McCaskill declares victory in Missouri Senate race

Oh my... Democrat Claire McCaskill may have just knocked off the Republican incumbent. McCaskill has just declared herself the winner.

Don't look now, but the Senate just might break Democrat

A tiny edge for the Democrat Webb in Virginia and a small lead for Democrat Claire McCaskill in Missouri have just shown up in these neck-and-neck Senate races.

KC Buzz Blog is quoting The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol -- hardly a liberal -- as saying that The D's will take the Senate.

Could it be?

I have so got to go to bed.

Webb takes a tiny lead in Virginia and the Dems clean House

By Nancy Jane Moore

The Virginia Board of Elections now has the Democrat Webb ahead by 1,817 votes. Certainly there's going to be a statewide recount and the absentee votes remain to be counted, but it's still nice to see him with the edge at the moment. This is with 99.35 percent of precincts reporting.

And with the Democrats taking the House -- NPR says the Dems have taken 22 House seats now -- it looks like Nancy Pelosi will be Speaker of the House. Madame Speaker. I really like the sound of that. It's about time we had a woman in one of the most powerful leadership positions in the country.

Plus we're getting rid of the current speaker, Hastert, whom Rolling Stone recently called one of the 10 worst members of Congress.

By the way, the recent Rolling Stone cover story, "The Worst Congress Ever," is worth a read. The truth about some of these people is more dreadful than your worst nightmare. We really need to clean House and probably more thoroughly than we're cleaning it tonight. But this is a start.

Kansas: Nancy Boyda's victory means it's time to rethink our assumptions

By Diane Silver

[updated 12:40 a.m.]

Democrat Nancy Boyda's amazing victory over incumbent Republican Jim Ryun isn't just about the defeat of one member of the GOP.

Of course, Boyda's victory added to the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, her win also shows that even in the reddest of red states people have simply had enough of George W. Bush.

Honestly, there really is no other reason for a Boyda victory. Oh yes, she got an influx of support from the national Democratic Party at the last minute, but it was last-minute help. Before those last few weeks, Boyda had almost no money. Every mainstream journalist had written her off, and the disdain showed in the coverage of the race. When she ran two years ago with the full backing of the party, Ryun beat her by 15 points.

I've read some last-minute analyses of the race that have tried to claim that the 2nd District has always been evenly mixed with Democrats and Republicans. Folks who make that argument point to the fact that Democrat Jim Slattery represented the district for years.

However, they fail to note that the district Slattery won was far different than the one that was redrawn for Ryun by the Republican Legislature.

When Slattery won in the 2nd, the district included all or most of Lawrence, which is clearly the most liberal town in the state. In fact, I used to live in the 2nd District. When the GOP redrew the district lines, though, I woke up one morning to find that I had moved to the 3rd District without ever leaving my front door.

KC Buzz Blog reminded us of a Daily Kos post claiming that the redistricting may have created two Democratic districts, instead of watering down Lawrence's D-strength and turning the two districts red. That's an interesting argument, but I don't buy it.

The redistricting occurred in 2002, as far as I can tell with a quick Internet search tonight. Ryun handily beat Boyda in the 2004 election. The district wasn't too blue then.

What's changed, though, is Iraq, Abramoff, and two more horrendous years of Bush.

On Sunday Bush himself "helped" Ryun by coming to Topeka. Our not-so-beloved president stood arm-in-arm with Ryun. You can see how much that helped.

Finally, perhaps we should do a little hat tip to Democratic Chairman Howard Dean and his 50-state strategy. After years of being ignored, Kansas Democrats finally had a bit of help from the national party. It did make a difference.

Time to gloat: Tom DeLay's old seat goes to a Democrat

The Houston Chronicle says that Democrat Nick Lampson has won the Congressional seat formerly occupied by Tom DeLay.

It's a conservative district, but since DeLay resigned after winning the Republican primary, they weren't able to put another Republican on the ballot, so their candidate ran a write-in campaign.

Lampson was in Congress before, but DeLay's gerrymandering of the Texas districts cost him his old seat, so this is poetic justice.

The Republicans stayed firmly in control in the rest of Texas, so this one is a sweet victory.

Kansas Evolution Election: Score one for the anti-evolution forces

With all the precincts reporting, Republican incumbent John Bacon has held onto the District 3 seat on the Kasnas state Board of Education. Bacon defeated pro-science Democrat Don Weiss, 56 percent to 44 percent.

Because of victories by moderate, pro-science candidates in the August primary, the moderates now hold a 6-4 majority on the board. Moderates, though, were hoping to pick up one or two more seats today. That would make it harder for anti-evolution forces in the state to take control of the board in the next election.

In the last decade, control of the state board -- and the state's policy about teach evolution -- has see-sawed back and forth between the radical right and moderates.

The only hope for adding to the moderate majority is now in the 7th District where anti-evolution incumbent Ken Willard holds a slight lead over pro-science candidate Jack Wempe. Stay tuned.

Virginia Senate race just gets closer

At midnight, Allen is leading the Virginia Senate race by 1,868 votes, according to the Virginia Board of Elections.

The Washington Post says absentee ballots are going to matter -- apparently 130,000 absentee ballots have been requested in Virginia.

NPR says there will very likely be a recount, given the margin. It's pretty clear we aren't going to know what happened in Virginia anytime soon.

That could mean that control of the Senate will be up in the air, too.

Kansas: AP calls 2nd Congressional District race for Boyda

AP calls it a major upset for Democrat Nancy Boyda.

With 74 percent of the precincts reporting, Boyda had 51 percent of the vote to Ryun's 47 percent. Reform Party candidate Roger Tucker pulled the remaining 2 percent.

Kansas: Boyda & Ryun still not decided in 2nd District

I'm hearing a report from NPR that there was a problem with votes reported from Atchison County. Apparently, votes were incorrectly given to a third party candidate that should have gone to Ryun. That means Boyda's lead has tightened.

It's too early to call this one tonight.

And of course... Democrats take the House!

Oh yeah. I'm sure you've heard already, but I did just want to type that one out. If only the Democrats could take the Senate, but it appears that it won't happen. Missouri looks like it's going Republican, among others.

There's Hope! Gay marriage ban trailing in Arizona

OK, I take back my earlier, gloomy post. It looks like Arizona has a slim change of becoming the first state to defeat a gay marriage ban.

The Arizona Republic reports:

With 69 percent of the polls reporting, 48. 3 percent have voted for while 51.7 percent are voting against the proposition.

The measure would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman and bar state and local governments from giving legal status to unmarried couples.

If Arizon pulls this off, the defeat of the ban would be huge. It would be the first time, a proposed ban has been defeated. So far, though, the margin is thin. Stay tuned.

Kansas Evolution Election: Still too early to call

In the state Board of Education's 7th District, Jack Wempe, the Democrat and pro-science candidate, is locked head-to-head with anti-evolution Republican Ken Willard. If Wempe could pull off a win, that would extend the new pro-science majority on the state board.

So far it looks like the pro-science candidate in the 3rd District, Don Weiss will be defeated by anti-evolution incumbent John Bacon.

Kansas: Democrat Paul Morrison pulls off 18-point victory over Phill Kline

Wow. This is very good news for Kansas. You can argue about whether or not you agree with Kline's policies, but his campaign against Morrison was considered the nastiest in this state in a generation. His loss saves this state from endless copy-cat campaigns of sleaze in the future.

With 1671 of 3290 precincts reporting, Morrison has 59 percent of the vote compared to 41 percent for Kline.

Kansas: Attorney General Phill Kline CONCEDES!

Wahoo!!!! We have a new attorney general. Democrat Paul Morrison wins.

Awful news from Wisconsin - gay marriage ban appears to pass

This is bad. It looks like the marriage and civil union ban has passed in Wisconsin. This was considered one of the best, if not the best chance we had this year to defeat this kind of horrible constitutional ban. Fair Wisconsin was well organized and had a long time to fight this. Damn.

[update]

It looks like all the gay marriage bans are going to win easily. Most of these appear to also ban civil unions, a truly horrible situation that hurts millions of families. Bans are passing in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia (as we already reported) and of course Wisconsin.

Nancy Boyda declares victory in 2nd District

Well, at least that's what the local NPR station is saying. I'm not seeing anything else on this yet from any other source, and AP hasn't called this district yet.

If Boyda actually does win, this is huge.

Possible Shocker: Jim Ryun trails Nancy Boyda in 2nd District

With 50 percent of the vote in, incumbent Republican Ryun is trailing Nancy Boyda. Frankly, without the Bush Factor, I don't see how Boyda could be doing this good. Although Kansas City Star reporter Steve Kraske says that he has heard some grumbling about Ryun lacking in constituent service, that hasn't been a campaign theme.

Boyda went into this race with almost no money and no support from the national party. Stay tuned. This would be big if Ryun goes down.

Kansas: No Surprise - Democrat Kathleen Sebelius is re-elected

AP calls it for Sebelius, who appears to have won a second term as a Democratic governor in a red state. This is hardly a surprise as Republican Jim Barnett never looked like he had a chance. AP writes:

The call for Sebelius was based on a number of factors, including voter turnout, previous voting patterns, and a statistical analysis of the vote from voter interviews conducted for The Associated Press by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.

Whew! It looks like the Democrats are holding on in Maryland

By Nancy Jane Moore

My local NPR station, WAMU, is telling me the Maryland Senate race has been called for Ben Cardin, the Democrat. This seat is currently held by a Democrat, but the incumbent retired this year.

In fact, right now -- just after 11 PM -- Cardin is declaring victory. But the Republican hasn't conceded yet.

The governor's race in Maryland is still neck and neck, but some of the TV networks have apparently called it for the Democrat, Martin O'Malley. The polls were open until 8 PM ET in Maryland, and according to some call-ins on WAMU, people in Prince George's County were still standing in line to vote in at 9:30.

It's also worth noting that a lot of people voted absentee in Maryland. The primary election in Maryland was marred by significant problems with electronic voting machines.

The Virginia Senate race is still too close to call -- less than a percentage point between the candidates. No one has jumped out on a limb and called that one, though Allen is still a little bit ahead.

Things went as expected in the District of Columbia, where Adrian Fenty was officially elected mayor with 90 percent of the vote. So now we can stop saying the "probable" next mayor.

Early returns from the Old Dominion: Gay marriage ban passes

By Nancy Jane Moore

The contested Congressional races here in the mid-Atlantic region are too close to call, but unfortunately the pattern is clear on the gay marriage ban in Virginia: It's going to pass easily. Right now it's passing by 58 to 42 percent, with 76 percent of the vote counted.

This law apparently forecloses even civil unions. Here's what the amendment says:

That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.

This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.

The Virginia Senate race is still too close to call at a little before 10 PM: 50 percent for Allen the Republican, 49 percent for Webb the Democrat. Stay tuned.

Kansas: Strong turnout marks Democratic stronghold

By Diane Silver

I went to the polls in my East Lawrence neighborhood first thing this morning and was pleased to see every voting booth taken. The Lawrence Journal-World has confirmed that turnout appears to be strong in the home of the University of Kansas.

That may well be good news for Democrats in Kansas, including attorney general candidate Paul Morrison and Nancy Boyda. Half of Lawrence is in the 2nd Congressional District where Boyda is battling incumbent Republican Jim Ryun.

On the other hand... I'm not willing to bet on anything until the votes are counted.

Election day plans & open thread

I'll be live blogging election results tonight. Due to a scheduling conflict, I won't be able to begin posting, though, until about 9:30 or 10 pm.

Please use this as an open thread to comment on the election or about any voting problems you've experienced.

Wednesday morning, I'll be blogging about the meaning of it all and the pursuit of life, liberty and, well, morning-after humor - depression - contemplations. Today I find myself wavering back and forth between elation and worry. How do you feel today?

I voted!

Did you?

One thing is certain on this election day

One thing is certain today, and it is very good news, indeed! No matter what happens, the campaign ads finally end.

This has been the nastiest campaign I remember ever seeing in Kansas. I think we can safely give incumbent Attorney General Phill Kline the award for throwing the most mud. That's not an "honor" that anyone should seek.

Election Day: Silver's Kansas picks

By Diane Silver

It's time to put away the complaints, the anger and the frustration. Tomorrow the future of this country will be in our hands. Get out and vote! Get your friends and your family out to vote.

In Kansas, the polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm.

More information about the mechanics of voting is available at the Vote Kansas site. You can also get information from both of the political party sites. Here's a link to the Kansas Democrats.

For those who are interested, I believe the following candidates will support fair laws for all Kansans -- including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens -- and will help change the disastrous course charted by George W. Bush's administration.

U.S. Congress

3rd District - Dennis Moore (D)
I make this recommendation with much angst. By all rights, Moore should be defeated for supporting Bush's Military Commissions Act, which struck at the core civil liberties that are the foundation of our country. However, voting against any Democrat makes it more likely Republicans will control the House. If that happens, there won't be any check on our not-so -beloved president. This is a lousy choice, but the best one we have. Moore is also supportive of fair laws for all, including LGBT people.

2nd District - Nancy Boyda (D)
It's time to rid this state and nation of politicians like Jim Ryun. The incumbent Republican has rubber-stamped Bush and pushed the agenda of the Religious Right. I urge you to vote for Boyda. She has a real chance of winning.

Governor
Kathleen Sebelius (D)

Attorney General
Paul Morrison (D)

Secretary of State
David Haley (D)
I've always voted for incumbent Ron Thornburgh, who seemed like a decent, moderate Republican. He seemed to focus on running his office efficiently. However, the fiasco surrounding the registration of Spanish-speaking voters means that I think he deserves a no vote. Let's give someone else a try.

Insurance Commissioner & Treasurer
I have no strong opinion on either race. None of the candidates seem to be pushing the agenda of the Religious Right, and both seem to be interested in actually doing the jobs instead of pushing another agenda, as has incumbent Attorney Phill Kline.

Kansas State Board of Education
All of these candidates are pro-science moderates. We particularly need to elect Don Weiss and Jack Wempe instead of their anti-science opponents. Victories by Weiss and Wemple will give moderates a firm hold on the state board and make it much harder for the anti-evolution forces to take over the board again. For more the state Board of Education races, see The Kansas Evolution Election: It Isn't Over Yet.

District 1 - Janet Waugh (D)
District 3 - Don Weiss (D)
District 5: Sally Cauble (R) or Tim Cruz (D)
District 7: Jack Wempe (D)
District 9: Kent Runyan (D) or Jana Shaver (R)

Hat tip to Red State Rabble for providing the best coverage of this election.

Kansas House of Representatives
These are the endorsements of the Kansas Equality Coalition-PAC. I support these. Note that KEC-PAC is a non-partisan organization that follows what's called the "friendly incumbent" rule.

All other things being equal, this means that an incumbent with a track record of support for fair laws for LGBT Kansas is endorsed over a challenger. Personally, I think this is a good idea. Politicians who vote with us should always be rewarded. Equally important is the fact that once elected, politicians have been known to ignore their pre-election promises. I know you're shocked by that fact. (Note heavy sarcasm.)

District 3 Julie Menghini (D) Pittsburg
District 7 Richard Proehl (R) Parsons
District 14 Aunesty Janssen (D) Olathe
District 15 Heather Cessna ( D) Olathe
District 16 Gene Rardin (D) Overland Park
District 17 Stephanie Sharp (R) Lenexa
District 19 Thomas C. (Tim) Owens (R) Overland Park
District 20 Kevin Yoder (R) Overland Park
District 22 Sue Storm (D) Overland Park
District 23 Milack Talia ( D) Merriam
District 24 Ed O'Malley (R) Roeland Park
District 25 Terrie Huntington (R) Mission Hills
District 26 Bill Jackson (D) Olathe
District 30 Amy Kamm (D) Lenexa
District 32 Louis Ruiz (D) Kansas City
District 34 Valdenia Winn (D) Kansas City
District 38 Diane Bryant (D) Lenexa
District 39 Corey Mohn (D) Shawnee
District 41 Marti Crow (D) Leavenworth
District 44 Barbara Ballard (D) Lawrence
District 45 Tom Sloan (R) Lawrence
District 46 Paul Davis (D) Lawrence
District 47 James Robert Faris (D) Ozawkie
District 49 Bond Faulwell (D) Overland Park
District 50 Dennis Phillips (D) Topeka
District 52 Lana Gordon (R) Topeka
District 53 Ann Mah (D) Topeka
District 54 Tanya Dorf (D) Topeka
District 55 Annie Kuether (D) Topeka
District 56 Annie Tietze (D) Topeka
District 57 Vaughn Flora (D) Topeka
District 58 Harold Lane (D) Topeka
District 60 Don Hill (R) Emporia
District 65 Barbara Craft (R) Junction City
District 66 Sydney Carlin (D) Manhattan
District 67 Tom Hawk (D) Manhattan
District 76 Susan Fowler (D) Emporia
District 78 Ed Trimmer (D) Winfield
District 83 Jo Ann Pottorf (R) Wichita
District 84 Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D) Wichita
District 86 Judith Loganbill (D) Wichita
District 89 Melody McCray-Miller (D) Park City
District 91 Walt Chappell (D) Wichita
District 92 Nile Dillmore (D) Wichita
District 93 Marcey Gregory (D) Goddard
District 95 Tom Sawyer (D) Wichita
District 96 Terry McLachlan (D) Wichita
District 98 Geraldine Flaherty (D) Wichita
District 99 Charlie Mahoney (D) Wichita
District 100 Grady Kallenbach (D) Wichita
District 101 Mark Treaster (D) Pretty Prairie
District 103 Delia Garcia (D) Wichita
District 108 Joshua Lee Svaty (D) Ellsworth

Kansas: Poll shows easy victories for Democrats Paul Morrison & Kathleen Sebelius

A new SurveyUSA poll released today shows that Democrat Paul Morrison looks to be on his way to an easy victory over incumbent Republican Attorney General Phill Kline. Morrison has a 13 point lead, the same he had a month ago.

Washburn University Political Science Professor Bob Beatty says Kline's nasty ads attacking Morrison may have actually hurt the incumbent.

As part of a project on Kansas political advertising I've viewed over 250 Kansas political ads from the years 1968 to present and haven't seen anything quite like the two ads on the sex case that Kline ran - and there might be a reason for that - which is Kansans don't like them.

The poll also shows Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius cruising to an easy win over her Republican opponent Jim Barnett, among other things.

Kansas: Yet another call for a Phill Kline investigation

Did Phill Kline leak abortion patients' medial records to a TV host? Attorneys for two clinics are calling for an investigation.

Could Blogger be working for the Republicans? This darn thing won't post this. It keeps wiping out the link and several paragraphs. The Kansas City Star and others are reporting the call for an investigation. Stay tuned...

Pundit predicts Democratic sweep in Kansas & Missouri

By Diane Silver

I respect Kansas City Star columnist and political reporter Steve Kraske, so it is with a bit of surprise and, well, hope that I note his most recent column.

Kraske predicts that although some of the margins may be slim, Democrats Paul Morrison, Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Boyda will win in Kansas. That means Democrats would pick up the attorney general's seat, keep the governor's seat and win a second Congressional district. Kraske is also predicting a slim victory for Claire McCaskill in the Missouri senate race.

He has some interesting analysis of why Boyda will win (not my rationale). He is also predicting that the Missouri stem cell proposal will pass.

I'm crossing my fingers that he's right.

Meanwhile, polls are showing that the campaign has tightened nationally.

Kansas Alert: Boyda charges GOP with fake calls

Two posts on this topic appear to have just disappeared off the front page of my blog, and I can't seem to get them back. (urrrrrr)

Oddly enough, the posts still exist. You can find:

More on apparent GOP calls

Nancy Boyda charges GOP with making harassing phone calls

Everyone: Walk outside and look up

By Diane Silver

As we head into the final weekend before the election, it might do us all good to go outside for a few minutes, look around at what, at least in Kansas, is a beautiful day and take a deep breath.

The branches are dark and spotted with the few yellow and red leaves remaining. The crisp autumn smell brings up memories of childhood romps through crinkly piles of dry leaves.

The sun is already beginning to go down, deepening the blue of the sky. High above my head puffs of white dot the blue. Lower on the horizon long streaks of gray parallel the ground.

If I stand out here long enough and think only of the smell of the air and the cool touch of it on my cheek, then I remember: Tuesday is important, but it isn't everything.

-----------------------------------
I just moved the location of this to the top of the blog. All the latest news and commentary is below.

Kansas: Fake polls flood state

The Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission has been flooded with complaints about so-called push polls. Portrayed as opinion polls, these telephone calls either include nasty messages about candidates or lead to a follow up phone call with such a message.

Not a surprise: Democratic Attorney General candidate Paul Morrison is the subject of the telephone attacks. This is just the latest in a series of nasty attacks from pro-Phill Kline forces that have been so bad The Wichita Eagle dubbed them "bottom-feeder politics."

Kline's campaign said it had nothing to do with the push poll and attacked it as "vulgar." Uh huh.

The Topeka Capital-Journal writes:

"One woman was almost in tears," said Carol Williams, director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission, whose agency received a wave of complaints on Thursday.

Kansas: Attorney General Phill Kline "abandoned consumers"

The Wichita Eagle has finally picked up on the story about the poor performance of Attorney General Phill Kline's Consumer Protection Division.

After he took office, Kline and his new consumer chief, Byron Brown, transformed the office. The Eagle writes:

Steve Rarrick, who headed the department under former attorney general Carla Stovall Steckline, said Kline "has abandoned consumers."

"I believe Attorney General (Bob) Stephan cared about consumer protection, and so did Attorney General Stovall," he said. "Mr. Kline clearly does not."

Despite my rather one-sided headline, The Eagle's story is even handed and provides good detail, comparing how consumers faired under Stovall and Kline.

I'm glad to see the Eagle finally picking up on this angle, which for some odd reason, has been largely ignored by most of the mainstream media. Kudos to the Lawrence Journal-World for being the exception.

Kansas: Phill Kline's claim of martyrdom is "baloney"

Former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan -- himself a born-again Christian -- is taking the current occupant of the attorney general's post to task. Current AG Phill Kline has recently begun to claim that anti-Christian sentiments are behind his failing political fortune.

Stephan notes what Attorney General Phill Kline ignores -- the fact that his Democratic opponent, Paul Morrison, is also a Christian.

Kudos to The Wichita Eagle for the comments from Stephan and for a marvelous editorial in today's paper. The Eagle writes:

The Eagle editorial board this week spoke with former Republican Attorney General Bob Stephan, who said Kline's attempt to portray his opponents as anti-Christian was "baloney." He said people are turning against Kline "because of the way he's conducted himself."

Kansas: GOP poll shows Jim Ryun trailing Nancy Boyda

By Diane Silver

What once seemed hilariously impossible now seems like a possible dream come true. Democrat Nancy Boyda may well knock off incumbent Republican Jim Ryun in the 2nd Congressional District in Kansas. Note that I'm not saying that. The source of that insight is the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The National Journal reports:

As of early this week, an NRCC poll showed Ryun down 2 points to Dem Nancy Boyda.

I realize that a 2-point lead is within the margin of error of any poll. Such a "lead" could vanish in an instant, but the fact that Boyda has any kind of a lead is rather earthshaking for Kansas politics. Charlie Cook's comments are worth reading:

"For those who were not paying close attention to politics in 1994 or whose focus was on a single state or district, the concept of a 'wave election' is foreign and is radically different from the "all politics is local" elections of 1996-2004. For others whose sympathies lie with Republicans, it is difficult to deal with the possibility, or growing probability, of a profound rejection of their party -- that Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman could actually lose an election. For diehard Democrats, who are s so used to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, they are having a hard time seeing their party actually win a majority in the House for the first time in five elections."

I'm beginning to view the Ryun-Boyda race for the 2nd Congressional District in Kansas as a bit of a canary in a coal mine. The canary served as a warning. If the bird died, then miners knew dangerous gas was building up.

The 2nd District in Kansas isn't what you'd call a liberal hotbed. Although it includes part of the most liberal town in Kansas, the district was drawn by the Republican Legislature to dilute the power of all those progressives in my hometown.

Ryun, meanwhile, is an Olympic hero with huge backing from the Religious Right. Boyda has run this campaign with little to no national help until very recently.

Cook may well be right.

Meanwhile, it's been confirmed that our not-so-beloved president is coming to Topeka to campaign for Ryun. George W. Bush will speak at a 6:20 p.m. rally at the Kansas Expocentre. You'll note that Bush isn't speaking or even getting close to Lawrence. He would not get a warm welcome here.

Kansas Politics: Phill Kline gets his records; Bob Stephan wants answers & more

By Diane Silver

Five days to the election and counting, and it's all politics all the time out here in the great iconic red state of Kansas.

First up in today's election roundup: A look at incumbent Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who is locked in a tight race with Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison.

After what seems like an eon of legal wrangling, Kline finally received on Oct. 24 the medical records of 90 females who got abortions from two Kansas clinics. What will happen next? No one, apparently, knows.

The clinics who were forced to give over their medical records fear an election-eve raid. The Wichita Eagle urges Kline to "fish or cut bait."

Meanwhile, Kline claims that his raid on the medical records is motivated by nothing other then the wish to uncover rapes and incest and prosecute the evil doers. I find that I'm confused, though.

I have to admit that I haven't followed every twist in this case, but it is clear from the mainstream media coverage that the patient's identities were deleted from the records.

So, let me ask what may be a stupid question: How can Kline use these records to prosecute rapists or child abusers -- if the records do show those crimes -- when the records don't identify the victims? It appears that the only thing Kline can do with these records is possibly, if there's been a crime, prosecute doctors.

Honestly, I do want answers (no kidding here). I know pro-Kline people read this blog, so I ask you: What am I missing? How do you prosecute a rape if you don't know who was raped?

Coincidentally, Kline was announcing the receipt of those all-important records as former Kansas Attorney General Bob Stephan, also a Republican, was asking the state to look into possible unethical campaign fundraising by Kline.

The Lawrence Journal-World writes:

Stephan requested that the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission look into Kline's fundraising at churches and $41,552 in unitemized contributions he reported on his campaign finance statement filed this week.

...That was far more in unitemized contributions than any of the other statewide candidates listed.

For example, Kline's Democratic challenger Paul Morrison raised twice as much as Kline -- $1.25 million -- and listed only $50 in unitemized contributions.

"Unitemized contributions" mean that donors' names aren't listed. Thus, we have no idea who gave that more than $41,000 to Kline. His campaign says he will give an itemized list of donors to the state. We should pay attention to see if he does.

Finally, on the election hit parade: Details and more details on who gave how much to which candidate. These are the first detailed stories to be published now that reporters have had a chance to shift through the campaign finance reports filed on Monday.

One of the more interesting tidbits to come from these stories was the fact that a number of Republicans have given to the re-election campaign of Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Citing disgust, Kansas sheriff withdraws support for Phill Kline

The Iola Register reports that Allen County Sheriff Tom Williams -- a Republican -- has withdrawn his endorsement of Attorney General Phill Kline.

In a letter to the newspaper, Williams said he was dropping his support for the Republican incumbent because of the Kline campaign's attempt to "demonize" his Democratic opponent, Paul Morrison. Williams was upset about Kline's ads trumping up a 15-year-old unproven, uncorroborated and thrown-out-of court sexual harassment accusation made by one woman against Morrison.

Williams told the Register:

"I have withdrawn by active support for Mr. Kline and his re-election. I do not want my name or my office associated with the type of politics that tries to demonize an individual or could result in hurting his family."

Meanwhile, The Wichita Eagle's WE Blog notes "Another week, another appalling Kline ad."

For those who might have forgotten in the midst of all the mud slinging, Morrison is the long-time and well-respected district attorney in Johnson County. You can donate to Morrison through his web site.

A "welcome" change: Kansas City Star says dump Ryun for Boyda

Noting significant differences between Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda and incumbent Republican Jim Ryun, the Kansas City Star today endorsed Boyda for the 2nd District Congressional seat.

The Star writes:

Kansans in the 2nd U.S. House District who want to see significant changes in Washington have a logical choice: Nancy Boyda, an outspoken advocate for reform at home and wiser policies abroad.

In view of Washington's poor record over the last two years, the case for a determined reformer like Boyda is even stronger than when she first sought the seat in 2004.

You can contribute to Boyda's campaign by visiting her web site.

Yet another Republican can't stand it anymore

This isn't a Kansas defection, but it is still relevant because of the passion of his argument. This time the upset Republican is Balloon Juice blogger John Cole, who started with the GOP in 1984, going to county meetings and even attending Teenage Republican camp.

Cole writes:

I don't know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don't know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson's for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don't know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a "terrorist-enabler" than to swing back. I don't know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of... liberal media bias.

And it makes me mad. I still think of myself as a Republican- but I think the whole party has been hijacked by frauds and religionists and crooks and liars and corporate shills, and it frustrates me to no end to see my former friends enabling them, and I wonder "Why can"t they see what I see?" I don't think I am crazy, I don't think my beliefs have changed radically, and I don't think I have been (as suggested by others) brainwashed by my commentariat.

It's Official: Incumbent Kansas Congressman Jim Ryun may be close to defeat

By Diane Silver

From The Cook Political Report to Republican incumbent Jim Ryun himself, it's now unanimous: The 2nd District Congressional race in Kansas is so tight that something once thinkable is possible. Ryun might be defeated.

Ryun's acknowledgment today of the race's close nature marked the first time he has shown any doubt about his future.

The fact that there is even the tiniest chance Ryun might lose is amazing given that political pundits and even the Democratic Party once gave Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda no chance of winning. The Kansas City Star even wrote what amounted to Boyda's political obituary on Sept. 14.

More evidence of Ryun's desperation: President Bush is now reportedly scheduled to campaign for Ryun this coming week in Kansas. The question, though, is whether Bush will help or hurt the struggling member of the far right.

The recent visit of Vice President Dick Cheney didn't seem to do much for Ryun outside of raising a few bucks. Even out here in red-state Kansas, you have to wonder how much Bush can do to help a candidate.

[update]

At this point, Bush only gets a 41 percent approval rating in the entire state of Kansas. Eastern Kansas where the 2nd District is located has the lowest opinion of our president with only 36 percent of those surveyed viewing Bush favorably. The SurveyUSA poll was taken Oct. 12-Oct. 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Kansas: Phill Kline's bait and switch politics hurt everyone, even the Religious Right

By Diane Silver

Attorney General Phill Kline may well be hurting the people he claims to most represent -- the members of the Religious Right. I say that because all of us -- whether fundamentalist or secular -- can fall prey to fraud and unethical business practices.

If the attorney general is in the pocket of corporate interests and lets his Consumer Protection Unit fall into disarray, then we all suffer, including members of the Religious Right. That appears to be exactly what Kline has done, and now corporations are dumping money into his campaign in a desperate move to keep Kline in office.

Kline's less-then-stellar campaign fundraising has been bolstered by more than $1.5 million in advertising financed by the Republican State Leadership Committee. Neither Kansas based nor primarily political, the committee is a Washington, D.C. group of corporations.

That $1.5 million -- a large amount by Kansas standards -- was spent in just nine days on advertising slamming Kline's Democratic opponent, Paul Morrison. The ads attacked Morrison for being soft on crime, an issue that is not a part of the committee's pro-growth agenda.

This news comes as Kline's Consumer Protection Unit reports that the amount of money it has collected from companies that fleece consumers has taken a huge drop. The Lawrence Journal-World reports:

For 2005, Kline's consumer protection division reported consumer savings of $921,533. In 2004, the total was nearly $375,000.

Those totals are less than the last two years of Kline's predecessor, former Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall Steckline.

In 2002, Steckline's office saved consumers nearly $2.9 million, and in 2001 the figure was nearly $9.3 million, according to state reports.

Kline appears to have undermined the Consumer Protection unit by hiring Bryan Brown to lead it. Brown is most well known for his multitude of arrests as an anti-abortion protestor -- not for his expertise as a fraud fighter.

Brown calls the drop in his division's numbers as a "mid-course correction" that is fighting against what he told the Topeka Capital-Journal is the "nanny state." In other words, the head of the division that is supposed to protect Kansas consumers seems most concerned with protecting corporations.

The attitude of Brown and Kline may best be shown in a report Brown recently released to the news media. The report notes:

"As such the 'slow down' in the transfer of wealth from law-abiding businesses to complaining consumers constitutes statistical proof that the reforms of 2003 have remedied state action often accused of overreaching due to a seeming anti-business bias."

This is the clearest example I've seen of the bait and switch tactics Thomas Frank described in his bestseller, What's The Matter With Kansas.

Many of the people campaigning for Kline think they're fighting against abortion. In reality, they are fighting to make it harder for themselves, their families and their neighbors to be protected against unfair business practices.

That seems to be a distinction that the corporate community understands to the tune of more than $1.5 million.

I wonder when the Religious Right will get it.

The British tackle global warming, while the Bush administration takes up the fiddle

By Nancy Jane Moore

US spending on all energy technology research -- not just on that related to less polluting versions -- is less than half of what it was a quarter century ago.

Today's New York Times says:

[Energy spending] has sunk to $3 billion a year in the current budget from an inflation-adjusted peak of $7.7 billion in 1979, according to several different studies. . . .

President Bush has sought an increase to $4.2 billion for 2007, but that would still be a small fraction of what most climate and energy experts say would be needed.

Federal spending on medical research, by contrast, has nearly quadrupled, to $28 billion annually, since 1979. Military research has increased 260 percent, and at more than $75 billion a year is 20 times the amount spent on energy research.

Clearly, the US is not taking global warming seriously. Fortunately, other people are. The British government released a report today from Sir Nicholas Stern, who heads the UK Government Economics Service and advises the country on the economics of climate change and development.

In the executive summary, Stern writes "the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs." He summarizes:

If no action is taken to reduce emissions, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could reach double its pre-industrial level as early as 2035, virtually committing us to a global average temperature rise of over 2 [degrees] C. In the longer term, there would be more than a 50% chance that the temperature rise would exceed 5 [degrees] C. This rise would be very dangerous indeed; it is equivalent to the change in average temperatures from the last ice age to today. Such a radical change in the physical geography of the world must lead to major changes in the human geography -- where people live and how they live their lives.

Even at more moderate levels of warming, all the evidence -- from detailed studies of regional and sectoral impacts of changing weather patterns through to economic models of the global effects -- shows that climate change will have serious impacts on world output, on human life and on the environment.

All countries will be affected. The most vulnerable -- the poorest countries and populations -- will suffer earliest and most, even though they have contributed least to the causes of climate change. The costs of extreme weather, including floods, droughts and storms, are already rising, including for rich countries.

The whole report runs some 700 pages. You can download it chapter by chapter in pdf form online, or wait until December to purchase it in book form.

The Times says of the Stern report:

The report emphasized that global warming can only be fought with the cooperation of major countries such as the United States and China, and represents a huge contrast to the Bush administration's wait-and-see global warming policies.

This article also notes that former Vice President Al Gore has agreed to advise the British government on climate change.

The Washington Post report on the Stern report played the usual journalistic balancing game of getting quotes from both environmentalists and those who don't think global warming is a problem. It ended its report with the following observation from Alden Meyer, strategy and policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists:

The Stern report exposes the bankruptcy of the arguments of President Bush and some in Congress and industry that taking action on global warming will hurt the economy. ... In fact, just the opposite is true -- it's the refusal to take serious action that poses the true risk to our future economic prosperity.

However, The Post also quoted from Jerry Taylor, whom it described as "a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, which accepts contributions from fossil-fuel companies."

There's just a very small part of GDP [in industrialized nations] that's affected by weather in a direct or indirect way. ... It's very difficult to sketch out this disaster scenario.

I've only read about half of the 27-page executive summary (pdf) so far, but it seems to me that increases in the intensity of storms, forest fires, droughts, flooding, heat waves and hurricanes are going to have a direct effect on the GDP of the US.

Stern's report isn't all negative: He begins the short version of the executive summary -- this one is only 4 pages (pdf) -- with these words:

There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we take strong action now.

But perhaps the most important thing about the Stern report is that is shows that at least one government is actually taking global warming seriously. Too bad it isn't the government of the country that is contributing the most to the problem.

Kansas: Phill Kline sows the seeds of defeat

By Diane Silver

A longtime darling of the Religious Right -- Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline -- may unwittingly have created a roadmap to victory for his opposition.

The highway to victory is named decency.

And, the key to success for moderates and progressives is to realize that the Religious Right can't win without the support of moderate Republicans. Without the collusion of moderates, there simply aren't enough rightwing voters to carry an election, even in Kansas.

I started thinking about this while reading AP Statehouse Bureau Chief John Hanna's interesting analysis of the campaign that has pitted Kline against Democrat Paul Morrison.

Hanna paints a picture of moderate GOP leaders who are appalled by the nastiness and lack of integrity in the campaign Kline has run. These moderate Republicans are wondering if basic human decency trumps party loyalty.

The one thing Hanna rather bafflingly misses is the fact that disgust with Kline has already lead many Republicans to endorse Morrison.

These Republicans include former Attorney General Bob Stephan who quit his job in Kline's office and blew the whistle on the details of Kline's church fundraising. Former Attorney General Carla Stovall has endorsed Morrison. Even state government's other Phil Kline, old "One L Classic Kline," a retired legislative leader endorsed Morrison last week.

Hanna writes:

Now moderate Republicans can't keep state government's second most important elective office in GOP hands unless they reward a candidate who has run the roughest campaign Kansas has seen in at least a generation. It raises a natural question: Will a Kline victory encourage more of the same?

"As far as moderate Republicans, I do not think they approve of this kind of campaigning," said Sen. Dwayne Umbarger, R-Thayer, chairman of his chamber's powerful budget committee. "I don't think this belonged anywhere in this political process."

Kansas: Phill Kline's campaign for attorney general in a nutshell

By Diane Silver

I was browsing a fascinating AP analysis of the Kansas attorney general's race and came across a nutshell summation of Republican incumbent Phill Kline's campaign.

I'm not certain writer John Hanna meant this to wrap up the campaign in a nice, little package, but to my eyes, it certainly does.

Kline's entire campaign has come down to one thing: Throwing mud at his Democratic opponent, Paul Morrison. Kline's claim is that no one should vote for Morrison because of a 15-year-old, unproven accusation of sexual harassment from one person, a former employee named Kelly Summerlin.

Hanna writes:

The claims came from a fired employee who found no witnesses to corroborate her story and didn't receive any damages at the close of her litigation -- which was 13 years ago.

After all the money, the questionable church-based fundraising, the misleading tv ads and the flip-flopping lies from the candidate himself, Kline's campaign comes down to uncorroborated claims.

If Kline wins on this platform, all of Kansas is in serious trouble.

Kansas: Nancy Boyda takes lead over Ryun & the Netroots helps her raise money

By Diane Silver

The times may be seriously changin'...

Democrat Nancy Boyda just released another poll showing that she has a slight lead over incumbent Republican Congressman Jim Ryun. With the margin of error, it's safe to say that the race is neck-and-neck.

Meanwhile, Ryun's staff downplayed her poll at the same time they refused to release any of Ryun's internal polling. Such a stand leads political observers, well at least this observer, to think that Ryun's own numbers aren't that good.

When the campaign started, pundits talked as if the voting was a mere formality. The seat of the former Olympic star was seen as being the safest of the safe.

The fact that the Boyda campaign has any life, though, shows the depth of voters' anger at Republican incumbents -- and the fact that this is happening in Kansas, of all places, is truly fascinating. At the same time, Boyda hasn't broadcast a single commercial, as far as I know. Imagine what she could do if she had some money.

Whether this anger translates into a victory for Boyda and/or a Democratic takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives remains to be seen.

Speaking of money, AMERICAblog.com -- one of the biggest liberal blogs -- is now actively soliciting donations for Boyda. This is the first time the netroots have taken up her cause.

Reactions to the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling on equal protection for gay unions

The New Jersey Supreme Court certainly got everyone's attention. The day after the decision came down, Doug Ireland -- a gay man who very much supports same sex marriage -- worried about the potential backlash on the progressive ezine TomPaine.com.

The Washington Post says the right wing has leaped on it in the hope that they can use it to turn out their conservative base on November 7. Bush ran around the country talking about "activist judges" and calling heterosexual marriage a "sacred institution," according to The Post.

But even The Post praised the ruling on its editorial page:

There is no good reason why same-sex couples in loving and committed relationships should not be granted affirmative recognition from state governments -- recognition that carries with it the rights and responsibilities of marriage.

The New York Times said outright that it "supports gay marriage." Their editorial implied that they would have preferred to see the court use the "M" word, but they applauded the expansion of full marriage-type rights:

The court ruling secures important rights, and paves the way for the full equality that will no doubt come.

And today's TomPaine.com includes a piece by Evan Wolfson on how to build an effective campaign for gay marriage.

For those who are disappointed that the ruling stopped short of requiring use of the term marriage, Jack Balkin has an interesting post on Balkinization on why the way the New Jersey court handled this may be more effective in the long term than the Massachusetts high court's ruling upholding gay marriage:

Same-sex marriage is an especially divisive issue at this point in our country's history. It is far better for courts to attempt to engage democratically elected legislatures in the task of designing appropriate remedies. That does not mean that courts should abdicate judicial review of what legislatures come up with. Rather, it means that in responding to challenges to marriage laws by same sex couples, courts should explain what the key constitutional principles are that must be satisfied and then leave it to legislatures to make the political compromises necessary to satisfy them. This will result in all of the branches of state government agreeing on how to resolve the question, and therefore it will greatly enhance the democratic legitimacy of the ultimate result.

The ruling still smacks of separate but equal to me, but Balkin might be right about the process.

We wrote about the ruling here.

The court's opinion can be found in pdf format here.

Yet another Kansas Republican endorses Democrat Morrison. This time it's Phil Kline!

By Diane Silver

Oh this is fun.... Not only is another Kansas Republican endorsing the Democratic opponent of Attorney General Phill Kline, but the person turning his back on the GOP attorney general is none other than Phil Kline himself.

That's Phil with one "L," or Classic Kline as he was once known in the Kansas Legislature. I remember the elder Kline -- a staunch Republican -- as a well-respected legislative leader who was willing to take up tasks ignored by Phill the Younger (That's the 2 "L" attorney general). Those tasks are such "little things" as keeping your word and telling the truth.

Classic Kline's endorsement follows the nod of other Republicans including former Attorney General Carla Stovall. And, of course, then there was the very Republican former attorney general, Bob Stephan, who blew the whistle on the worst of Kline the Younger's church fund-raising activities.

Folks not familiar with Kansas Politics should take note: Until this year, the rule in GOP circles was that it was OK to slash each other to pieces in the primary. However, one Republican never EVER opposed a fellow member of the GOP in the general election.

I guess you can only push people of integrity so far.

East Coast elections: The Washington Post blows it again

By Nancy Jane Moore

The supposedly "liberal" Washington Post has endorsed the right-wing Republican current governor of Maryland for another term.

Here in the Washington, D.C., metro area we're all scratching our heads over this one. One of The Post reasons -- that two-party politics would be good for Maryland -- might make since if Bob Ehrlich was a moderate Republican. But he's far to the right of most residents of Maryland, a very blue state.

It's not an accident that Ehrlich was the first Republican elected governor in Maryland since Spiro Agnew. (Remember Agnew? Nixon's Vice President who resigned in disgrace after being accused of taking bribes while he was governor of Maryland? And Agnew was a moderate, elected because he supported integration while the Democrat opposed it.) Ehrlich was elected in the first place because of the political state of affairs in 2002 and the fact the Democratic candidate ran a bad campaign, not because anyone really agreed with him.

My friend Alice says The Post endorsed him because they've never met a pro-developer candidate they didn't like. And it's true that about the only accomplishment Ehrlich can point to is ramming through the inter-county connector -- a freeway that will connect I-95 with I-270 and cut through established residential neighborhoods in Montgomery County. Developers love it; ordinary citizens hate it.

Otherwise he's done things like cut health benefits for children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants -- a decision that was fortunately just struck down (pdf alert) by the Maryland Court of Appeals. As The Post editorial points out, Maryland has enjoyed good economic times during Ehrlich's term -- because of the general economic health of this region, not due to his policies -- so cutting benefits from the needy shouldn't have been necessary. Nor should tuition increases at state colleges and other financial attacks on higher education, which are other marks of his administration.

The Post endorsement is a little forced; they describe the man as a "generally proficient, pragmatic governor, if not always a disciplined or mature one." Pragmatic is probably accurate -- he's come out in favor of stem cell research as a candidate, after opposing it as governor -- but I'd question proficient. The immaturity has been obvious in his spats with reporters.

Actually, though, an article in today's Post makes the whole endorsement clearer. It appears that the Democratic candidate, Mayor Martin O'Malley of Baltimore, has made some powerful enemies in his career. The Post notes that former Governor William Donald Schaefer and prominent lawyer and Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, among others, hate O'Malley.

If the measure of someone is who his enemies are, O'Malley is doing fine by me. Schaefer was a decent governor, but he's become a caricature of himself: Although he's the current state comptroller, he managed to lose the Democratic primary in part because he made stupid sexist comments about one of his opponents.

As for Angelos -- well, any baseball fan will tell you he's ruined the Orioles. Granted, he's got lots of money, which he's apparently spending on Ehrlich, but I'm sure it will bring more votes O'Malley's way if people know he's on the other side.

Perhaps O'Malley also stepped on some toes at the upper echelons at The Post. The article doesn't mention it, but it might explain the endorsement.

O'Malley has done a decent job as Baltimore mayor. He gets a lot of African American support, even though he's white, and is generally popular in the city. And his political views are definitely a better fit with moderate to liberal Maryland than those of a right-wing Republican in the Bush mold. Supporting him makes a lot of sense.

As for The Post -- well, I pretty much gave up on their editorial page when they sucked up to Bush and waxed enthusiastic about invading Iraq. Of late some of their reporters have done a decent job of showing what an unqualified disaster the Bush administration has been, but their editorials have been, at best, mealy-mouthed, and at worst, right-wing nonsense like the endorsement of Ehrlich.

The Post has cut a lot of staff in recent years. Maybe they've joined the rest of corporate American and started outsourcing work. Some of their editorials sure sound like they were written by the Wall Street Journal.

Phill Kline, "unsubstantiated allegations," Kansas fury -- or the lack of it

By Diane Silver

The race for Kansas attorney general may well boil down to one thing: How closely are voters paying attention?

Will all the mud that Kline is slinging stick in voters' minds because they haven't paid attention to detail? That is obviously what Kline hopes. Unfortunately, too often in the past, the Big Lie method of propoganda -- repeat a lie as if it were true and people believe it -- has worked.

What's important for voters to remember, though, is that it's not just one isolated, liberal blogger who is furious about Kline's tactics. I've watched Kansas politics closely for 20 years now, and I have never seen anything as nasty and underhanded as Kline's campaign.

His mudslinging has been condemned by both of the state's major newspapers. Even Republicans are disgusted by the way Kline is using an unproven allegation to try to woe women voters, who are his weakest demographic.

I think Phillip Brownlee from The Wichita Eagle said it best today in the WE Blog:

If a 15-year-old, unproven accusation is the best Kline can come up with to try to tarnish his opponent's sterling reputation, Morrison must really be impressive. And if our state's top attorney treats unsubstantiated allegations as if they had been proved true, it's time for a better attorney.

Kansas: IRS gets complaint against Phill Kline fundraising, Kelly Summerlin & more

By Diane Silver

The race for Kansas attorney general was expected to be close, but I doubt if anyone thought it was going to get as personal and wild as it has. Today's latest:

--> A nonpartisan legal watchdog group has officially filed a complaint with the IRS, saying that Attorney General Phill Kline's church-based fundraising violates at least two churches' tax-exempt status. The key legal point: In a memo he wrote outlining his church strategy, Kline named two churches as having done a "lit drop" for him, and told his staff to arrange church events and other literature drops. To keep their tax exempt status, churches cannot advocate or work for political candidates.

--> Kelly Summerlin -- the woman at the center of a 15-year-old unproven and twice dismissed complaint against Democratic candidate Paul Morrison -- met with reporters in interviews set up by the Kline campaign. The upshot? Although Summerlin says she stands by her sexual harassment accusation, Summerlin proved there was no settlement of the case. Kline's campaign keeps claiming the case was settled. Summerlin said she did not receive a cent from Morrison.

Summerlin has since married and changed her name. The interviews were set up on the condition that journalists refrain from using her married name and showing her face. Thus, she gets to smear Morrison, while protecting her current identity. The Topeka Capital-Journal has a detailed interview with Summerlin that provides the most pro-Kline, anti-Morrison view of the incident.

--> Declaring that pulling a commercial is just politics as usual, an out-of-state group has cancelled broadcast of an anti-Morrison TV ad. The controversial ad said that Morrison and Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius were on opposite sides of a 2003 crime bill, when in fact, they both supported the final bill.

--> Describing yet another ad by Kline as "underhanded" and "downright shameful," a Kansas Republican organization has called on Kline to pull the commercial. This ad attempts to smear Morrison with the Summerlin complaint by portraying unproven accusations as reality and engages in a little play acting to do it. One of the most important Republican leaders in the state -- Senate President Steve Morris -- also told reporters that the ad should be pulled.

* Meanwhile, anti-Kline mailings were linked to Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita doctor who does abortions. The group doing the mailing, which is not connected to Morrison, should have been clearer about its identity, but I don't see how this is big news. Everyone knows Tiller opposes Kline.

Today's money quote comes from the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, the group that has filed the complaint with the IRS. Speaking about Kline, the executive director said:

"This is the top law enforcement official in the state who is encouraging everyone to break the law," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group. "He's either abysmally unfamiliar with the law, or he's deliberately violating it."

The New Jersey Supreme Court finds a right to same sex unions, but refuses to go all the way

By Nancy Jane Moore

Stopping short of finding a fundamental right to same-sex marriage, the New Jersey Supreme Court concluded Wednesday that "denying rights and benefits to committed same-sex couples that are statutorily given to their heterosexual counterparts violates the equal protection guarantee" of the state constitution. The court said:

Although we cannot find that a fundamental right to same-sex marriage exists in this State, the unequal dispensation of rights and benefits to committed same-sex partners can no longer be tolerated under our State Constitution.

The high court instructed the state legislature to:

either amend the marriage statutes to include same-sex couples or create a parallel statutory structure, which will provide for, on equal terms, the rights and benefits enjoyed and burdens and obligations borne by married couples. We will not presume that a separate statutory scheme, which uses a title other than marriage, contravenes equal protection principles, so long as the rights and benefits of civil marriage are made equally available to same-sex couples.

Three justices (out of the seven on the court) dissented in part. While they agreed with the majority that it is a violation of equal protection to deny rights and benefits to committed same sex couples that are allowed to heterosexual couples, they said, in the words of Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz:

I can find no principled basis, however, on which to distinguish those rights and benefits from the right to the title of marriage, and therefore dissent from the majority's opinion insofar as it declines to recognize that right among all of the other rights and benefits that will be available to samesex couples in the future.

In other words, no one on the court was opposed to legal recognition of same sex relationships.

The decision was disappointing to some gay rights advocates, who felt it did not go far enough. The New York Times quoted Garden State Equality chair Steven Goldstein as saying "Those who would view today's ruling as a victory for same sex couples are dead wrong."

However, while the ruling certainly contains a whiff of "separate but equal" -- a judicial philosophy whose failure is manifest -- the decision should not be dismissed out of hand because it does not go as far as we want it to go. The tone of the opinion leaves no doubt that the justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court think that same sex relationships deserve the same legal respect as opposite sex ones:

We conclude that denying to committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose.

The debate on the New Jersey court was not over whether to legally recognize same sex relationships or whether such relationships should be treated in the same way as heterosexual marriage -- all the justices agreed on those points -- but only on whether the state constitution required them to call that recognition marriage. Given that other supposedly progressive courts have been unable to find even the equal protection right set out in this opinion, I think the New Jersey ruling can be read as a step in the right direction.

But don't take my word for it. Go read the opinion for yourself (pdf file).

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline goes back on pledge

The Wichita Eagle's WE Blog reports that Attorney General Phill Kline's new negative ad attacking opponent Paul Morrison is not only sleazy, but also contradicts a statement (dare we say pledge?) that Kline made to the newspaper's editorial board.

Eagle blogger Phillip Brownlee writes:

Kline also says on the video that he won't use the old allegation in his campaign. That didn't last long.

The ad portrays a 15-year-old allegation against Morrison as fact, and does so by using an actor to portray Morrison as saying words he disputes saying. The sexual harassment allegation by district attorney staffer Kelly Summerlin involves one incident of one comment. The case was first dismissed for lack of evidence, and then a second lawsuit was dropped. The case was not settled, report the attorneys who represented Summerlin.

Kansas Equality Coalition-PAC endorses 53 candidates for state House

By Diane Silver

KEC-PAC, the political action committee for the Kansas Equality Coalition, has endorsed both Republicans and Democrats for the state House of Representative.

The state Senate is not up for election this year.

Based on each candidate's record and questionnaires, KEC-PAC selected candidates who are the most likely to support fair laws and equality for all Kansans and their families.

KEC-PAC did not endorse in every district. When an endorsement wasn't made either both candidates were awful, or the committee didn't have enough information to make an decision.

The endorsed candidates are:
District 3 Julie Menghini (D) Pittsburg
District 7 Richard Proehl (R) Parsons
District 14 Aunesty Janssen (D) Olathe
District 15 Heather Cessna ( D) Olathe
District 16 Gene Rardin (D) Overland Park
District 17 Stephanie Sharp (R) Lenexa
District 19 Thomas C. (Tim) Owens (R) Overland Park
District 20 Kevin Yoder (R) Overland Park
District 22 Sue Storm (D) Overland Park
District 23 Milack Talia ( D) Merriam
District 24 Ed O'Malley (R) Roeland Park
District 25 Terrie Huntington (R) Mission Hills
District 26 Bill Jackson (D) Olathe
District 30 Amy Kamm (D) Lenexa
District 32 Louis Ruiz (D) Kansas City
District 34 Valdenia Winn (D) Kansas City
District 38 Diane Bryant (D) Lenexa
District 39 Corey Mohn (D) Shawnee
District 41 Marti Crow (D) Leavenworth
District 44 Barbara Ballard (D) Lawrence
District 45 Tom Sloan (R) Lawrence
District 46 Paul Davis (D) Lawrence
District 47 James Robert Faris (D) Ozawkie
District 49 Bond Faulwell (D) Overland Park
District 50 Dennis Phillips (D) Topeka
District 52 Lana Gordon (R) Topeka
District 53 Ann Mah (D) Topeka
District 54 Tanya Dorf (D) Topeka
District 55 Annie Kuether (D) Topeka
District 56 Annie Tietze (D) Topeka
District 57 Vaughn Flora (D) Topeka
District 58 Harold Lane (D) Topeka
District 60 Don Hill (R) Emporia
District 65 Barbara Craft (R) Junction City
District 66 Sydney Carlin (D) Manhattan
District 67 Tom Hawk (D) Manhattan
District 76 Susan Fowler (D) Emporia
District 78 Ed Trimmer (D) Winfield
District 83 Jo Ann Pottorf (R) Wichita
District 84 Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D) Wichita
District 86 Judith Loganbill (D) Wichita
District 89 Melody McCray-Miller (D) Park City
District 91 Walt Chappell (D) Wichita
District 92 Nile Dillmore (D) Wichita
District 93 Marcey Gregory (D) Goddard
District 95 Tom Sawyer (D) Wichita
District 96 Terry McLachlan (D) Wichita
District 98 Geraldine Flaherty (D) Wichita
District 99 Charlie Mahoney (D) Wichita
District 100 Grady Kallenbach (D) Wichita
District 101 Mark Treaster (D) Pretty Prairie
District 103 Delia Garcia (D) Wichita
District 108 Joshua Lee Svaty (D) Ellsworth

The Kansas Equality Coalition is a unified, non-partisan, statewide group of fair-minded people who are determined to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The organization seeks to ensure the dignity, safety and legal equality of all Kansans.

I'm a member and serve on some of KEC's committees, although I'm not a part of the PAC.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline drop kicks his moral compass

By Diane Silver

The darling of Kansas' Religious Right -- Attorney General Phill Kline -- seems to have totally lost his way, particularly in the area of morality.

I say that because I have always thought that one of the Ten Commandments is "you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Apparently, Kline stayed home from Sunday School the day that was taught.

Kline's latest is a TV ad using an actor to portray his Democratic opponent Paul Morrison as speaking words Morrison says he never uttered.

The ad never states this is a dramatization or that Morrison disputes the wording or that the words are from two sexual harassment cases (from the same woman) that were either dismissed for lack of evidence or dropped. And despite what Kline claims, neither case was settled. That word comes from the attorneys who represented the woman who made the charges. The woman who filed the complaints is Kelly Summerlin, who worked as the victims-witnesses coordinator in the district attorney's office.

AP reports:

The ad is unusual for having an actor portray an opposing candidate, without telling viewers they're hearing a dramatization. The actor does not appear on screen but reads the statements attributed to Morrison in a voice-over.

"As someone who's seen a lot of Kansas political ads, that's a jaw dropper," said Bob Beatty, a Washburn University political scientist. "That's the kind of ad where the people sitting around planning the ad have to pause and say, 'Are we going to run this?'"

The ad also has an unusual ending: "To be continued" appears on screen.

Not surprisingly, this ad is appearing as Kline's poll numbers are dropping among women, and as the state's only woman attorney general -- a Republican -- has endorsed Morrison, not to mention all the church fundraising that at least one group has said should be investigated.

Let me be clear: If Morrison is guilty of sexual harassment, I'd take that very seriously and would have to rethink my support of the Democrat.

However, in the 15 years since this allegation was made, it has never been proven. No other incidents of this sort have even been hinted at and, most tellingly, Kline's campaign hasn't come up with one shred of evidence that this incident actually happened. I suspect that if Kline could make this case against his opponent he would.

What's sad here is that Kline seems to be so desperate to win that he's turning his back on what he has claims is his steadfast sense of morality.

"To be continued..." says the ad. Isn't it time for Kansans to say this has continued long enough?

"A Working Relationship:" Kansas Rep. Jim Ryun changes story about Mark Foley

By Diane Silver

Struggling in what has become an unexpectedly difficult re-election campaign, Republican Rep. Jim Ryun has suddenly discovered that he really does know disgraced Congressman Mark Foley.

Not only does the recently resigned Foley live across the street from Ryun, but the two were among five GOP members of Congress who held a block-party fundraiser together in May.

The confirmation of the connection came after Ryun told reporters that he barely knew Foley.

Many thanks to Chris Moon and the Topeka Capital-Journal for uncovering the story.

Washburn University Political Science Professor Bob Beatty told the newspaper, this kind of thing can be significant.

"The Foley thing can hurt Ryun because, boom, you've got that link," Beatty said.

The newspaper reported:

Worried about winning a sixth term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun said this month he didn't know until recently that he lived across the street from disgraced Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. -- whom many Republicans are trying to keep at a safe distance.

Then, when faced with questions about how that could be the case considering Ryun in May hosted a fundraiser alongside Foley on D Street in Washington, D.C., Ryun's campaign said the events weren't jointly planned.

However, neither of those statements was completely accurate, Ryun's campaign admitted last week.

Jeffrey Black, campaign manager for Ryun, said the congressman always has known he lived across the street from Foley, who quit Congress after revelations he had been sending sexually explicit e-mails to congressional pages.

Further, Black acknowledged the two congressmen, along with three other members who live on D Street, coordinated their efforts to raise as much cash as possible during a May fundraiser.
...
As for knowing Foley was his neighbor, Black said Ryun always has known.

"It's probably not the best way to say what he did," Black said of Ryun's comments at the vice president's event in Topeka. "They're congressmen. They have a working relationship."

I wonder if Ryun's earlier statements should be called flip flopping, pretending, or well, simply lying?

Ryun's opponent is Democrat Nancy Boyda.

Talking Points Memo noticed the gaffe and reminded readers that Ryun got a suspiciously terrific deal on a townhouse. Wikipedia also reminds us that Ryun was the beneficiary of more than $30,000 from disgraced Majority Leader Tom DeLay's PAC.

Applied science fiction: Kim Stanley Robinson on climate change

By Nancy Jane Moore

"Since we're going to be facing abrupt climate change, we need abrupt social change."

So says science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson. He was speaking on global warming issues at the Washington, D.C., area science fiction convention Capclave.

The issues surrounding human-caused climate change can get very scary, so it's nice to be able to report that Robinson is an optimist. Asked if it wasn't already too late to do anything, he said, "Toss 'too late' out the window." If we wallow around thinking it's too late, that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Robinson thinks that technological fixes that can turn things around on the climate change front are physically possible within 10 years. Of course, such changes require political will, and right now virtually no one in politics (Al Gore being the most obvious exception and he doesn't hold an elected office) is doing anything. Politics needs to become more scientific -- right now, unfortunately, it's almost anti-scientific.

And that's the argument for social change, because a shift in our culture will affect politics. Robinson argues in particular for a de-linkage between consumption and health and happiness. Right now we've got the two things tied together.

He points out that we are still primates, and that many of the things that bring us joy are very basic: walking, running, dancing, sex, making music, telling stories, having ideas, making things, exploring, hunting, gathering, playing with animals, looking at fire, feeling emotions, and even being terrified (he explains that last item as the only possible explanation for horror movies). Part of his talk was designed to encourage us all to spend more time on those basic activities -- ones that, for the most part, are easier on the planet.

We all respond to the sublime, which he defines as something not human, in which your instinct says you're in danger, though your rational mind says you're not -- like standing on a cliff looking over a great valley or watching a storm roll in.

But these days we live in the technological sublime -- think cars, elevators, airplanes, not to mention the amount of time we spend in front of computers, TVs, and video games. (To wrap your head around the sublime side of this, think about driving a several-thousand-pound car through traffic or just the concept of flying through the air, something no human can do unaided.) And Robinson thinks that to be in the sublime all the time is too much for humans, thus his emphasis on getting outside and doing primate things.

"The world is our body," Robinson says, and he's not talking about mystical concepts of Gaia, but the more scientific practical points. We breathe in air and it becomes part of our bodies. We share most of our DNA with practically every living thing on Earth. When it comes down to it, we're more like jelly fish than we think -- jelly fish have such thin skins that oxygen flows in and out through them.

Robinson makes one other key point: the idea that we must value the environment over the economy to deal with global warming is a false dichotomy. The two are not opposites. The problem is that we have defined economy in very limited terms, essentially as profits -- and particularly short-term profits -- over everything else. That is not a necessary definition. We could redefine accounting to include damage to the environment or the using up of a scarce resource as a cost of doing business, for example.

Robinson's current series of novels, Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and the forthcoming Sixty Days and Counting, deal with global warming. When it flooded here in Washington last June, I wrote briefly about Forty Signs of Rain, in which Robinson visits disastrous global warming floods on the nation's capital.

Robinson's books and his talk just shore up my theory -- expressed on here in "Do you read science fiction" -- that science fiction is one of the best places for us to learn how to think about and plan for the future. You can learn a lot about what's going on, and try on new ideas for size, by reading Robinson's books.