Public Opinion Strategies for Jim Ryun (4/27-28, likely voters):
Jim Ryun (R): 65
Lynn Jenkins (R): 21
(MoE: ±5.7%)
Jenkins is holding her fire, stockpiling resources for a big push here in the summer, but this is the second poll in a row to show a big edge for Ryun. You’ve gotta wonder: just how negative is Jenkins willing to go in order to tighten this race up?
Primary: 8/5
Mary Christine and Associates for the Republican Main Street Partnership (likely voters, 4/9-10):
Jim Ryun (R): 50%
Lynn Jenkins (R): 34%
(MoE: ±5%)
With Kansas’ primary on August 5th, Jenkins has time to make up the missing ground here, but Ryun is sitting in a strong position in the money race and the polls. Will the Kansas GOP really embrace a “moderate” like Jenkins, the state’s treasurer?
On Friday, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda did something courageous. She did something brave. She did something historic.
And she did what was right.
On Friday, Congresswoman Nancy Boyda voted for an update of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillances Act, or FISA. She voted, in every procedural motion, to send the House version of the bill- the version without retroactive immunity for the phone companies- to the floor for a vote. It’s exactly the way she voted in August, too.
Through it all, her position stayed the same. In newspapers up and down the district she laid out her case:
In her own Op-Ed that ran in the Ottawa Herald she said:
To my mind, “wiretap first, get permission later” makes perfect sense. It gives the executive branch the power it needs to fight terrorism, and at the same time, it preserves the checks and balances our Constitution guarantees. It ensures that the U.S. intelligence community has every tool it needs to fight terrorists. And, by providing judicial oversight, it ensures the privacy of Americans who travel overseas for business or pleasure. It is simply wrong to wiretap Americans without a warrant.
Very unfortunately, the president has drawn a line in the sand. He has sworn to veto any FISA bill that includes court oversight. Instead, he wants the executive branch to oversee itself; he wants all FISA programs to fall under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence.
That is a flagrant violation of checks and balances, and what’s more, it won’t help America fight terrorism more effectively. The FISA court is extremely generous with its warrants. Through 2004, the court had granted 18,761 wiretap requests. It had rejected only five.
And in the Leavenworth Times she was quoted as saying:
“I am adamant about protecting the Constitution. They’re giving nothing in return for it. We’re not getting any more security and they’re shredding the Constitution,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Second Dist.
[…]
“What shocks me is how members of Congress from Kansas would so readily give up 230 years of our Constitution without gaining any additional security,” Boyda said.
And, she said in the Lawrence Journal-World:
“The foundation of our democracy … is at stake in the House of Representatives,” she said. She said Bush’s attempts to stifle inquiries into wiretapping and the role of telecom companies was “a massive cover-up … because he doesn’t want you to know that the Constitution has been shredded and he doesn’t want you to know how long” wiretapping has been happening.
And here, in her speech before the Kansas Democratic Party State Convention, she explained herself brilliantly:
The Republican Party has tried to scare Americans into allowing this President to have carte blanc authority- and to hand immunity to companies, even when he won’t tell us why they need it. TV commercials and radio ads have attempted to scare all of us- and our members of Congress- into doing & believing what they wanted.
Nancy’s right- that was a damn lie. And, now, 197 Republicans voted against updating FISA, only because telecoms didn’t get overarching protections from being sued. This version of FISA protects us all, lets our national security organizations engage in investigations that are necessary- and doesn’t shred the Constitution in the process.
197 Republicans voted against ensuring Americans are safe because a phone company might get sued for potentially breaking the law. And the President promises to veto the bill- because Lord knows phone companies are more important than American lives.
Boyda did what was right- and saying she didn’t is a losing argument for the Republican Party.
The Hill published an article highlighting some of the fundraising efforts of freshmen Democrats in the House. Apparently, many are doing quite well. David Loebsack (IA-02) has raised about $71,000. Kirsten Gillebrand (NY-20) has raised $65,000 in PAC money alone. Earl Perlmutter (CO-07) has raised $79,000. Charlie Wilson (OH-06) has raised $34,000. Paul Hodes has raised $35,000. Jason Altmire (PA-04) and Patrick Murphy (PA-08) have both raised $50,000 in PAC money alone. Zack Space (OH-18) and Steven Kagen (WI-08) have both raised $35,000 in PAC money.
As far as simple financial numbers go, this is good news. All of these candidates are vulnerable to some degree. So, if all of these House members are already off to good starts, they may be able to force out potentially strong challenges early on.
But the article also has some worrying relevations. For one thing, Nancy Boyda (KS-02) has raised only $13,000. Considering the presidential vote in her district (Bush won it by 20 points), Boyda is probably one of our top five most vulnerable Democrats. Plus, she will not have Sebelius’ coattails helping her and will instead have to contend with the Republican tide at the top of the ticket from the eventual Republican nominee and Senator Pat Roberts. Finally, she will possibly face a rematch against Jim Ryun. More over the flip…
However, the thing that is more disappointing to me than Boyda’s numbers (it’s early, give her some time) is where the other candidates are getting there money. First, relying heavily on PAC money does not give the best image. But beyond that, it’s a question of which PACs they’re getting donations from.
Both Gillebrand and Perlmutter have taken money from Altria, which represents the makers of Marlboro cigarettes. Loebsack and Perlmutter have received contributions from the American Bankers Association PAC while Perlmutter also has donations from Comcast and JP Morgan and Loebsack has donations from the American Association of Realtors.
It’s unsettling to see any elected officials taking money from cigarette makers. It’s worse to see Democrats, liberal Democrats at that, doing that. And while Comcast, et al. aren’t the scourge of Satan, I also don’t like the image of elected Democrats at their beg and call.
My suggestion for anyone else who feels the way I do, is to donate through the Netroots and other liberal PACs like MoveOn and Democracy for America. The more candidates and elected officials can get from the Netroots, the less they have to rely on PACs whose goals are sometimes/often/always contrary to the goals of progressives/working people/middle class/etc.
One should also note that Netroots heroes Jerry McNerney (CA-11), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), John Yarmuth (KY-03), Joe Sestak (PA-07), John Hall (NY-19), and Tim Walz (MN-01) are not mentioned in the article. We need to act now to keep these people a)in Congress by making sure they have adequate resources to be re-elected and b)from becoming corrupted by negative interests.
Via Hotline On Call:
Former Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., confirmed this afternoon he would run again for Congress next year, and picked up early encouragement for his comeback attempt – but he still faces the possibility of a strong primary challenge. Ryun — who lost a re-election bid last November to now-Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda — said in an interview that he had been mulling another run for the House, but wanted to wait until the state GOP’s annual Kansas Days gathering this past weekend to gauge support and reveal his intentions. “I needed time to reflect on the last election and see what kind of support I had,” Ryun said.After holding the seat since 1996 Ryun – a onetime Olympic runner — lost the state’s 2nd District to Boyda by a 51-47 percent margin last year. Ryun said he would soon be back on the campaign trail “full time,” and described his defeat as an election anomaly in a bad political year for Republicans. “There was a surge that came through,” he said. “I was on the wrong corner ad the wrong time.” Ryun, a social and fiscal conservative, demurred on the question of possible primary opposition; state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins is mulling the race. Ryun instead trained his rhetorical fire on Boyda, whom he said does not represent the “Kansas values.” Declared Ryun: “She’s not a conservative. She’s a liberal.”
If Ryun can make it through the primary against a more moderate opponent like Jenkins, the general election will be a good test of Kansas’ rehabilitation from its time spent on the precipice of mini-Taliban extremism.