evolution

It looks as though David Haley, a Democrat state senator from Kansas City, narrowly won his party’s nomination for Kansas Secretary of State, and Garth McGinn won the 4th Congressional Dem primary.

The races everyone was watching, of course, were the Board of Education races. Let me explain what went down. In the beginning (!), there were six Creationists. One of them (Iris van Meter) is retiring — that was in the BOE 9th. Pro-science candidate Jana Shaver won the Republican primary there, and she’ll be running against pro-science Democrat Kent Runyan. Either way, the Creationists lost that seat. The BOE 9th includes Iola, Pittsburg, Coffeyville, Chanute, and Fort Scott. That makes the score 5-5.

Second, Sally Cauble, a pro-science candidate, defeated Connie Morris (she of the expense account, among many other things) in the BOE 5th Republican primary. I know of no Democratic opposition in that district, and Google wasn’t helpful, but no matter what the Creationists have lost that seat, making the score 6-4 for proper science education. The BOE 5th is essentially the western third of the state, including Garden City, Dodge City, Colby, Goodland, Russell, Liberal, and Hays.

Now, there remain two Creationists who faced primary challenges and won, but their future is still in doubt, as both face Democratic general election challengers. Ken Willard in the BOE 7th and John Bacon in the BOE 3rd are these. Willard will be opposed by Jack Wempe, and Bacon by Don Weiss, in the general election in November. The 7th includes Ellsworth, Hutchinson, McPherson, and Newton. The 3rd includes Overland Park, Olathe, Paola, Osawatomie, and Marais des Cygnes.

Two Creationists are left who are not up for election this time: Kathy Martin in the 6th (Manhattan, Junction City, Atchison, Marysville, Concordia, and Salina) and Steve Abrams in the 10th (western Wichita, El Dorado, Ark City, Winfield, and Wellington).

Personally, I’d love to see a clean sweep this time and see the Board become 8-2 in favor of proper science education — or just plain common sense. I don’t want education to become another battleground in the “Culture War.”

Anyway, I feel pretty good about how the primary races shaped up. A few Republican conservatives in the Kansas House who were really decent people will lose their seats, but their replacements aren’t so bad either. And, with a few exceptions, Kansas Democrats are pretty reasonable and not afflicted with Nutroots™ disease.

Here’s the outlook for my districts in the general:

• 2nd Congressional: Currently occupied by Rep. Jim Ryun (R). Opposed by Nancy Boyda, a Nutroots™ original. Ryun was mixed up with DeLay and the Abramoff clowns, and Nancy Boyda disgusts me beyond belief. This race makes me want to jam the grease pencil I’ll use to mark my ballot directly into my brain stem. This district is the eastern quarter of the state outside Kansas City, and includes Lawrence west of Iowa Street. It also includes Manhattan, Topeka, Pittsburg, Iola, and Fort Scott.
• State Senate 2nd: Currently occupied by Sen. Marci Francisco (D). How I would dearly love to get rid of her, but sadly, she’s got two years to go. This district includes Lawrence south of Sixth and Douglas County west of 59 and north of Clinton Lake.
• State House 45th: Currently occupied by Rep. Tom Sloan (R). He’s a decent guy and a moderate, and he has no serious opposition this time. This district is strangely drawn, including parts of north, west, and south Lawrence — essentially in horseshoe fashion around KU and downtown. It also includes western Douglas County.
• BOE 4th: Currently occupied by Bill Wagnon (D). A history professor, and of course a pro-science candidate. Wagnon is not up this time around. Odd-numbered districts are up in mid-term years (like this one), and even-numbered districts in Presidential election years. This district includes Topeka, Alta Vista, Osage City, and Lawrence south of Sixth Street.

UPDATE: This shouldn’t reflect all the bitterness and disgust I feel at the blogosphere and politics — I’d like to extend a thank-you to the state of Kansas, the place of my birth and home above all other homes, for tossing these people out. Two Creationists were run out on a rail, and two more can see the light at the end of the tunnel, the one moving toward them at a high rate of speed. Regardless of party, you found a way to get it done. Best of all, I was right about you: You may be religious, and you may be conservative. But most of you don’t like being lied to, and you saw these people for what they were: charlatans. Now you have two more tasks to complete in November to put it right, and I’ll be there to help you do it.

And I’ll get serious again, when the bad taste is out of my mouth. Even after all this time, I’m not done with this blog yet.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 at 19:06 and is filed under kansas, next step 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.