IN THIS ELECTION, the tightest race for statewide office is likely to be the race for attorney general. Incumbent Phill Kline is fighting with increasing desperation to fend off the challenge by Johnson County prosecutor Paul Morrison and the race remains too close to call.
Why the two are so close in the polls is a mystery. Kline has not been a popular attorney general and he has become increasingly unpopular.
Indeed, just in the past week, two of Kline’s Republican predecessors as attorney general have publicly criticized him. Robert Stephan questioned the propriety of the Kline campaign’s fund raising in churches and accused the attorney general of breaking a personal promise not to pursue a campaign strategy that Stephan thought was unfair to Morrison. Stephan, who was working in Kline’s office, quit.
Kline’s predecessor in office, Carla Stovall Steckline (never a Kline fan), publicly endorsed Morrison and produced a long list of criticisms of Kline’s conduct of his office.
Stephan and Steckline are not the only Republicans who have had enough of Phill Kline. The Washington Post reported last week that Morrison is not only raising more money than Kline for the campaign, he is getting more money from Republicans than Democrats.
The Johnson County Sun, about as reliably Republican as any paper in the state, has repeatedly scorched Kline on its editorial page and supports Morrison without reservation.
What does all this mean?
It means that the attorney general’s race in Kansas this year is not about Republicans and Democrats, but about competence and values.
Many Republicans have looked at Kline and found him wanting. Republicans and Democrats have looked at Morrison and found him admirable.
That is in spite of the fact that Morrison, a longtime Republican, switched parties to challenge Kline.
The switch was a matter of practical politics. The demographics of Kansas primaries are such that, running as a Republican, Morrison would have had little chance to defeat Kline in August. To have any chance to win, Morrison would have to face Kline in the general election, with its higher turnouts and greater participation by the state’s many independent voters. The only way to do that was to switch parties.
Voters seem to understand. The Democrats welcomed Morrison and, amazingly, many Republicans support him.
In this race, there are more important issues than party.
That said, The Gazette endorses the candidacy of Paul Morrison for attorney general for the following reasons:
- Republican or Democrat, he is an experienced and able prosecutor and administrator.
- In a vicious campaign, he has kept his temper and his focus and spoken a great deal of sense.
- He knows that he is running for attorney general, not chief prophet and moral arbiter.
These days, Kansas has enough self-anointed prophets. What the state needs is a good attorney general.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
lkenney (anonymous) says...
I would like to see if we can get objective sites of the competitor's statistics; I do not like this bashing the opponent that seems to have become such the focus this year. Are there sites that list the facts . . . and just the facts!?
October 28, 2006 at 2:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )