Homegrown leadership

Quite an interesting letter to the editor in the Hutchinson News today. Titled "Homegrown leadership," the author advocates rejection of Rob Wasinger and Tracey Mann because of their carpetbagging tendencies. Donald Hobson writes:

It is interesting to note that two political opportunists have recently moved their voter registration to Kansas's 1st Congressional District to pursue a U.S. congressional seat.

Rob Wasinger, a Harvard graduate still owning a nearly $900K house in Virginia, moved to Hays in late 2008 and has since retreated to and now resides in Cottonwood Falls. The second hopeful import is Tracey Mann, a Johnson County commercial real estate agent who just established residency in Salina.

Here's the best part:

Kansans, now is not the time to trust the judgment from two men who have moved into the 1st District to launch a political career. From being raised in Plainville to listening to constituents in the Kansas Senate, Congressman Moran understood issues facing western Kansas before he ran for Congress. Now is the time to support a person whose roots run deep into the 1st Congressional District landscape and who will not bow to eastern interests.

When I read it through the first time, I kept trying to figure out who he was going to endorse over Wasinger and Mann. The fact that he doesn't even remotely point to a candidate he prefers is quite telling. Residency problems are interesting to me now, but in over a year when people are finally getting around to deciding who they'll vote for, will it be an issue anymore? For some I thought it'd come up, but I didn't think it'd be enough to make that big of a difference in the overall results. Now with five candidates in the race and more probably on the way, this "you're not one of us" attitude may make more of a difference than I previously thought.

Also, did you note that last line of resentment for 'easterners?' That attitude certainly exists, and it's going to be tough for someone from Johnson County, little lone from Massachusetts, to overcome that barrier.