First District Growth

The Hutchinson News has a great editorial up that you'll want to take a look at. As Wasinger and company take their strategy national, things continue to turn sour in the big first regarding carpetbaggers wanting an office with power.

Blogger wars go national

It's the joke that never dies.

Over the past couple of days, Rob Wasinger has begun reaching out to national blogs and posting his thoughts and comments there. It's difficult for me to be critical of this as more information from candidates is good and I appreciate someone willing to use new media to reach new voters.

And if that were the only motives behind the blogger bust out, I'd be fine. But there certainly seems to be an ulterior motive here, mainly, that Huelskamp hasn't rolled over and died like Wasinger's plan entailed. In fact, it looks like Huelskamp is dominating state support and been more than competitive on the national scene. That combined with an embarrassing public tie to his pro-Wasinger blog and the Boldra hit blog and suddenly a new blogger image becomes necessary.

Of course, it wouldn't be complete unless Huelskamp joined in. He now has posts up on Red State and American Spectator. Both are excellent and the Am Spec piece certainly highlights Wasinger's inability to say Sebelius is a bad choice for HHS. It's such a simple truth, one wonders why he can't spit it out.

Rob has a post up on Red State as well and has certainly gotten his blogger posse to recommend him. My favorite recommendation comes from E Pluribus Unum. I think it's because it reminds me of another bloggers name, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps my readers can help me out on that one. ;)

Mann up

In light of the Salina Journal article on Tracey Mann, I thought my quick campaign finance search would be of interest.

Described as "conservative, but not ideologic," Mann understands agriculture and "the importance of small business to central and western Kansas" Hemmer said.

Yes, that conservative label is awfully handy isn't it? As with every other candidate so far (of course with the exception of Sen. Huelskamp), Mr. Mann doesn't have a voting record, so it's difficult to say what he'd do if elected.

However, a search of donors to state races turned up a $200 donation by Mann to Democrat Mike Slattery, son of Jim Slattery. The older Slattery got his head handed to him by Sen. Pat Roberts but Mike got elected to the statehouse as a Representative. Mann's Roeland Park address is a couple blocks from Slattery's district.

So, there you go. Conservative but not ideologic means you give money to Democrats who's dad works as a lobbyist and ran against one of the best U.S. Senators Kansas has ever had.

It used to be Republicans that financially supported Democrats were called "moderates". Now they're "conservative but not ideologic"?

I'm just curious, what does a guy running for office in Kansas have to do to be called a liberal?

Kansas Jackass realizes he doesn't know jack, drops it from blog name

I had this blog post all written out and then I just couldn't help myself. So, there's my April Fool's attention getting title.

Now, as the late Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story...

After learning of Sen. Tom Coburn's endorsement of Rep. Jerry Moran, I began to ponder why the race between Rep. Moran and Rep. Todd Tiahrt has thus far been civil and obedient in comparison to the first district primary. I think several differences stand out.

First, the race seems to be more personality based than issue based. Now, that's not to say there aren't differences in votes. Most recently, the two split on taxing AIG bonuses. Another vote that stands out in my mind is SCHIP, which Moran supported and Tiahrt opposed.

But in general, both are well accepted, both have conservative voting records and both will be accepted by the Republican voters when the general election comes around in 2010. A decision on who to vote for, so far, seems to be mainly based on how fiery of a politician you want in Washington.

That hasn't been the case in the big first. Without question the biggest issue so far has been abortion. That, of course, was precipitated by Rob Wasinger's early corralling of national pro-life endorsements (kind of.) But one has to wonder how or even why those folks made an endorsement of one pro-lifer over another nearly two years out from an election and with no input from pro-life forces here in Kansas? What did Rob say to get them so riled up they'd push one candidate over another candidate they've never met, in a state they've probably never visited?

In short, it's the perception by Wasinger that Huelskamp is vile. At his core, I don't believe Rob thinks Huelskamp is "pro-life enough." Just like I don't think Rob believes Huelskamp will be effective. Just like I don't think Rob believes Huelskamp is fiscally conservative.

It's of course all based on Rob's own crazy ideas. The record tells a very different story.

Sen. Huelskamp has been a leader in the pro-life community for over a decade and has never compromised to be popular. Wasinger on the other hand has yet to publicly comment on his position of Sebelius as HHS leader. Huelskamp didn't wait to test the political winds or to find out what is popular, or even check her tax returns. No, Sen. Huelskamp did what was right and stated the truth.

Sen. Huelskamp has been a leader when it comes to open government. And effective too. Thanks to Senator Huelskamp, KanView was established as a first of its kind public information portal.

And finally, Sen. Huelskamp has the highest lifetime voting records of any Senator in the Kansas Senate. That includes over a decade of votes. It's the most impressive credential in regard to taxpayer protections I've ever seen.

And Rob's record? So far it's signing campaign promises he has no intention of keeping.

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In other news, another fine new resident of the first district wants to be called Congressman. Tracey Mann bought a house in Salina on Jan. 26 and just recently changed his voter registration to Salina after having voted in Johnson County in the 2008 elections.

So, one up for Rob, he actually voted in Nov. '08 in Hays. Of course, he never voted in the first district or even Kansas before then, but hey, throw the guy a bone, right?

Mann's gotten some coverage but it hasn't been to great so far. Here's a google search.