IN THE GRAY light of dawn, as janitors sweep up the confetti from the floors of campaign headquarters across the state, there is finally time to rest and consider the Kansas governor race.
The wonder about Jim Barnett’s campaign was not that he, a Republican, lost to a Democrat in a Republican state, but that he did so well.
Think back to a year ago, when the GOP in Kansas was desperately seeking a candidate to run against Kathleen Sebelius. One after another, top Republicans — including Rep. Jerry Moran — flatly refused to jump in, or dipped their toes into the cold water and then retreated.
The leaders of the GOP knew then that Sebelius was effectively unbeatable.
Long before she ran for governor, Sebelius had begun to build strong grassroots support among Democrats and Republicans. As a crusading insurance commissioner in the administration of a reticent governor, she quickly became one of the most recognizable public figures in the state, and one of the most fondly regarded by voters. Nothing that has happened since she was elected governor has done much to change that.
Barnett, on the other hand, had little name recognition outside Emporia. At the beginning of his race, he was only one of a group of candidates pulled into the race by the vacuum created by the flight of the party’s leaders.
All this is easy enough to see in hindsight. In the day-to-day hurly-burly of the campaign, it was not as easy to discern.
To his credit, Barnett never ran like a second-string candidate. He campaigned tirelessly and kept the cheerful, determined demeanor of a contender. That won him the primary and by the end of the general-election campaign, everybody — supporters and opponents — took him seriously.
But in the end, the votes just were not there. One problem was Barnett’s early choice of Susan Wagle as his running mate. She is too conservative by far for many Kansans. The alliance with Wagle, though it gave him access to conservative Wichita money, made it unlikely that Barnett could do what he had to do to beat Sebelius — peel off the moderate Republican voters who gave her the victory in 2002.
What now?
Barnett remains in the Kansas Senate. He took a big hit for his party, and gained both credibility and name-recognition in the state.
He ran a good race and has become an important figure in the Kansas Republican Party.
To Barnett, that may seem small comfort today. But in a few months, when the Legislature assembles again in Topeka, the silver lining may begin to show.