KC Buzz Blog

What are the odds?

If Jim Ryun is thinking of trying to regain his seat, like some other GOPers set adrift in the last election, the Hotline notes that of nearly 200 House rematches since 1998, only 10 have been successful.

Posted by Darryl Levings

Score one for Nancy Boyda

   Just weeks in office and U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, a Kansas Democrat, got her first bill through the House. And it's not some lame post office naming either.

    The House passed Boyda's Pension Forfeiture Act, which would strip the pension of any member of Congress who is convicted of crimes like bribery, perjury and conspiracy.

   The vote was unanimous, 431-0.

   "Today, Congress spoke in one voice to denounce corruption and end the era of Big Money politics," Boyda said in a prepared statement. She noted that former Rep. Bob Ney, a Ohio Republican sentenced last week to 30 months on corruption charges, remains eligible for a pension of about $30,000 a year (Boyda's bill is not retroactive).

   The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

   For more information on H.R. 476, go here.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Boyda apologizes, blames "first-week jitters"

   Freshman Congresswoman Nancy Boyda of Kansas said she was sorry Tuesday for a comment she made about the Iraqi war.

   She told ABC News' Charlie Gibson last week that she would vote to fund an increase in troops. Gibson then asked her about the message of the November election. Didn't voters want a change in the war's direction?

   Responded Boyda: "They should have thought about that before they voted for President Bush not once, but twice."

   On Tuesday, Boyda called that comment "unclear" and a "poorly stated response," the Topeka Capital Journal reported.

   More here.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Honeymoon? What Honeymoon?

   Less than a week as a member of Congress, and Kansas Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda already is in hot water with the liberal blogosphere.

   Speaking with ABC News' Charlie Gibson last Thursday, Boyda, who has three military bases in her district, said she was against the Bush administration's so-called "surge" of new troops into Iraq but would vote to fund it.

   That set some afire over at the Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars and other lefty outlets, who say that with that stance, Boyda "might as well have an (R) next to her name." (Ouch!).

   Boyda chief aide Shanan Guinn calmly explained to the Lawrence Journal World that "Nancy has been very clear stressing to vote to support the troops on the ground. I don’t think anybody expects her to pull support from the troops while they are in harm’s way."

    It's a teapot tempest, but points up the challenges newly empowered Congressional Democrats - especially those in swing districts like Boyda's - face in keeping the liberal netroots happy.

   P.S. When Gibson challenged Boyda that the 2006 election indicated that voters did want a change in direction in Iraq, Boyda responded: "They should have thought about that before they voted for President Bush not once, but twice."

   Boyda's district went for Bush 54-41 in 2000 and 59-39 in 2004.

   Said Guinn to the LJW: "Nancy has the utmost respect for all of her constituents whether they voted for her or not."

Posted by Matt Stearns

Boyda: I do run run...

   From a defense by the The Left Coaster of DNC chairman Howard Dean's 50-state strategy:

Nancy Boyda, our new Democratic Congresswoman from Kansas, recently said something that perfectly illustrated why the strategy is important. She told Governor Dean,

“Chairman Dean you got something just a little backwards. You said when Nancy Boyda decided to run this was in place. And I would say, that Nancy Boyda decided to run again because it was in place.”

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Welcome to Washington

    The photograph on page 3 of today's Washington Post shows eight smiling senators-elect. They're seated in Democratic leader Harry Reid's office beneath the Olympian gazes of John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. But one soon-to-be-minted senator was missing: Missouri's Claire McCaskill.

    The Democratic victors are in town this week for freshmen orientation. They learn how to choose an office, a chief of staff, a committee; even how to get paid. McCaskill is not as "Senate School" because she fled Missouri last weekend for a long-planned vacation to an undisclosed location. But aide Adrianne Marsh said she had already spoken with Reid about leaving and put in her bid for a spot on the Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee, so her absence was not a problem.

    After all, a Senate aide noted, that was Reid widely seen giving his office TV screen a big smooch election night when McCaskill was declared the winner in Missouri.

    It's not as if she has been missing attention while she's been missing in action. Both McCaskill and freshly elected Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda of Kansas are among the political celebrities of the moment. Both got their mugs on the front page of Sunday's New York Times. Both get numerous mentions in the media as the chattering class chews over the election and "What It All Means."   

    It's a heady time and newcomers will have to adjust to Washington's weird ways. Indeed, to piggyback onto the estimable Scott Canon's earlier post today about Boyda, her "not in Kansas anymore" moment was not just her wide-eyed gaze at the inspiring image of the Capitol dome. It was when The Post, in a story about incoming freshmen, said that "she planted her derriere on the marble balustrade" to stare at the postcard-perfect view.

    It's not often you get elected to Congress, your picture in The Times and your "derriere" mentioned in The Post all in the same week.

Posted by David Goldstein 

Somewhere, over the Beltway

   Slate.com notices this morning that in dueling articles about the orientation of new Congressfolk, D.C. reporters fall into old cliches about Kansas.

   Both USA Today and The Washington Post use Topeka's congresswoman-elect Nancy Boyda to kick off their stories. And both used tired old lines borrowed from the "Wizard of Oz."

   "The moment came for Nancy Boyda when she planted her derriere on the marble balustrade outside the U.S. Capitol, gazed up at the illuminated dome and drew in the mild evening air. She knew she wasn't in Kansas anymore," observed the Post.

   USA Today started simply: "Nancy Boyda's not in Kansas anymore."

   Golly. I hope they don't make fun of her gingham dresses and petticoats at them fancy Washington cocktail parties.

Posted by Scott Canon

Last-day roundups

   The latest AP reports on:

    Talent, McCaskill

    Ryun, Boyda

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Ryun's express derailed?

   "The Hotline" online political newsletter reports that as of early this week, a poll for the National Republican Congressional Committee showed that Kansas GOP Rep. Jim Ryun was down two points to Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski