So, if it's Sebelius' fault when jobs are lost, it must also be to her credit when they're created, right?

If you ask Christian Morgan, anytime a private company makes a decision to either cut jobs or not to create them in Kansas, the blame lies at the feet of Kathleen Sebelius. Not the Republican-dominated legislature, not Congress, not the President, but Kathleen Sebelius.

So, one must expect a post over at the Trunkline commending Sebelius for Spirit Aerosystems recent decision to build a new plane in Wichita, creating nearly 700 high-paying, permanent jobs in Kansas, right?

Wrong.

Honestly, we don't know what role if any Kathleen Sebelius played in this decision. But that's the point. These decisions are made by private companies. It'd be one thing if a government entity decided to ship Kansas jobs overseas without any help from the people in whose districts the jobs should be (see: Boeing; Roberts, Pat; Tiahrt, Todd).

Here at LBK, we think the pro-business climate created in Kansas by Sebelius and her Lt. Governors John Moore (a former executive at Cessna, who will work with Spirit to build the planes) and Mark Parkinson certainly didn't hurt.

Double Standard?

Where is the blog post from Christian Morgan complaining about how Sen. Sam Brownback's decision to speak at the Republican National Convention is an example of him skirting his duties as an elected official?

I'm sure they won't make any such claims about Gov. Sebelius.

Riiiiiiiiight.

Anything to attack the Governor

Christian Morgan and the KS GOP will attack the Governor for just about anything these days. It's almost sad. If she wore a jacket that didn't match her blouse, Christian Morgan would probably post a blog saying she was out of touch with Kansas fashion values.

Now, in typical fashion that sounds like it was written by a schoolyard bully with a college education, Morgan is attacking Sebelius for a written statement her office released in response to a bit on the Colbert Report.

Awhile back, Colbert was mocking John McCain's trip while Obama was speaking to 200,000 in Germany, and he said that he was in Canton and "not the Crappy Canton in Georgia, I'm talking about Canton Oh-hi-O". Well, the Canton, Ga. mayor apparently doesn't know how to take a joke. Here is Colbert's response.




Sebelius' office issued a playful response, inviting Colbert to Canton, KS. Morgan apparently takes exception to this.

Apparently the Governor has a lot of time on her hands considering she has been pretty busy these days campaigning for Obama, meeting with radical environmentalists in Colorado, speaking at fundraisers in San Francisco, posing for Vogue photo shoots, hanging out in Ohio, paling around in North Carolina, having tea in England, having more private meetings with the secret bilderberg conference and now, responding to a comedian's lame attempt at a joke.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Governor Sebelius didn't take time out of her day to sit down and write this herself. Moreover, Morgan isn't THAT dumb, he knows that, but he doesn't care if he makes it look like she did. (BTW, who the F cares?)

Also, apparently Morgan has about as much of a sense of humor as Mayor Hobgood. Anyone with half a brain in their head (or that knows anything about Stephen Colbert) should know that this bit is mocking the Canton, Ga., mayor for having the same reaction that Christian Morgan did.

I say, tip of the hat to Gov. Sebelius and her staff for playing along and wag of the finger to Christian Morgan for being a douche with no sense of humor.

The KSGOP: They really are that desperate

In their most recent blog post, the KS GOP chastises the State of Kansas for not allowing the website flightwatch.com to post its flight itineraries for the Governor's plane. Never mind the fact that this decision was probably made without the knowledge or instruction of the Governor's office by her security detail, the assertion that this is somehow "secretive" is ludicrous.

While I don't know the tail number of Air Force One, I have a sneaky suspicion its itineraries aren't loaded into this web site. It's called security. For a party that supports George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, two of the most secretive politicians in American history, such a preposterous accusation is just laughable.

Will John McCain be the third Republican ever to lose Kansas?

Poll numbers show this may not be as preposterous as it sounds.

In a poll released yesterday, SurveyUSA indicates McCain holds a 49-39 lead in the state with 12% of the electorate undecided.

In a state where Republican Presidential candidates routinely put up numbers north of 60%, it's significant that McCain cannot break 50.

It should be noted that Huckabee handily won the Kansas Caucus after McCain had already effectively won the nomination and, much like the Democrats who claim they won't vote for Obama or Clinton, many of these jilted Republicans will come back into the fold before it's all said and done.

Additionally, respondents were 42% Republicans, 40% Democrat and 18% Unaffiliated. Democratic registration in the state is on the rise, but this is probably a more Democratic sample than the population as a whole.

These quirks aside, SurveyUSA has been quite successful this cycle in predicting notoriously difficult to predict primaries, so it provides at the very least for some interesting discussion.

The second thing this poll provides is a counterpoint to the recent Rasmussen poll that shows more Kansans would be less likely to vote for Obama with Kathleen Sebelius on the ticket.

The poll showed, not surprisingly, that Huckabee would be McCain's strongest running mate. Among the Democratic pairs matched with Huckabee, Obama/Sebelius does the best by far at a mere +4 for McCain.

Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty is the only McCain running mate who causes Obama to lose ground (a whole point) with Sebelius on his ticket and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is the only Obama running mate that does better than Sebelius.

As they say, the only poll that matters is in November, but this poll lends credence to the argument that Obama makes Kansas competitive. If McCain pulls in 55% instead of 60%, that spells bad news for Republicans and could mean Obama brings Nancy Boyda, Jim Slattery and Donald Betts along for the ride.