Why bring in the President?

Yesterday, we were the first in the blogosphere with news that President George W. Bush was bringing his low approval ratings back to Kansas for the second time this month, this time to stump for 3rd District GOP hopeful Sen. Nick Jordan.

The GOP has been almost comically unable to wrestle this seat away from Moore in a solidly Republican district. Either they run a right-wing hack (Kris Kobach) or they have a bloody primary that leaves a hapless and broke candidate (Adam Taff and Chuck "Don't call me Maynard" Ahner).

This year, some thought it might be different. Some thought that Nick Jordan, who is still pretty conservative but not perceived to be amongst the likes of Phill Kline and Kris Kobach, might be the one to start pulling those moderate Republican Johnson County voters away from Dennis Moore.

However, the KS GOP has shown a penchant for losing lately, and it looks like they're in no hurry to reverse that trend.

The GOP already brought in Dick Cheney to raise money for Jordan, who faces a 3:1 fundraising disadvantage on top of relatively low name recognition. Now, they're bringing in Bush as well.

Which begs the question; Do they really think the moderate Republican and unaffiliated voters in Johnson County that swing that election time and time again to Dennis Moore are going to be swayed by the likes of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney? If they do, they should pass whatever they're smoking.

Bush carried Johnson County with 62% of the vote in 2004, but that was four long years ago. A recent Survey USA poll shows that Bush's approval rating in Eastern Kansas (the 3rd District probably makes up over 50% of the population of "Eastern Kansas," depending on how they define the region) was a meager 34%. Moreover, 64% say they disapprove of the job he is doing, leaving only 1% of voters who aren't sure how they feel about the President.

Perhaps more importantly than Bush's general numbers are his numbers among unaffiliated voters -- you know, the ones that Nick Jordan absolutely has to woo in large numbers to have even the slightest of prayers. Among unaffiliated voters in Kansas (Survey USA does not have a subsection for party affiliating within the regions) Bush's approval rating dips to 27%. It is only 30% among self-identified moderates.

While there is no polling available for Dick Cheney's job approval rating in our fair state, it's safe to say it's probably not much better than President Bush's.

As Democrats and proud Dennis Moore supporters, we'd just like to say thank you to the Nick Jordan campaign and the KS GOP for being so out of touch with Kansans that they still actually think it's a good idea to bring Bush and Cheney to town. (Ask Jim Ryun how it worked for him in 2006!)

Head over to our new ActBlue widget on the right side of our page and help Dennis Moore fight the Bush/Cheney machine that has decided they want him out of Congress.