“It’s very hard,” Chelsea Barnett said. “I’ve never seen my dad lose at anything.”
But losing he undoubtedly was. As return after return came in Tuesday night, one thing was clear in Topeka: Emporia Sen. Jim Barnett was not going to be the next governor of the state of Kansas in 2007.
While a state Republican rally went on in the Sunflower Ballroom of Topeka’s Capitol Plaza hotel, the Emporia physician and his friends and family watched the returns come in from his seventh-floor room. Today marked the end of a tiring race — and not with the finish that his camp had hoped for.
As Barnett approached the ballroom, an aide signaled that he had gotten through to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. He passed the cell phone to Barnett.
"Well, Governor Sebelius, congratualtions," Barnett said. "I certainly congratulate you on a great race and wish you well. I look forward to working with you in the coming four years."
As he entered the ballroom, the gathered crowd rose to applaud. From the cheers, it might almost have been a victory. And in a way, Barnett said, it was.
"Susan Wagle and I have raised some extremely important issues and debates in the campaign," he said, listing them off: immigration, school finance, economic growth. "We pledge to work with the governor on these issues and we pledge to work as state senators, because you've not seen the last of us! The governor will be held accountable."
"We hope she solves these problems," he said. "If not, we're here."
His daughter Chelsea Barnett, now a college junior, said she’d been asked the same question all day: “Are you ready for it to be over?” Her answer: Yes.
“I think we’re all coming to that point,” she said. “It seems like Dad has had a lot of good days and a lot of bad days and it’s wearing on him a lot.”
His wife Yvonne, meanwhile, laughed when asked if she was ready for things to return to normal.
"Tell me what that is and I'll answer that question," she said.
His son, Blake, had flown in from New York to see the conclusion of the campaign. Watching his father over the weekend as he and other Republicans joined Pres. Bush in Topeka was the first time Blake Barnett had ever heard his dad speak as a politician.
"It's good," he said. "It's always nice to win, but I think the campaign was very clean. In today's political climate, that's very refreshing."
Both Barnett and his mother Jean Barnett shared one wish: that his father Edwin could have seen this. Edwin Barnett died last year.
"It'd be nice if his dad could be here," she said. "He would be so proud."
Barnett said he and his running mate had entered the race because no one else would.
"We made the choice to take on someone that everyone else was shying away from," he said. "And I tell you now, we look back with no regrets."
Earlier in the evening, a friend offered some kind words to Barnett's wife Yvonne as he walked out the door of the family's hotel room. The sentiment, though quieter, echoed that of Barnett's concession speech.
"This is not the end," the friend said.
murchins (anonymous) says...
"We hope she solves these problems," he said. "If not, we're here."
What kind of comment is that? The three branches of government are supposed to work together, not against each other. The main problem with state government these past years is that the house and senate have spent all of their energy trying to thwart anything that Sebelius might approve of - cutting off your noses despite your faces--that they haven’t done a damn thing.
It’s not a question of us or them. You guys are up there to work together, to compromise, to find win-win solutions, not to bash each other bloody and then say “Look! I won and she didn’t!” Nobody wins when you don’t function as a democracy.
Get your heads out of your rears and get to work for the people, not your own petty party agenda.
Why did Barnett have his watch party in Topeka and not his home town? All that money could have been spent here--Shop Emporia First, eh?
November 8, 2006 at 9:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )