Morning buzz

• Virginia GOP Sen. George Allen apologized Monday for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments the senator made to a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent. At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca."
• Evangelical leaders are launching a massive registration drive to recruit millions of new voters in 2006, the Los Angeles Times reports.
• A Quinnipiac University poll shows Pennsylvania state Treasurer Bob Casey leading GOP Sen. Rick Santorum 48 percent to 42 percent among likely voters, while Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli gets 5 percent.
• In a story headlined, "Gay community fostered victory...," The Star's Kit Wagar has a good look at Jolie Justus and her victory in the Missouri 10th District state Senate primary.
• A new Zogby poll finds that while 77 percent of Americans can identify two of the seven Dwarfs, only 24 percent could name 2 Supreme Court justices. Here's the The Washington Times story.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Comments

[Patricia Williams]

macaca - rhesus monkey. In some European cultures, macaca is also considered a racial slur against African immigrants.

Pretty nasty epithet to sling at the only non-white face in your audience, George.

[Audrey]

Apoarently Kit Wagar is incapable of writing a story about Jolie Justus or her successful 10 District Senate without letting Jason Klumb get the last word/quote.

Also, if the story indicates anything it shows that while the gay community mobilized behind Jolie's campaign it was in no way exclusively responsible for her vistory. It was an inspirational grass-roots effort that motivated a cross section of straight and gay liberals in the 10th. As Doug Gray said: She was always the candidate who happened to be gay. She was never just the gay candidate.

Why is this so hard for the Star to understand, among so many other things?

Wagar's apparent obsession with Jason Klumb prompts a lot of questions. In particular, why are we still reading about Jason Klumb?

[Audrey]

Apparently Kit Wagar is incapable of writing a story about Jolie Justus or her successful 10 District Senate without letting Jason Klumb get the last word/quote.

Also, if the story indicates anything it shows that while the gay community mobilized behind Jolie's campaign it was in no way exclusively responsible for her vistory. It was an inspirational grass-roots effort that motivated a cross section of straight and gay liberals in the 10th. As Doug Gray said: She was always the candidate who happened to be gay. She was never just the gay candidate.

Why is this so hard for the Star to understand, among so many other things?

Wagar's apparent obsession with Jason Klumb prompts a lot of questions. In particular, why are we still reading about Jason Klumb?

[Jimmy Khuu]

Did you guys read the part of the Bible where Jesus says, "Go forth, prosper, and vote Republican" (or something like that)? Is voting Republican the eleventh commandment for all good little mindless hate-filled sheeple?

[tsquare]

“Did you guys read the part of the Bible where Jesus says, "Go forth, prosper, and vote Republican" (or something like that)? Is voting Republican the eleventh commandment for all good little mindless hate-filled sheeple?”

Can someone explain this to me? Really.

The lead item is Allen calls someone a name, makes a mistake, and apologizes.

Then Jimmy here, without reference to that, or anything else, insults roughly half the state.

Why is that? Wait:

Upon further review I see that Jimmy might be referencing the get out the vote item.

Maybe the point you re missing is, after they are registered, only Jesus goes with them to vote. How and who they vote for is in His hands

Actually Jimmy, vote Republican and you DO ‘go forth and prosper’

And we drink good GOP Scotch

And I don’t hate you. Just amused…

[Molly]

I've read more post-election "negative mailer" coverage than actual coverage of the important issues in this election (education, heath care, economic development, etc). In the future, it would be nice if the KC Star would print candidate answers to questionaires prior to the election....rather than all of this post-election "spin."

Plus, if the KC Star was going to do an article on "gay political support" in the 10th District, it might be nice to mention the fact that Klumb introduced the first same-sex marriage ban, and nothing motivates "a base" like getting the word out on that.

Equally important, if the KC Star really wanted to do its homework on the gay angle, it also might take notice that 2 of the 4 candidates are reportedly gay. Not to "out" anyone and make a big deal out of sexual orientation, but the KC Star seems that is fair game now.....

Having said that, Kit Wagar made a good point that the Justus appeal transcended the gay vote. So quit quoting Klumb already! Face it: Klumb lost because he had no ties to the District (having voted here for the first time in April 2006) and no financial support in the District (having earned over 75% of his contributions from outside KC). Plus, numerous people complain that Klumb appears generally disingenuous and talks in sound bites. Aside from that, Klumb was just plain wrong on MANY issues that matter to voters -- conceal and carry, predatory lending, same-sex marriage bans. Rather than admit that he made mistakes in his votes, he comes of pompous and arrogant in bragging about some brilliant strategy to outsmart the Republicans. He then brings up the name of the now-deceased Governor Carnahan to back his stories (e.g. on his same-sex marriage ban), only to get caught in a lie by Kansas City State Rep Tim Van Zandt. Why is it such a shock that Klumb lost?

This is not the first time Klumb lost an election despite out-fundraising his opponents and declaring himself the frontrunner, and I am sure it will not be the last. I just hope next time, someone at the KC Star takes a third look at Klumb -- his ideas, and actual votes, and reports on those.

[Old Drum]

If I were a member of a major media outlet, I would be more than a little embarrassed that

1) a majority think Iraq had WMDs; and

2) most people can't more than two members of the Supreme Court.

[St Louis Oracle]

Jolie Justus' victory in the 10th senate district had a parallel across in the state in Jeff Smith's win in the 4th in St Louis. Like Justus, Smith enjoyed the motivated support of the gay community, although Smith is not gay (as Seinfeld fans know, not that there's anything wrong with that). Also like Justus, Smith's support was not just gays, but a cross-section of predominantly white liberals (the 4th is about equally divided racially, and Smith got only 10% of the black vote, most of which went to two African American state reps.) and involved a major grassroots effort. The 5-candidate contest also featured a conservative former state rep backed by anti-abortion and police groups and significantly bankrolled indirectly by a Republican pro-school vouchers honcho.