KC Buzz Blog

Transfusion pumps half-pint of much-needed blood Sam's way

    End-of-year campaign finance reports showed that Sen. Sam Brownback transferred $575,000 from his Senate campaign treasury to his presidential campaign. The money gives the underfunded Kansan a financial boost as he brings his grassroots campaign to Iowa and other early states.

    “Mr. Brownback is committed to competing aggressively for the Republican nomination,” campaign manager Ron Wasinger said. “We transferred the resources necessary to jumpstart our campaign in the early primary states, and to start organizing our national effort.”

Posted by Matt Stearns

Brownback, Romney campaigns mix it up

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback unleashed his first attack of the 2008 presidential campaign Tuesday, skewering the campaign of fellow Republican Mitt Romney for claiming Brownback once supported abortion rights.

   Brownback, a leading social conservative who hopes to position himself as the favored candidate of that wing of the Republican party, accused Romney’s campaign of sending a misleading e-mail to pro-life activists in Michigan.

   “Just like Sam Brownback, Mitt was once pro-choice but changed his views upon being elected to office,” wrote Stefani Zimmerman, a regional field director in Michigan for Romney. “Sam Brownback used to identify himself with Nancy Kassebaum and rebuffed being pro-life when he first ran for office. Kassebaum was a prominent GOP senator that was known for being pro-choice. When Brownback was elected to office, that is when he also had a conversion and voted with the pro-life movement. The same is true for Mitt Romney.”
    Rob Wasinger, Brownback’s campaign manager, called Zimmerman’s comparison of the two “absurd.”
   “Mitt Romney’s flip-flops are enough to make John Kerry blush,” Wasinger said.

Posted by Matt Stearns

MoveOn PAC misses mark

    MoveOn.org Political Action, a liberal group, is airing ads in Kansas and around the country this week criticizing Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback for supporting President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq.

   The problem: Brownback doesn’t support the 21,500-troop escalation. In fact, he was among the first Republican senators to publicly oppose it and remains the party’s only presidential candidate in the anti-surge camp. More here.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Huckabee, Brownback: 'kindred spirits'

   Former Arkansas Mike Huckabee was asked on Fox News about the differences between him and Sen. Sam Brownback:

   "I think there it's a matter of Senate versus executive experience. Senator Brownback and I would be very much kindred spirits in terms of many of the social issues. I don't know that we have a big disagreement there. So, it would primarily be in terms of experience and what we would bring to an executive branch job."

Posted by Darryl Levings

Talking warming in a cold state

    "On a day when the temperature didn't reach double digits," Sam Brownback called for reduction greenhouse gases while campaigning Tuesday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the AP reports. "It seems to me just prudent that we recognize we have climate increase and temperature change. We have CO2 loading and we need to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere."
      Brownback spent most of the day meeting with "conservative activists" and answering reporters' questions. It was his first trip to Iowa since officially launching his campaign this month. He said he wasn't concerned about his place in the race and that more time and visits across the state would help him solidify his standing as a conservative candidate.
      According to the Des Moines Register, Brownback said he would focus his campaign on bipartisan issues, "a break from his trademark social conservatism." "The political discourse automatically goes to the most difficult issues, and then we can't talk about them. I'd rather work on a core set of issues that we can agree on." Brownback identified some of these issues as human trafficking, climate change and poverty.

Posted by Darryl Levings

Brownback goes a-barnstorming

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback hits the campaign trail this week, jetting through Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina and Florida.

  Those states, of course, hold early presidential contests.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Brownback's Iowa schedule

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback goes back to Iowa for some presidential campaign events Tuesday, Jan. 30.

  Brownback will hold a press conference at the Cedar Rapids Crowne Plaza Hotel at 2 p.m.

   At 6 p.m., he'll appear at a Cedar Rapids reception for Dan Abolins, the GOP candidate for Linn County auditor.

   And presumably, the all-important "private meetings" and fundraising calls in between the public events.

Posted by Matt Stearns

No blue whales for Brownback

    RedState's Erick Erickson writes about the entire GOP field: "They all suck. Let's just admit it...
       "From the lecherous adulterer to the egomaniacal nut job to the flip-flopping opportunist with the perfect hair to the guy who hates brown people to the guy we've never heard of to the guy who has a better chance of getting hit by a meteor while being consumed by a blue whale being struck by lightning. They all suck. (Well, okay, Brownback doesn't suck at all, but I perceive no viability for his candidacy.)

Posted by Darryl Levings

Brownback update

   Kansas Republican Sen. (and GOP presidential candidate) Sam Brownback did a teleconference with local media this morning. Highlights:

   The biggie: He did not rule out voting against funding for President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq, saying only "I'm not at that point." (Brownback was among the first Republicans to publicly oppose the 20,000-plus troop escalation). Brownback said he'd like Congress to focus on "what we can support, not what we're opposed to."

   He was "delighted" by the president's State of the Union challenge to get Americans to cut gasoline use by 20 percent in the next 10 years: "I think that will be fantastic for Kansas," Brownback predicted, citing ethanol, bio-diesel and other emerging alternative fuels.

   He will vote for an increase in the minimum wage if the bill includes tax breaks for small business. Brownback missed a vote on a Democratic effort to cut off debate yesterday because he was campaigning in Boston. He said he would have voted no (The effort failed. Democrats want to pass a "clean bill" with no amendments relating to tax breaks).

Posted by Matt Stearns

Limbaugh: Sam who?

  Rush Limbaugh doesn't think too much of Sen. Sam Brownback's presidential chances. (Thanks to Instapundit.)

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Brownback: Ideas are on my side

   Appearing on ABC News' "This Week" today, newly minted presidential candidate Sam Brownback said he can win the White House through a competition of ideas.

   He also called Democrat Hillary Clinton bright and talented and admitted he once asked her to forgive him for his one-time hatred of her.

   On other matters, Brownback:

• Vowed to place a strict constructionalist on the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that's the best way to ensure the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
• Said the anti-abortion crowd will have to decide if rival candidate Mitt Romney is a true abortion opponent.
• Said Rudy Giuliani will have a tough time winning the GOP nomination because he favors abortion rights.
• Passed on saying whether it should be legal for gay couples to adopt children. That's an issue for the states, he said.
• Said President Bush was unable to fully implement a compassionate conservative agenda because he was distracted by the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks.

Posted by Steve Kraske 

Roberts to be by Brownback's side. For one day, anyway

    Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts will attend colleague Sam Brownback's presidential kickoff speech and rally in Topeka Saturday.

   That wouldn't normally be news - it's standard for members of a state's congressional delegation of the same party to appear at such events for their colleagues and offer some level of support.

   But Roberts and Brownback are not known to be close. And intrepid conservative columnist Robert Novak reported a few weeks back that Roberts was pushing Brownback rival John McCain at a coffee with heavyweight lobbyists in DC.

   Roberts, Novak wrote, "asserted McCain is the right man in the right place at the right time."

Posted by Matt Stearns

Hey, Sam: We just need 15 minutes

   The executive editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal takes the hometown kid, Sam Brownback, to task for refusing even a 15-minute interview with the paper prior to his Saturday kickoff for president.

   "We asked because he's one of us," executive editor Pete Goering writes.

   Read it here.

Posted by Steve Kraske

The news is not good

    Sen. Sam Brownback was back on the Senate floor today after roaming around Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia in recent weeks. He sat down with a bevy of foreign leaders to talk about terrorism. He spent more than 24 hours in Baghdad where he spoke with U.S. military leaders and Iraqi government officials, as mortar rounds exploded in the distance.
     "No one was harmed," Brownback said from the Senate floor. "They were launched from some way out, but they still hit. It shows just how insecure the city remains."
    The Kansas Republican, a likely 2008 presidential candidate, has already said he opposes President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq. His travels did nothing to change his mind. Brownback said that he was "particularly disappointed" that Baghdad was no safer than it was when he last there nearly two years ago.
    He left this time "with an enduring image of concrete barriers and convoys of SUVs. The environment is no better than it was" in March 2005.
    He also got an insight into why the civil war has become so intractable and bloody. Brownback said he "found less reason for optimism" after his meetings. "Sunni leaders blame everything on the Shia. Shia leaders, likewise, blame everything on the Sunnis. The United States cares more about a peaceful Iraq than the Iraqis do. It's difficult to understand why more U.S. troops would make a difference."
  But Brownback said he was not suggesting that the U.S. pull out of the Iraq. He said we would remain for a while, "as we are in Bosnia, as we were in Europe, as we still remain in Korea. Iraqis should patrol their own streets, but we must continue to hunt down the terrorists."

Posted by David Goldstein

Long road ahead for Brownback

   As Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback gears up for Saturday's presidential kickoff, a new Gallup Poll out today shows just how far he has to go.

   In a Jan. 12-14 national survey of Republicans, Gallup had the man from Topeka at 1 percent, far behind Rudy Giuliani at 31 percent, John McCain at 27 percent and Newt Gingrich at 10.

   Oh, Gov. Matt Blunt's choice, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, stood at 7 percent.

   The Democratic field shaped up this way: Hillary Clinton at 29 percent, Barack Obama at 18, John Edwards at 13 and Al Gore at 11.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Et tu, Brownbackus?

BBC's Katty Kay on the "Chris Matthews Show:"

    "Sam Brownback coming out against the president was an extraordinary move. It was the most unbelievable person to come out against the president. He's been a loyal foot soldier for the president up in the Senate. ... And he's going to run for president, and there he is saying that he doesn't support this move to send in more troops. It must have been a blow to the White House, and I imagine Karl Rove was on the phone to Brownback's office immediately.

     Dan Rather's response:

"There's no question, that it would be 'Et tu, Brownback?'"

'So what is Brownback up to?'

   TNR's Noam Scheiber blogs at The Plank, calling Sen. Sam Brownback's  opposition to escalation in Baghdad "probably the most interesting surge-related development."   

   "So what is Brownback up to? On one level it's pretty obvious. John McCain and, to varying degrees, the rest of the GOP field have cast their lot with Bush and the surge. There's nothing for a longshot like Brownback to gain by falling in line behind them, and plenty to gain by distinguishing himself on the issue. That's particularly true given the exceedingly likely possibility that the surge will fail, at which point Brownback will look somewhere between sober and prophetic."

Posted by Darryl Levings

Brownback: Troop surge not the answer

   Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback came out against President Bush's expected call tonight for a surge of 22,000 more troops into Iraq.

   Traveling in Iraq, Brownback issues the following statement:

  "I do not believe that sending more troops to Iraq is the answer," Brownback said. "Iraq requires a political rather than a military solution."

  Brownback said he reached his conclusion after meeting with several Iraqi leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and U.S. military commanders.

   "I came away from these meetings convinced that the United States should not increase its involvement until Sunnis and Shi'a are more willing to cooperate with each other instead of shooting at each other."

   Brownback, a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is among the few Republican senator to publicly break with Bush on the president's plans to escalate U.S. military involvement.

   UPDATE: In mid-December, Brownback told reporters if the President and the military believed additional troops could stabilize Baghdad, "I would support that."

   Read the story, with a link to the video, here.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Messin' with Maliki

   Sam Brownback was in Iraqi to see Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top officials in Baghdad.

    "The United States cannot sustain a war effort without broad public support, and we cannot count on such support unless the situation in Iraq improves and American casualties decrease," his release said. "While we cannot make a precipitous withdrawal, we can transfer more security responsibility to the Iraqis and reduce the threat to American troops."

Posted by Darryl Levings

Score one for Brownback

   Iowa pro-life leader Kim Lehman endorsed Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback for president today. Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life, will also serve on his leadership committee.

   "Some candidates used to be pro-choice," Lehman told the Agape Press, a Christian news service, "and I have a hard time trusting people that at one time were pro-choice, and who, in the political process have become pro-life."

   That could be viewed as a slap at former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican who used to be pro-choice. Like Brownback, he has been aggressively seeking religious conservative support in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Posted by David Goldstein

Brownback hitting the road

   U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas swashbuckled his way through Kuwait and Pakistan the last couple of days on his international fact-finding sojourn.

   In Pakistan, he met with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

   In Kuwait, he was greeted by Camp Arifjan deputy commander Major General Hardy, who once served as commanding general at Fort Riley.

   While there, Brownback passed out phone cards to soldiers for a free call back to the U.S.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Brownback sets the date

     Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback will formally kick off his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination on Saturday, Jan. 20, in his home state. The announcement, to occur in the state capitol in Topeka, where Brownback lives, will come about six weeks after the formation of his presidential exploratory committee. Brownback’s campaign headquarters is expected to be in the Kansas City area.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Three croaks from the blogs

   What the bloggers are saying about Brownback (courtesy of the Hotline):

   Krusty Konservative offers a lightning summary of "second tier" candidates: "Brownback has had the best start. Thompson has the better Iowa consultant. Huckabee has the most potential."

   Noting Brownback's hiring of Iowa Right to Life director Kim Lehman, RedState's Leon Wolf comments: "At this point, the buzz about Brownback among conservatives is that he is easily the candidate most closely aligned with conservative interests, but he doesn't deserve any support because "he can't win." If Brownback can successfully manage a top-three finish in Iowa and New Hampshire, this conventional wisdom may have to be revised somewhat going forward."

    The Right Angle's Matt Lewis also calls the hire big news, but still is not convinced Brownback can raise the funds to be credible. He advises:

1. Hire a top-notch political fundraiser ... immediately.

2. Next, personally ASK every proven political donor you can find for money. (You should spend AT LEAST 50 percent of your time raising money).

3. Repeat step 2.

Posted by Darryl Levings

Other little engines

Does Sam Brownback read the Albuquerque Tribune, which notes that Howard Dean, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter "each spent their days in the wilderness of single-digit showings" before earning frontrunner status.

Posted by Darryl Levings

Ouch! That stings

   Americans for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist called Mitt Romney the "first major candidate" to sign his no taxes pledge. Rudy Giuliani has not signed the pledge for 2008, nor has John McCain. "I expect both of them to do so," Norquist said.

     Sam Brownback, of course, signed the pledge days ago.

Posted by Darryl Levings

White House Dreams, Part 2

      From a National Catholic Register interview of Sen. Sam Brownback, some excerpts by the National Journal Hotline:
   -- Brownback on forming his exploratory cmte: "My strongly held view is that to be elected president you have to be the right person with the right message at the right moment. I'm trying to determine if that is lining up right for me right now."

   -- On what makes him "stand out" in the '08 field: "I'll be the only person at the core of the campaign who will be pushing for the reform of the family and restoration of the culture and human dignity at all phases of life. I hope to present those in new packages, such as talking about prison recidivism rates, what we're doing in Africa, reducing and eliminating deaths by cancer, as well as issues of reducing the budget and tax reform. It will be a full-scale conservative message. I won't be backing off the social issues..."

   -- On his conversion to Catholicism: "I don't talk about it because people look at it and question this or question that. I felt a deep calling to join the Catholic Church. I was very happy with the evangelical church I was in at the time. There was no dissatisfaction."

Posted by Darryl Levings

Brownback snares key Iowa backing

   The man from Kansas, Sam Brownback, has picked up the backing of Kim Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life.

   Said Lehman: "While other candidates are in the process of defining and refining their position at the start of this campaign, Senator Brownback has been principled, consistent, and unwavering in his support for the right to life."

   Hear that Mitt Romney?

Posted by Steve Kraske

Brownback Ramps Up

'Tis the season for presidential candidates to get busy. Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback is adding to his Iowa operation.

In Iowa, Brownback hired his first full-time staffer, Trainor Walsh, as field representative. Walsh, who worked for Iowa Republican Rep. Jim Leach's 2002 re-election campaign, most recently was the Regional Political Director for the Legislative Majority Fund, overseeing 13 State House campaigns in eastern Iowa. He is a University of Iowa grad and lives in Des Moines. He also has workd on campaigns in Massachusetts, Florida and Virginia.

And a veteran of Steve Forbes 1996 and 2000 Iowa campaigns has signed on to Brownback's advisory committee. Kevin McLaughlin, an investment professional, ran Polk County (that's Des Moines) for Forbes in 1996 and was Vice-Chair of Forbes' statewide campaign in 2000.

By the way: Brownback was in South Carolina, site of the first southern primary, today, with campaign stops in Greenville and Anderson.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Brownback buckles down

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is off to an aggressive start in the wake of his recent decision to form a presidential exploratory committee.

   On Tuesday, he'll barnstorm through Iowa, home of the first significant presidential test just more than a year from now.

   He'll be in two of the state's big "Ds:" Dubuque and Davenport.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Daughter's story a lesson in courage for senator

   During a speech today in Overland Park, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback talked about his eight-year-old daughter, Jenna, whom he adopted about seven and a half years ago from an orphanage in China.

   "I’m a little concerned she’s going to take over the world," he joked. "She’s got a very strong personality. We think she may have been put up for adoption because they wanted to get the orphanage back."

   Brownback said he often prays for Jenna’s birth mother. [ Sentence corrected thanks to Proud Dem. ]

   "It would have been much easier for her mother to abort her than to have her. The state (Chinese government) would have paid for it. She probably got penalized or fined some way for even having the child. And yet some woman whom I’ll never meet fought for her. And because of that I get to go in at night and kiss a little eight-year-old girl goodnight."

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Brownback says debate must continue on social issues

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback urged Christian evangelicals today to stay in the fight against abortion and in support of traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

   "We win when we engage," he told more than 800 people attending the Bott Radio Network’s annual Christmas party. "We lose when we sit back."

   The Bott network offers Christian programming on 39 radio station across the United States, including the Kansas City area.

  Brownback, a Republican considering a run for the presidency in 2008,
called abortion and gay marriage key issues that the nation needs to debate.

   "We are winning this fight on life," he said, referring to the abortion debate.

  Brownback said Americans need to face a fundamental question and not try to ignore it: What is life and what is property?

   He said the same debate was going more than 150 years ago over the slavery. Another debate in which that question plays a role is on the issue of embryonic stem cell research, he added.

   "What is the child in the womb?" he said. "I’ve asked that question dozens of times. I’ve asked it on television shows. I’ve ask it of my colleagues and they will never answer it. What is a human embryo, a person or a piece of property?"

   The senator said he always approaches such issues such by asking, "What is best for the child?"

   On the issue of gay marriage, he said the answer was a family with a mother and a father.

Posted by Jim Sullinger

Brownback elephant hunting

   The Hotline caught Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback appearance on "Fox & Friends" this morning.
      Brownback, on why he spent a night in the State Penitentiary in Angola, La.: "Well, I wanted to highlight what they're doing there. ... They really get with these guys and work with them. And it's a great story. ... I was there because I've been pushing a bill that we're trying to do to get the recidivism rate down."
      Asked if he will run for White House: "We put the exploratory committee in a week ago yesterday. I've been out exploring. I'll be traveling to Iowa this afternoon. And it looks good. I've gotten a good reception so far. ... I'm a full-scale conservative. I believe in the full agenda, the things that we can do really from that end of the spectrum. And I hope to put those ideas forward."
      On the first thing he'd do as president: "Well, we've got to get the situation in Iraq under control. That is the big elephant in the room. And, to me, I think we're going to have to see us get out of the way of the sectarian violence."

UPDATE: Brownback was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer this afternoon on CNN's "Situation Room" and talked more about his presidential bid and Iraq. CNN supplied excerpts and a transcript.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Will Brownback end up helping McCain?

   From John Mercurio's "Politiscope" column on NationalJournal.com:

   Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., isn't a front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, and he might never become one. But his decision to enter the fray, or at least explore it, scrambles the field of Republicans hoping to challenge potential front-runner John McCain from the right. And that could be good news for the Arizona senator.

    Brownback, 50, wears conservatism comfortably and credibly -- far more so than, say, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose early overtures to their party's base have paid off with strong poll numbers and organizational advantages.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Brownback: Iraq must achieve 'political equilibrium' even if it means partitioning country

   Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback said Thursday that Iraq must achieve a "political equilibrium" even if means partitioning the country along ethnic and religious lines. "I'm saying, and I hope the Iraqi leadership is hearing it: We will not face the American public in 2008 with a situation that looks anything similar to where we are today ... American deployment of troops on the front line conducting the military operations," the Kansas senator said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Brownback: I'm like Howard Dean or Jimmy Carter!

  Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback sought to defuse the notion that lack of big money automatically confines him to the second-tier of Republican presidential candidates.

   "It doesn't all come down to money," Brownback said. "That's the easy gauge because it's an objective measurement. But ideas do matter, particularly to someone like me who does represent where the Republican Party is."

  Brownback noted that Howard Dean in 2004 (Buzz note: pre-implosion) and Jimmy Carter in 1976 both ran well especially in all-important Iowa, before big money started rolling in to their campaigns.

   And, Brownback noted, George Bush won the Iowa caucuses with just 81,000 votes. That means low-cost retail politics is still important in the Hawkeye State.

  "That's a lot of hands to shake, but it's not insurmountable," Brownback said.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Ack attack

   "Brownback? Now, that it is an unusual name. President Brownback? Hmmm…..”
    So says Linda Rybak, a waitress in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, shortly before Senator Sam from Kansas arrived Tuesday to give his first address to the state’s Republicans since filing papers to form and a presidential exploratory committee.
   The problem for Brownback isn’t just his low name recognition in the Hawkeye State. It may be the name itself, as shown in an informal survey of customers and workers lining the Longhorn Motel bar before Brownback’s appearance.
   “Brownback?!” said one young customer. “Well, I guess Americans are going to have to get used to voting for names a little more unusual than Bush or Clinton.”
    When it comes to novel names, Iowans need look no further than Tom Vilsack, their two-term Dem governor who made his own president bid officials last month.
   And what about John Loebsack? A college professor from these parts, Loebsack stunned everyone by upsetting Cedar Rapids’ longtime GOP Congressman, Jim Leach, in November.
   “Brownback? It might work,” said Rybak.

Posted By Rick Montgomery

Brownback: Why I'm running

   Go here for the Brownback for President website, including his statement after establishing the exploratory committee.

  UPDATE:  Matt Stearns' story on the announcement here.

Posted by Dave Helling

Skelton: 'It's a political decision'

  Rep. Ike Skelton appeared on "Meet the Press" Sunday (you can find the MTP home page here; click around a bit to find a video excerpt.)

  Skelton told host Tim Russert that the ultimate solution in Iraq depends on the Iraqis "standing up" to handle the country's security crisis.

   But he also said he doesn't think the current government can disarm the various militia now battling in the country.

   Also on the Sunday shows, and talking about Iraq, were Sen.-elect Claire McCaskill and Sen. Sam Brownback.

     Here's Brownback on ABC's "This Week:"

    "We cannot face the public again in 2008 with the current situation still in hand for the United States. We have to push for a political solution in the region. And I think we've really got to start pushing people there on the ground and in the area to come together, to work together, because we can't have this same situation 18 months from now facing the United States."

    Here's McCaskill of Missouri on CBS's "Face the Nation":

   "...we have to begin to engage (moderate Arab countries) in order to have them weigh in. If we do not do that, what has become a civil war is going to disintegrate and begin to impact other nations besides Iraq, and then we really have created an incredible mess...I think all of us know that we have made a terrible mistake in Iraq. There are no good answers right now, none..."

To read more quotes, click here.

Posted by Dave Helling and David Goldstein

Aye, aye Captain!

    Righty blog Captain's Quarters evaluates Sen. Sam Brownback's presidential hopes:

    "An undercurrent of support has existed for Brownback since earlier this year, when it became plain that conservatives had grown disaffected with the GOP. He faces little competition on the right of the GOP field. ... However, Brownback has the same problem as any Senator or Congressman -- a lack of executive experience. Legislators reach compromises, and those come back to haunt candidates on the presidential trail. ... On the other hand, Brownback doesn't appear to have too many of these waffling points on the resume. On abortion, for instance, Brownback gets a perfect 100 from the National Right to Life Committee and a perfect 0 from NARAL. ... It may not make much difference. Most of the oxygen is already getting sucked up by McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Newt Gingrich. Brownback may have some name recognition among the politicos and the blogs, but he barely registers among rank-and-file voters."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Brownback sees room to run

    Sen. Sam Reagan Brownback, who is considering a White House bid in 2008, said Monday the Republican field has room for a "full-scale Ronald Reagan conservative" and pledged to make a final decision next month.

   The Kansas senator told AP he was not discouraged from running by the Democrats' strong gains in this month's midterm elections, including majority control of the House and Senate.

   "It does not make it less likely," he said in an interview. "I really believe that the basic conservative ideas and ideals were not repudiated. Our execution was."

   Here's the complete AP story.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Brownback, just among friends...

    Kansas GOP Sen. Sam Brownback was on "Fox & Friends" this morning:
    Asked if he is switching parties after being seen speaking to the Young Democrats Club at his daughter's high school: "I am announcing now on Fox News that I am not becoming a Democrat today. ... Goodbye partisanship. I'm not switching parties."
      On the GOP: "I want to point out -- and I'm a bit jaded about this -- that we've been trying to be bipartisan for some period of time. And we've been putting forward bipartisan proposals and we were constantly blocked, blocked, blocked."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Sam the explorer

    The New York Daily News' Ben Smith includes this from Kansas GOP Sen. Sam Brownback on his blog: "'We'll be making the mechanical steps within the next few weeks to move forward,' he said of his presidential bid, saying later he means he'll be filing papers to start what's typically an exploratory committee."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Judge held up by Brownback says she did nothing wrong

    A Michigan judge whose nomination to the federal bench is stalled by Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback over her appearance at a lesbian commitment ceremony says she attended as a friend, not to give legal sanction.

    The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff to be a U.S. District Court judge is on hold because the Republican Brownback is not satisfied with her response to questions about her views on same-sex marriage, a spokesman for the senator said Thursday. Here'e the complete AP story.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Just in: the New Jersey same-sex couples ruling

     The State Supreme Court in New Jersey said today that same-sex couples are entitled to “the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.” But the court, in its 4-3 ruling, said that whether that status would be called marriage, or something else, “is a matter left to the democratic process.” Here's the NYT story.

   According to "The Hotline" political newsletter, the first major national political figure to respond is...Kansas GOP Sen. Sam Brownback:

   "The decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court only deepens the constitutional crisis with respect to the protection of traditional marriage, and warrants swift, decisive action by Congress in the form of passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment. Huge social changes should be decided by the people and their elected representatives and should not be forced by the courts.”

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

The sound of desperation?

   Kansas GOP Sen. Sam Brownback sent an out an e-mail for the Republican National Committee advocating its "Get-Out-The-Vote" program. The e-mail begins: “Everything our party has achieved in the past six years is at risk of being lost in just one day.”

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Gay unions? Pass the 'smelling salts'

    The Washington Post editorial page asks a curious question today: "May a federal judge have lesbian friends?"

     Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback might not think so.

     Brownback recently stiff-armed President's Bush nomination of a Michigan judge to the federal bench. Judicial nominations have been the scene of numerous political fracases under this White House. But this one was a political deal between Bush and the state's two Democratic senators - Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow.

     Brownback's problem is that the judge, Janet T. Neff, presided over a commitment ceremony in Massachusetts in 2002 between a lesbian couple.

     "It seems to speak about her view of judicial activism," Brownback, who opposes gay marriage, told the AP.

     The Post editorial notes that a commitment ceremony has no legal authority and is simply a "private expression of the love and devotion of two people."

    But this one, the paper said, has the staunch Kansas religious conservative "reaching for the smelling salts and blocking the nomination."

Posted by David Goldstein

North Korea: What they're saying

  House Majority Whip Roy Blunt:  "The idea of a nuclear-armed North Korea should concern everyone in the civilized world...Dangerous weapons are now in the hands of a regime with a proven record of proliferation and hostility towards its neighbors...Now is the time for the world community to demonstrate its resolve in stopping nuclear proliferation."

    Sen. Kit Bond:   "An outlaw regime with a nuclear capability and the ability to transfer weapon technology to other countries such as Iran, or non-state terrorist groups, cannot be tolerated...We must confront this threat to restore regional and global stability, as well as protect the long-term safety and security of the American people."   

   Sen. Sam Brownback: "We will fight tyranny with freedom. We call on all freedom-loving nations around the world, especially the United States, to take every North Korean refugee that legally seeks entry into their country...Over a million North Korean refugees have died of starvation, and it will only get worse, as this rogue regime isolates itself further from the world while more and more people flee such a desperate situation."

Posted by David Goldstein       

Roy Blunt not involved in Foley sex scandal

  Missouri Democrats said today they want to know what Congressman Roy Blunt knows about the sex scandal surrounding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida.

   Blunt's office gave its answer: Nothing.

   Blunt is the No. 3 Republican in the House, but was not part of any discussions with any other House Republicans as they learned of Foley's inappropriate e-mails to congressional pages, said Burso Snyder, Blunt's spokesman.

   "The first time Congressman Blunt heard anything about the Foley matter was Thursday of last week when ABC broke the story," Snyder said in an e-mail. Snyder pointed out that there were no "leadership meetings" on the issue, but rather a series of "one-on-one conversations among members."

   It's worth pointing out that as party whip, Blunt's primary responsibility is counting votes, not governing the behavior of members of the GOP caucus.

-- Posted by Matt Stearns and Steve Kraske

Brownback: Block doc-assisted suicide

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is out with new legislation seeking to block Oregon's landmark law allowing doctor-assisted suicide.

   The Republican's bill would bar docs from prescribing federally controlled drugs for use in assisted suicide, the Associated Press reports.

   "When the law permits killing as a medical `treatment,' society's moral guidelines are blurred, and killing could gain acceptance as a solution for the chronically ill or vulnerable," Brownback said.

   Brownback added that he doesn't expect the bill to become law this year, but wanted to trigger a debate.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Campaigns and corndogs

   It's state fair time in the Midwest and what self-respecting 2008 possible presidential hopeful would bypass the Iowa fair?

    Not Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who still remains in the will-he-or-won't-he category of 2008 Republican contenders. So it's off to the Hawkeye State this week to stump for some local pols and then to the Des Moines fairgrounds for some gladhanding and that other campaign staple - corndogs.

Posted by David Goldstein

Behold the power of KC Buzz Blog

    A few weeks back, the KC Buzz Blog perused presidential hopeful Sam Brownback's Iowa schedule and noticed the world-famous, food-to-die-for-and-it-just-might-kill-you Drake Diner was inexplicably absent from the Kansas senator's schedule.

  And the Buzz lamented.

   But: Check out the last paragraph of the big profile of Senator Sam in today's USA Today. Where does the interview occur? Over pancakes and coffee at the Drake Diner, on that very trip.

   Read the Buzz Blog. Obey the Buzz Blog. You are powerless to resist.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Brownback turns to 'snowflakes'

   On the eve of today's much-anticipated stem cell vote, leading opponent Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas surrounded himself with mothers whose children came from "adopted" embryos. Known as "snowflakes," they come to parents as frozen embryos.

    At a press event Monday, one of the moms held a sign that her daughter had drawn of an embryo, saying "Are you going to kill me?"

    The bill would expand federal stem cell research. It's likely to pass, but not with enough to support to survive what is expected to be President Bush's first veto.

Posted by David Goldstein

File Under: Expanding the Tent

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas is taking seriously the idea of the GOP as a "Big Tent": He's speaking to the National Council of La Raza convention in Los Angeles today on the red-hot topic of immigration.

Brownback, contemplating a presidential run, has taken heat from his party's conservative base for supporting a comprehensive approach to immigration reform ("Amnesty," says the base, which wants a tougher enforcement-oriented approach).

Folks like Brownback say the GOP can't afford to alienate the fast-growing Hispanic voter demo with a draconian immigration policy. Which explains why Karl Rove also is on La Raza's agenda. No dummy, that guy.

Posted by Matt Stearns

Dei after dei

  Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback is taking blogheat for his support of a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

  The liberal blog Alternet says here that Brownback used a marriage-defense document produced by the Witherspoon Institute as part of his argument on the Senate floor supporting traditional marriage.

  The problem?  The Witherspoon Institute, the post says, is connected with Opus Dei, a quasi-secret and quite conservative organization of Roman Catholics.

  The post's conclusion:  that Sen. Brownback has dragged religion onto the Senate floor  -- as if that never happens.

  KC Buzz Blog contacted Luis Tellez, president of the Witherspoon Institute.

  "I am a member of Opus Dei," he said.  "We don't take directions from Opus Dei.  It influences my work, but it doesn't taint it."

   Tellez says he didn't write the study Brownback used on the floor. He also says Brownback isn't a member of Opus Dei.

   We've got a call into the senator's office.

    If he does run for president we can expect more pieces like this.

Posted by Dave Helling 4:15 p.m.

Sam Brownback, Peacenik (NOT!)

    What a difference a word makes.

   An urgent press release flew from Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback's office Monday morning to head off any misunderstandings stemming from an 8-minute flub by the AP.

   Brownback, in Des Moines on a presidential prospecting trip Friday and Saturday, told Iowa Republicans in a speech that "Republicans should not be afraid of backing the war."

   Unfortunately for Brownback, the initial AP story ran the quote thusly: "Republicans should be afraid of backing the war."

   A corrected story ran within eight minutes of the initial piece, but Brownback's office was concerned because many news outlets ran the first version.

   Quoth Brownback today: "“I have consistently supported the global war on terror.  I encourage all Americans to support the troops and to support efforts to defeat the terrorists abroad before they can attack us at home again.  This is a war we must win.”

   In case you were wondering.

Posted by Matt Stearns 11:05 a.m.

Sam: I Love Des Moines in June

   Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback takes his fledgling Oval Office hopes to all-important Iowa this weekend. The state holds the first presidential caucus for 2008: Where dreams are made or crushed.

   Brownback will attend the Iowa Republican Party's pre-convention picnic Friday eveing, then attend a fundraiser for pal Chuck Hurley's Iowa Family Policy Center and an open house for Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle.

   Saturday finds the ambitious Kansan greeting delegates to the state convention. Then it's home to Topeka.

  What - no stop at the Drake Diner? Dude! Somebody tell Sam the place has the best burgers and shakes in the known universe!

Posted by Matt Stearns, 3:45 p.m/

Wheat: Confusing

   Quick quiz: When is wheat planted? And when is it harvested?

   Answer: Planted in the fall. Harvested in the spring. (Generally).

   Those in the DC-Kansas realm got chuckles from a correction in today's Washington Post from its profile earlier this week of Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback.

   Turns out the citified profiler, reaching for some nifty symbolism, got the timing of the planting and harvesting confused.

Posted by Matt Stearns 10:25 a.m.

Brownback on the record

   Cousin Brucie, he’s not. There was no "platter chatter" (When was the last time anyone played records, anyway?) No Top 40 countdown.

  But Kansas GOP Sen. Sam Brownback, who has admitted that one of his favorite bands is - naturally - "Kansas" was the "Guest Conductor" Sunday on WGMS-FM, a Washington classical station. The hour-long Sunday show asks the capital’s "movers and shakers" what they "listen to when they need a little inspiration or a break from an intense day of decision making."

  In reality, the senator neither played conductor or deejay. He wasn’t even in the studio.

Aide Brian Hart said the station merely sends out a questionnaire asking what actually shakes the movers and shakers, then plays them.

  Cousin Sammy’s selections? Handel’s "Water Music Suite No. 1" and Mozart’s "Symphony No. 20."

Posted by David Goldstein 9:55 a.m.