I've been hesitant to believe that Democrat Nancy Boyda has much chance against Jim Ryun, the ultra-conservative Congressman with a stranglehold on Kansas' 2nd District, but there are definite signs of change in the race.
Boyda keeps reporting private polling saying that she's running neck and neck with Ryun. Normally, I wouldn't believe that, but today Vice President Dick Cheney is out here raising money for Ryun. I can't remember another time when the vp or any other big GOP operative was deemed necessary to help Ryun's campaign.
Meanwhile, we don't have any public, nonpartisan polls, to use to judge the accuracy of Boyda's data. One would have thought, though, that if Ryun's private numbers tell him something different than Boyda's, he would have noted that fact. Could it be that the only thing that will keep us from ousting an awful Congressman is the feeling that we can't win?
Stay tuned.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports:
During a news conference, Boyda, of Topeka, said her underdog campaign remains a
dead heat. She released her campaign poll, which she said shows Ryun at 42.6 percent and Boyda at 40 percent with the rest undecided.
2 comments:
An interesting thought, but I doubt it for one reason. Brownback has done so incredibly poorly in his attempt to run for President. So far, his numbers are so low that I doubt if he would be seen as an attractive right-wing vp for anyone.
However, Brownback always claimed he'd only serve through his current term. It is possible that Ryun wants to run for Senate, but I'm just not certain that Cheney is the guy to make Kansans excited about that. I'm not certain Cheney connects with folks out here, but then I've been known to be wrong before.
Even if Ryun pulls out this race, I wonder how much support he could gain for a Senate run. Unless Boyda's data is wildly skewed, it looks to be a close race. If he barely wins, that won't say much for his electoral prospects statewide. His district and the third district (where he could probably count on even less support) account for most of the state's population. If anything, the fact that he's allowed a novice challenger to get this close shows he's not the world's greatest campaigner.
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