Democrats dare to dream of recapturing the Bush heartland

[spindrifter]

Paul Harris in Topeka, Kansas
Sunday June 25, 2006
The Observer

<snip>

Sitting in his headquarters, the new Democrat, (Mark Parkinson, former Kansas Republican party chairman) is sticking to his guns. Republicans in Kansas, he says, have let down their own people. 'They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives. What matters is improving schools and creating jobs,' he said. 'I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right.

This is music to Democratic ears and has profound potential implications for November's mid-term elections. Kansas has been an iconic state for the Republican right, a symbol for issues such as teaching creationism in schools and fighting abortion rights. The modern Republican party, masterminded by political guru Karl Rove, has harnessed fury over such topics to allow the Republicans to dominate US politics since 2000. This was the topic of Thomas Frank's hit book of the 2004 presidential election campaign entitled: What's The Matter With Kansas? It used the state's falling under the spell of conservative Republicanism to explain national American politics.

But in a swath of heartland states such as Kansas, Democrats are seeing the first signs of their party's rebirth. Parkinson is not alone in switching sides. In Virginia, Jim Webb, a one-time Reagan official, is seeking to be a Democrat senator. In South Carolina, top Republican prosecutor Barney Giese has defected after a spat with conservatives. Back in Kansas another top Republican, Paul Morrison, also joined the Democrats and is challenging a Republican to be the state attorney-general.

<snip>

One of the key reasons Kansas Democrats are in fighting mood is their governor, Kathleen Sibelius. Sibelius's vote represents an island of Democratic blue in a sea of Republican red on the political map, and she has impressed by reaching the middle-ground voters in a startlingly successful first term. Shunning the hot-button social issues, she has focused on education, jobs and health. This has earned her approval ratings touching 68 per cent in a state that was overwhelmingly pro-Bush in 2004.

<snip>

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1805330,00.html

[SoCalDem]

1. While I welcome all comers, it does trouble me a bit

republicans have used the "infiltration" mode for decades.. It's HOW they have weakened the Sierra Club, NPR, PBS, and so many other organizations..

If these guys' motives are pure, fine...but it might just be a case of sensing that the "natives are restless", and they still want their cushy jobs:shrug:

[madfloridian]

6. Well, I agree, but look at it this way.

In the 90s our Florida Democrats defected to the GOP, but they became just like them. Didn't even bother to infiltrate, just became a part of them.

Maybe that can happen in this case. }(

Love your sig line.

[Brigid]

2. Somebody riddle me this:

Why do we have to go to foreign news sources for stories like this? :banghead:

[spindrifter]

3. Well, I personally

like to see what others have to say about our issues, since they are presenting them to a non-U.S. market. I look around at the U.S. media, as well. Sometimes they have the story. Sometimes they don't.

[Brigid]

4. So do I. Very much so.

But I think it's pretty suspicious that good new for Dems like this seems to get pushed to the back pages by the American MSM, while they trumpet a 3-point jump in the polls for * like it's a big deal. :grr:

[DocSavage]

5. It is

not going to happen anytime soon. Parkinson has a point about some (not alot) of moderate conservatives here are just fed up with the whole darwin/creation issue. However, that is not going to translate into Kansas going blue. The conservatives here will not, I a mean in the strongest terms possible, vote for a democrat that will not place limitations on abortion or in any way shape or form supports gun control. Just drive the roads here and you will be able to count the signs agains abortion on the roadside with both hands, both feet and all of your passengers digits too.

Once you get out of the cities, rural farm land and small conservative towns are the mainstay of the state. Yes, there is a democratic govenor, but the legislature is republican and strong. It seems that the population likes a little separation of parties in Topeka. She was the Insurance Commissioner under the last Gov, a republican, and she did well.

There is a strong religious foundation here, schools are a very local issue, issues like prayer in school is somthing that would go over very well here, and flag burning is a non-starter. The oil industry is big enough that high prices helps the state and a whole lot of people. And one other thing. People here think that California and the DC-Boston corridor is full of crazy liberals and they want nothing to do with them. Fox news is a staple, Country music rules and I would bet that the chicks are persona non grata here. Just my 2cents from in the middle of a wheat field.

[spindrifter]

7. Yes, but

we need to know what the story inthe midst of the field is. I have never, for example, spent any time in the "heartland," so I am gullible when it comes to stories about potential loosening up there.

[ComerPerro]

8. They better start ramping up the hatred, bigotry, and scapegoating then

because that's what really sells here