Just six days before the gubernatorial election on Tuesday, Sen. Jim Barnett spent Wednesday talking to media giving interviews, campaigning and using every free minute to get his messages across.
Barnett, along with his field manager Greg Foster of Kansas City, spent more than 11 hours on the campaign trail on Wednesday speaking to media in Kansas City and Topeka and speaking to the Kansas Bar Association in Johnson County.
Today, Barnett is on the Sunflower Express Republican bus tour. The bus tour will feature statewide GOP gubernatorial candidates. Barnett will be joined by Attorney General Phill Kline and Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh. The three-day tour will cover nearly 2,000 miles and will include visits to more than 20 communities. Saturday, the tour will bring Barnett back to his hometown, Emporia.
The bus tour will stop at the Anderson Building on the Lyon County Fairgrounds in Emporia at 1 p.m.
Sunday, Barnett will join President George Bush in Topeka, who is campaigning for Republican Rep. Jim Ryun, who acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that his race against Democrat Nancy Boyda is close.
An e-mail message sent Monday from the Kansas Republican Party to GOP candidates around the state said Bush would lead a rally for Ryun on Sunday in Topeka. The message, obtained by The Associated Press, said the White House wants as many GOP candidates as possible on stage with the president.
At least two Emporians will attend the event on Sunday. John and Carolyn Kuhn said Wednesday they would have front row seats to the event.
“It was an opportunity, and of course we’re strong supporters of Jim Barnett,” Carolyn Kuhn said this morning. “We’ve been to two inaugurations and this is just another opportunity.”