in June, we looked at the recent trend in Kansas, that saw more and more Republicans fleeing the GOP and finding a home in the Democratic Party. We heard from Kansas Democratic Party Chairman, Larry Gates, who commented:

These former Republicans are joining the Democratic Party because they recognize that Governor Sebelius and Kansas Democrats are committed to finding commonsense solutions to the issues faced by all Kansans.

Governor Sebelius and Democrats are bringing Kansans together to move our state forward while the Kansas Republican Party is dividing Kansans with the same old partisan bickering. Kansans know our candidates are dedicated to putting progress ahead of partisanship, and the best interests of the people of Kansas ahead of anything else.

Well, today, an article in the Washington Post has people taking another look at Kansas, this time with the 2006 elections around the corner. And, over at MyDD, Jonathan looks the results:

Kansas is a thoroughly Republican state, as it has been since it entered the union nearly 150 years ago. It has been more than 70 years since the state elected a Democratic Senator, something it has only done four times in its history. Yet today, the state appears on track to reelect its Democratic Governor as well as throw out its ultra-conservative Republican Attorney General; polling released Monday by SurveyUSA shows Gov. Kathleen Sebelius holding a 13-point lead over her Republican challenger and Democrat Paul Morrison maintaining a nearly identical lead over the incument Attorney General Phill Kline.

Jonathan also gives the 50-State Stragey some props:

...it is so important that the DNC under Howard Dean has invested in Kansas, as it has in other states. I do not mean to overstate the extent to which the DNC's actions have fostered this potentially changing environment; the hubris and extremeness of Republican politicians in Kansas, as well as the political deftness of Governor Sebelius, have been at the root of these movements. Nonetheless, by putting boots in the field, the DNC is enabling Democrats in Kansas to capitalize on the situation in the state and help woo voters who had not previously even considered voting the Democratic ticket. And, who knows? The investment made today in Kansas by the DNC could make Kansas slightly more purple and enable Democrats to compete in more elections in the state in the future and, more importantly, force the Republicans to play defense in what has historically been a safe state for their party.

Comments - 8 »

Comments are now closed for this entry.