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Thursday, August 14, 2008

Kansas Board of Education

Sometimes, races like the State Board of Education get lost in the shuffle. With 165 legislative seats, four seats in the US House, the US Senate, the President and competitive DA races in Shawnee and Johnson County, the media and political parties and activists only have so much attention to go around.

However, here in Kansas, the BOE's low profile races can have high profile consequences. Therefore, here at LeftBrain, we will try to keep you all informed with regular updates about the board races here in Kansas.

District 2: Mary C Ralston (R) vs. Sue Storm (D):

Ralston was able to defeat uber-conservative blogger Brandon Kenig in the primary. Storm is a former legislator. This seat was formally held by moderate Republican Sue Gamble, who went on to lose to nutter Mary Pilcher Cook in a state Senate primary. Obviously, we prefer Democrats, but at the end of the day either of these candidates will maintain the pro-science majority.

District 4: Carolyn Campbell (D) vs. Bob Meissner (R):

Meissner is a crazy, plain and simple. Check out Carolyn Campbell's web site, send her some money or volunteer for her campaign. Meissner hates Darwin.

District 6: Christopher Renner (D) vs. Kathy Martin (R, inc.):

If you look up radical right-wing Christian nut job in the dictionary, Kathy Martin's picture will be next to it. She ousted a moderate Republican incumbent in 2004 and hasn't looked back. She got a scare from a mod in the primary, winning by only a couple points, so this seat is winnable and Chris Renner is a credible candidate, but Martin always seems to pull it out, so Chris will need all the support he can get. You can check out his web site here.

District 8: Walt Chappell (D) vs. Dennis Hedke (R)

Same song, different verse. Chappell will support the teaching of science in science class, Hedke won't. Chappell's Web site is here.

District 10: Paul Casanova (D) vs. David Dennis (R):

Dennis is a pro-science candidate, but even after his opponent "decided not to campaign," his primary was still very close. This is not a good sign. Either way though, it looks like this seat is a guaranteed pro-Science vote.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honest, fair, and a consensus builder. Donate at www.DrBobMeissner.com

Anonymous said...

Also, anti-science.

mommidwest said...

I was looking for REAL information but didn't find it here. It seems like it's just one liners, vote for this person because we say so. Sounds like a lot of what my kids get in school. Don't look at anything that doesn't point to my view. I want my kids to look at ALL the evidence and make a choice sounds like you just want people to say look at any evidence that says you are a monkey - guess in your case they might be right!

Anonymous said...

All for teaching science, critically. In the name of science, when there is a problem with a theory because the evidence doesn't support it, should we change the theory or ignore the evidence in support of our die hard belief in tradition. By the way isn't that what the religious right is accused of. Think about it.