Is Jim Ryun potentially vulnerable

[Lenape85]

56% was his score in the 2004 election.

[Stevepol]

1. No Repub is vulnerable unless the voting machines are un-rigged.

In KS, most of the vote counting is done by ES&S scanners and Diebold touchscreens. Johnson County, which is Kansas City KS, is all Diebold touchscreens. Wichita, where I'm from, uses Micro-Vote, the same people who gave us the screw-up in Boone County IN in 03 when, in a county with 19,000 eligible voters, the machine counted 144,000 votes. I have no evidence myself that Micro-Vote is corrupt, just that it's prone to anomalies, as are all the voting machines. And as long as these are counting the votes, quit worrying about whether a Repub here or there is vulnerable. None of them is vulnerable, and no Dem can win, unless it's so obvious that it would be too dangerous to cheat.

[Telly Savalas]

3. So why didn't Kobach win? eom

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Kobach spent too much money on signs

and too much time with fundie preachers speaking in churches to gather votes. :) His involvement with that anti-immigration group didn't help either.

Honestly, Johnson County may be predominantly Republican, but Kobach was way too far right for the moderate voters here.

I worried more about this election than I did about the presidential one. I think Dennis Moore is an excellent congressman and was a far better candidate than a right wing Ashcroft underling. Evidently, my neighbors agreed.

[SheilaT]

2. Yes, he is vulnerable.

Just needs the right candidate. Nancy Boyda changed her political affiliation and moved two years ago specifically so she could run against Ryun. Apparently his poll numbers aren't all that terrific, but one huge mistake she made was to come out in favor of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. I talked to her a couple of times about this, and she would not budge. I was even at a Democratic women's political event where she was the speaker, and when this came up you could see women putting their checkbooks away.

If a real Democrat were to run against him, and have the backing of the state Democratic party, which is another problem here in Kansas, he could be beaten. Although the power of incumbency is huge.

[hfojvt]

4. and who would you suggest as a "real" democrat?

Crow, Ruff, or Gilstrap?
Gilstrap, in particular, torques at least a couple of us off as a major Dino. Might as well get Grodberg to switch parties again and run.
I am hoping that Boyda runs again, since she would have a leg up over anybody new, although that did not help Taff.
After the gay marriage ban won by a landslide in Missouri, I can understand why very few politicians will have the guts to oppose it, but to actually support an amendment seems like a bad idea to me.

[SheilaT]

6. I don't know who I'd suggest.

The essential problem is that the Democratic Party in Kansas is so weak that it does almost nothing to develop candidates, and when someone does step forward, like Joan Ruff, nothing at all is done to help her.

I did serious volunteer work for Joan until she pulled out of the race. I would have volunteered for Lee Jones, but he took too long to finally file, and by then I was running for the Kansas State House myself.

Nancy Boyda is a DINO. She changed her party registration and moved just to be able to run in the 2nd District. She supports the anti-gay marriage ban, which cost her a lot of support. I know. I was at a Democratic Women's thing where she spoke, and when the gay marriage thing came up, women literally put away their check books.

It takes a lot of money to run for national office. A potential candidate has to start raising money about two years before the election. As un-fond of Larry Gates (the Democratic Party Chair in KS) he does seem to be communicating with the national party that they cannot have a targeted strategy which ignores the "red" states like Kansas.

If Dean becomes the new DNC chair, which looks more and more likely, that will change.

[hfojvt]

7. they are all a pack of DINOs

but I am probably too far left for Kansas. I did not pay that much attention to Boyda since I was supporting anyone who would "run against Ryun". Unless it was for publicity, supposedly she was at the anti-war rally in Lawrence which is an important issue to me.
Actually, I was talking about my current state Rep. Candy Ruff. I guess she is a DINO as well, but I do not follow state politics much.
Nancy was supposed to be doing well as a fund raiser, but she did not have enough money for TV ads and we ran out of signs up here.
As I said, as popular as the gay-marriage ban was in Missouri, I do not expect any politician to stick their neck out and oppose it. I will, but that's because I have nothing to lose politically. Well, except maybe my precinct committee chair position.
I cannot figure why we are so weak since we won the governorship and also Gore won Ryun's district in 2000.

[SheilaT]

8. Oh, good, you're a precinct committee

chair. We need more good Democrats -- which to me means far left -- in that position. How active are you? Are you going to be going to the state party reorganization thing in Topeka in early March?

I'm a delegate to it. I just missed being the Dean delegate to the National Convention last July, ran for the State House but lost, and am determined to stay active in the political system. I think the party can be transformed from the ground up, and it looks as if that's beginning to happen, what with Dean probably the next DNC chair, and all that.