Saturday, November 18, 2006

They're on notice


Well it's official. If Stephen Colbert says it, it must be true. He's put the Kansas Dems on notice. The Democrats have their largest presence in KS in years, and they will be held accountable in the next election. In 2008, we'll see whether Moore, Morrison, and especially Boyda will retain their jobs. The Kansas Republican Party did a horrible job in fundraising and supporting candidates this year. Ron Freeman--KS GOP director--is on notice and will probably be replaced.

Also, Johnson County GOP precinct committee members are on notice. Within the next month, they will choose a new JoCo district attorney and possible rising star to challenge the Kansas Democratic establishment. Point of advice: Pick a real Republican and not another opportunist like Paul Morrison.

The Konnection hears rumors that assistant DA Rick Guinn is vying for the job and touting his Republican credentials, despite his donation to Morrison's AG campaign. Other rumored contenders include Reps. Lance Kinzer and Kevin Yoder.

Yoder is young and a little inexperienced (it's only been about 3 years since he graduated from law school), but he someone who can unite the moderates and the conservatives, and he would make a great DA, and definitely grow into the office. Of course, the Konnection has been touting Yoder for a while now, and how he would make a great candidate for higher office (3rd district nominee against Moore in 2 years?). He's definitely our pick.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Getting past the shock and awe...

Many people will be speculating as to why the Republicans lost this Tuesday. Having just returned from Rhode Island, working for the RNC in the unsuccessful re-election of Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, I would just like to say this. We had perhaps our strongest field of candidates nationally than ever before, in states such as New Jersey and Maryland, and incumbents in states across the country that didn't deserve to lose (like Nancy Johnson in Connecticut, Jim Talent in MO, and Jim Ryan in Kansas). While the media may claim this election was a referendum on corruption, Mark Foley, the congress, etc., based on my experience on the ground and what I've heard from others, I think the Dems successfully nationalized this election to be about the Iraq war policy and Bush's overall foreign policy. I don't think the election was a referundum on the candidates or the party itself as much as it was about a rejection of Bush's handling of the war and uneasiness over Iraq. In Warwick and Providence, I talked to many people who said, "I love Sen. Chafee, he's done a great job, but I have to send a message to Bush about the war."

FYI--statistics show that this midterm had the highest turnout of the 18-30 demographic than any midterm election in history. Most analysts believe this "youth vote" was based entirely on anti-war sentiment.

The Dems do not have a large mandate (it looks like they have 29 seat margin in the house and a one seat margin in the Senate). 22 out of the 29 seats won were by a margin of less than 2 percent or less than 5,000 votes. The Dems would be well-advised not to view this as a mandate, rather as a default position for those who were unhappy with the war and Bush. This was more about voting against the Republicans, rather than an overall vote of confidence in the Democrats (kind of like the "Anybody but Bush" crowd who voted against Bush more than for Kerry, which cost Kerry in the long-run). After 2 years of endless investigations and gridlock, the American people will be ready to throw the Dems out, after seeing they don't have any real solutions.

In the meantime, our party must try harder than ever to convey the necessity of fighting the war on terror, stabilizing Iraq, and praise the booming economy (the administration has been severely lacking in PR these last few years). This will be especially important since the Dems and the mainstream media will use investigations and hearings to discredit everything that we've tried to do.

A national blog summed up the election this way:

The Democrats said: “Had enough?”
The Republicans said: “It could be worse!”
The voters said: “Let’s find out.”

We can and will come back. Americans will now see what it's like to have the Dems in control, and I predict that with liberal leaders in charge in both houses, Americans will be jerked into the reality of a Democratic agenda and will send the Dems packing in 08 and return congress to GOP hands.