Gene Burr

Sounds like the Democrats found a legitimate candidate to take on Kasha Kelley, who decided NOT to challenge Greta Goodwin for Senate.

My guess is that Burr's education background makes him pretty sellable as a candidate and will become a focus of the differences between the two, if Burr becomes the general election candidate.

Kasha, though, has had a good year legislatively and politically with the update stalking legislation and the transparency web site being launched.

Even in a year that favors Democrats in general, she would be hard to beat

County candidate

Mark Eastman of Winfield has filed for the Republican nomination to the seat Carmelita Clarkson now holds on the County Commission. She's a democrat.

A quick check of Courier archives show Eastman's been involved in Republican Party politics and done some charity work. He was appointed Richard Township Treasurer by the county in 2006.

McCain's pastor problems

Looks like John McCain has pastor problems of his own. He rejected the endorsement, which he had actively sought, of John Hagee, a prominent Christian evangelical who promotes Israel but who once said Hitler was sent by God to force Jews back to to their homeland, that God destroyed New Orleans because of homosexual and other sins (Even though the French Quarter was untouched). He also said God will punish those who help Israel give up land to Palestinians. He also called the Catholic Church the Great Whore and compared it to Hitler's violence. I believe he apologized for that.

Here's some backgroundd at the Huffington Post, but there are many online news sources covering this story.

McCain called Hagee's Hitler statement's "crazy." I guess my question is, does McCain's pastor problem compare to Obama's? Wright said some outlandish things, but he didn't ever justify the Holocaust through biblical interpretation. (Of course McCain did not attend Hagee's church for 20 years)

I know that many evangelicals may believe these things but to those of us who do not take the Bible literally, it seems just as off the wall as suspecting the government of introducing AIDS to cities to kill black people.

He rejects another pastor's endorsement

Obama-Sebelius

Her name has surfaced as a VP candidate for Obama under the theory it would help him with women and in red states. My personal opinion is that she wouldn't be a strong VP choice, but SurveyUSA is testing her name as Obama's VP, in polls against John McCain.

Here's Here'sthe one they did for Virginia. Obama actually doesn't do so well when she is listed as his VP. Edwards, not surprisingly, does best among the VP choices they used

Doug Russell

I think this quote in today's storyfrom Mayor Mell Kuhn says it all about relations between some commissioners and their city manager.

"It's just a guess on my part," Kuhn said. "We're not a bureaucracy. We're not bobble heads for everything he wants. We scrutinize everything."


Thinking out of the box is great (wasn't that what the Lowe's deal was) but it seems that Russell hasn't been given the chance he deserves after being hired only 18 months ago. My guess is that the current majority didn't hire him and don't feel much obligation to see him succeed and do his thing.

Street tax

Any thoughts on the sales tax for street repair? It's hard to pass a tax increase in Ark City, and current economic conditions wouldn't make it easier.

On the other hand, anyone can see the street system needs help. A study two years ago laid out the work needed and a price tag.

There's some talk about cutting non-essential services such as the museum, community centers, etc.. Folks might be more willing to pay more sales tax for streets if they thought it would save those quality of life amenities.

Obama VP list

This is hilarious

Abrams coffers

State Board of Ed member Steve Abrams is running again. So far, nobody running against him. Here's the last updated financial report on the Ethics Commission Web site. It's from Dec. 31, so probably outdated.

Few filings

With just 26 days to go, there haven't been many people file for elected office in Cowley County.

The official list of candidates thus far, according to clerk Karen Brooks.

karen brooks - county clerk
kathy foust - county treasurer
nancy horst - register of deeds

don read and randy emerson for sheriff (both republicans)

gary wilson county commission district 2, democrat
carmelita clarkson county commission district 3, democrat
john mars, county commission district 3, democrat

only 7 people have filed for 50 township seats

jim pringle and nick st. peter have filed for reelection to their district judge positions

NOBODY has filed for the state Legislature in Cowley County, according to the Sec. of State Web site This seems weird since Sen. Greta Goodwin announced Feb. 5 that she would seek another term. Pretty sure Ed Trimmer will run again.

Steve Abrams announced he plans to run again for state education board, but he also has not filed yet.

The deadline is June 10.

How much racism?

Fascinating story from Wash. Post this morning. I think this demonstrates that Obama's campaign is, although he doesn't cast it as such, to some degree about breaking racial barriers and overcoming the deep legacy of racism, where it still exists.

No right to vote

A reader writes:

Actually, the Constitution never explicitly ensures the right to vote...

This is true

So far nobody agrees with me. But where has voter fraud ever been a problem. Why create obstacles to voting for people who might not have ID for whatever reason?

Here's the nun story

Voter ID

Kansas looks like it's going to require photo ID's for voting by 2010. Just saw a story about several nuns unable to vote in Indiana primary yesterday because they didn't have ID.

I think these laws are a solution in search of a problem, which creates more problems. Seems like we should have laws that encourage voting, not discourage it. You'll apparently be able to cast a provisional ballot under the Kansas law, and then verify your residence and citizenship later if you don't have an official photo ID. But this creates too many hoops to jump through for a basic constitutional right.

Tell me why I'm wrong..

Still thinking

Kasha Kelley told me today she's still considering whether to run against Greta Goodwin for Senate. She's mulling three options, she said, standing for reelection to the House, running for the Senate, or taking time off to raise her newborn son. Said lots of supporters want her to run against Greta and she's getting the question every day.

Frank Marshall Davis

Reading through the political blogs and Web sites as I do, ran across an article about a Clinton operative who emails negative stories to the press every day about Barack Obama, many of them published by very conservative outlets. The story references our own Frank Marshall Davis, a writer and poet from Ark City... here's a snippet

The Kincaid article that Blumenthal circulated sought to discredit Obama by linking him to an African-American poet and writer whom Obama knew while he was in high school in Hawaii. That writer, Frank Marshall Davis, was, Kincaid wrote, a member of the Communist Party.

I had a teacher at Colorado College who said he was a socialist/communist. Guess that disqualifies me from being president!

And here's the article