Ms. Smith Goes to Washington

July 11, 2006

Any More Questions About Kansas and the GOP Circus?

MS. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
by Shirley Smith

BuzzFlash,  

This article was on the tale end of my SF Gate email today. ...

It is interesting that this duel of spouses is happeneing in Kansas, isn't it? I still say that the GOP is so strong in Kansas that they don't want to take the chance of losing control, so they will control the Democratic and GOP positions in that state, just in case people vote democratic. Now, if this happens to be what is happening in Kansas, what could have given them the idea ... well, my first guess is that those Democrats who are Republican Lites that have never broken with the Bush GOP, especially with their votes.

SPOUSAL POLITICS
GOP Husband, Democratic Wife Vie for Seat (Washington Post)

Associated Press

OVERLAND PARK, KAN. -- The candidates say they offer legitimate political differences. Their conservative critics say it's a campaign dirty trick.

Jeff Ippel is a Republican, involved in a three-way primary race for a seat in the Kansas House. His wife, Pam, is unopposed in the August Democratic primary -- for the same seat.

Pam Ippel, whose platform emphasizes health care and funding for education, said she was the first to enter the race for an open seat from this Kansas City suburb. ...

Other Republicans accuse the Ippels of working as a team.

"Personally, I think it's a fraud. It's a deliberate strategy of confusion," conservative Republican Jeff Colyer said. He says their real goal is to siphon away votes from his campaign to ensure the nomination of a GOP moderate, Sherrelyn Smith. ...

The Ippels and Smith denied any collusion. "There's absolutely no truth to it," Smith said.

If there were any truth to it, it would be a case of conservatives having one of their own tricks pulled on them, said Kansas State University political science professor Joe Aistrup.

"It's about time the moderates started pulling this stuff," Aistrup said. "Conservatives have been running stealth candidates for years."

[more]

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith