the calm before... and after the storm

Thursday, we hit Topeka, KS, part of the second Congressional district.  The Kansas 2^nd was one of the most surprising 2006 Republican losses.   Congressman Jim Ryun, who had been serving the district for 10 years, was narrowly defeated by Democrat Nancy Boyda.  The district is one of the Republican’s top targets to flip back to Red.  We entered the district at a strange time, two days after their primary election.  Jim Ryun was defeated by current Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and she will now move forward as the nominee to take this seat back from Boyda. 

Since the election was only won by a little over 1000 votes, things were a little hectic at the Jenkins camp.  We were actually in town the same day as their “unity press conference.”  Former Congressman and opponent Jim Ryun endorsed Treasurer Jenkins and the party is moving forward to unseat Boyda.  To further complicate things, there was a wreck in Topeka that took out telephones in the area so the campaign office was without phones or internet.

Despite the setbacks there was plenty for us to do.  We went out and retrieved yard signs from the primary.  In Topeka, you must remove all political signs within two or three days of the primary.   We retrieved the signs and recorded their locations so the campaign could get them back out for the general election. 

While driving around, we heard a few Nancy Boyda (KS-D) ads.  Looks like she's hopping on the same wagon as many other at risk dems: supporting drilling.  It's even been rumored that Speaker Pelosi has encouraged Dems at risk to back drilling (b/c its popular) in order to win re-election.   No risk in breaking away from leadership on an issue that will never come up to vote.  Hopefully Kansas voters will see beyond the “usual politics” from the Democratic majority.