Observations from the election

It's the day after the general election and aren't you glad it's over?

At our home, we had so many political robo-calls on our land line answering machine that the answering machine was maxed out. I will save the argument for adding politicians and their cohorts to the National No-Call List for another day.

Today is a day for congratulations, thanks and some observations.

Congratulations to all of the winners in the general election and thank you to all those who ran for public office but did not get elected by the voters. Thanks also to the incumbent candidates who did not get re-elected.

It was interesting to see and hear on television last night how nice and cordial the candidates in the race for governor and U.S. senator were to each other in public, congratulating each other on the "good'' races they ran.

Those public comments were made in stark contrast to the brutal, down-and-dirty, sometimes-shameful political shenanigans that defined the re-election campaigns of Gov. Sam Brownback and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts.

If this election did one thing, it made it clear to me (again) that some politicians will do almost anything (or approve almost anything done on their behalf) to get re-elected. Distorting the truth? That seems to be the name of the political game.

It is being reported that this midterm election will go in history as the most expensive one ever put on by the candidates. Most the politicians' money was spend on TV and flyers where they could easily trash and manipulate their opponents' image and record.

The trash did not stop with some of the winning candidates. Some of the losers did their share.

Democratic gubernatorial challenger Paul Davis (the guy who was in the strip club when it got raided for drugs but an otherwise nice guy and respected state legislator with a sound economic message) lost to Gov. Brownback  by a slim margin statewide, 50 percent to 46 percent.

Likewise, Independent challenger Greg Orman (the rich guy with the felon for a financial advisor but otherwise nice guy who realized the public would support anyone, even an Independent, if they just promised to work hard to get things done at Congress) lost to Sen. Roberts, 53 percent to 43 percent.

More observations from the election:

*If you are the governor, a Republican, and you work to replace Republican state legislators that are, in your opinion, not conservative enough, you might lose the support of many longtime Republican state leaders whose mantra has always been that all Republicans stick together. That happened to Gov. Brownback, and it almost caused him to not get re-elected.

*If you are a Democrat, or an Independent, your chances of getting elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas are not very good, unless you draw the support of a lot of Republicans and that is what candidate Orman did. Kansas Democrats did not even field a candidate in this race, putting all hope on Orman.

*Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1930s. Sen. Roberts should take that to heart and take heed in the election results. The status quo is not good enough, even if you have been serving your state for 47 years. In fact, Roberts' age -
he's in his late 70s - was also a big negative in the race for a lot of voters but in the end Robert's war chest saved the day. He pledges today to get things done. We look forward to publicizing those things.

*Hard work at Congress, even in a difficult political climate, pays off. Congratulations to Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins on her re-election. Congresswoman Jenkins says that if she works hard for the people, elections will take care of themselves. Jenkins can work across the political aisle. She has joined a bi-partisan group of fellow congressional leaders. She understands that Kansas expects and deserves strong leadership from its congressional team.

*At the end of the day, the biggest political experiment ever - our democractic form of government - continues to work and provide us with a blueprint for our society's future.

It's a good thing that not all people agree on everything like North Korea, example. About 50 percent of the voters in Jackson County went to the polls. Congratulate yourself if you voted. We live in a great state and a great country.
David Powls
 

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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