KC Buzz Blog

Little sister's words bite a would-be dentist?

   Once Sen. George Allen of Virginia wanted to be a dentist, his sister wrote a few years back. "George said he saw dentistry as a perfect profession - getting paid to make people suffer," recalled Jennifer Richard, whose quotes from her book, Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter, are drifting through the blogosphere.

    She said she's afraid of heights because her brother held her over the railing at Niagara Falls, dragged her upstairs to bed by her hair once, threw her brother through a plate glass window, etc, etc. Referring to George's early leadership skills, she wrote: "We all obeyed George. If we didn't, we knew he would kill us."

    Later she called Fifth Quarter a "novelization of the past," but said George sat with her for hours in the writing of the book "all the while reminding me to remain faithful to the facts."

Posted by Darryl Levings

They forgot one...

   A bunch of Kansas GOP notables took the podium today at a Republican Rally at the capitol today. Ostensibly the rally was to drum up support for U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun, but of course other candidates were there to put in a word or two about their campaigns.

    There was state Sen. Susan Wagle, Lt. Gov. pick of GOP Gov. nominee Jim Barnett, who had this to say about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius: "She is a liberal Democrat and wants to increase your taxes."

   Treasurer Lynn Jenkins and Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger were there. And just in case your forgot about legislators, outgoing House Speaker Doug Mays put in a word for them, too. U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback was there to introduce Ryun.

   But nobody mentioned the AG's race. Simple mistake? We hear Phill Kline was on the road attending the funeral of a slain western Kansas sheriff, but come on, couldn't SOMEBODY in the GOP remember to at least give him a mention?

Posted by David Klepper

Rich with irony

     Missouri Democrats are calling on St. Charles County Director of Elections Rich Chrismer to recuse himself because his son, also named Rich Chrismer, is Sen. Jim Talent's spokesman. Democratic spokesman Jack Cardetti: "An election official that could be handling hundreds of thousands of ballots should not have such a glaring conflict of interest as Rich Chrismer does."

  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that "in response, the elder Chrismer noted that he and all county clerks from both parties will also be on" the Nov. 7 ballot, and he noted Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, will be certifying the results of the re-election effort of her brother, Democratic U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan. He called the Democratic assertions "a desperate attempt by a party in a desperate situation."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Going to war over a quote

    A big dust-up exploded today over the remark by Sen. John Kerry telling students that if they don't succeed in school, they might end up "stuck in Iraq."

  The White House accused Kerry on Tuesday of troop-bashing, and Sen. John McCain says he owes an apology to those serving in Iraq.

   Kerry fired back in a harshly worded statement, saying he was really talking about President Bush, not the "heroes serving in Iraq."

   More: "This is the classic GOP playbook. I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did. I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium."

   UPDATE: Here's the latest NYT story.

  UPDATE: Missouri Republicans are jumping into the fray, demanding that Claire McCaskill repudiate Kerry's remark.

   UPDATE:  Sen. Kit Bond:  "Sen. Kerry's insinuation that only poor students are fighting the war in Iraq is a grave insult to the fine men and women who are protecting our freedom there....They are offended by the Democrats' proposals to cut and run and now by the latest slur by one of the leaders of their party."

Posted by Keith Chrostowski

Also included in today's CNN poll...

...this finding:

Michael J. Fox viewed favorably by 75 percent of U.S. voters, unfavorably by 14 percent.

Rush Limbaugh's numbers: 26 favorable, 58 percent unfavorable.

Posted by Steve Kraske

Wednesday in The Star's Ed pages

Editorial topics

• The Star's recommendation for Kansas' 2nd District U.S. House seat.
• On MoHELA.

Local columnist

• Lewis Diuguid on laughter and politics.

Survey the USA

   Survey USA -- in a poll for KSDK/KCTV -- has Claire McCaskill +3 over Jim Talent.

   A week ago, Survey USA had it +3 for Talent.

   October 12, they had it +9 for McCaskill.

  Amendment 2 -- the stem cell question -- is 50% yes, 40% no.

  The breakout here.

Posted by Dave Helling

Tuesday's open thread

    Here it is...

Glover's lane

  Katheryn Shields is yesterday's candidate.

  Jim Glover says, officially, he's running for KC Mayor.  He screened for Citizens last night.

  Becky Nace will screen, too -- here's guessing she's in.

  Ten candidates are screening for the Association -- the group, not the immortal rock and roll band.

Posted by Dave Helling

KC Buzz Blog poll: split opinions

   In case you haven't checked the outcome of the KC Buzz Blog unscientific "poll" on control of Congress (at left), we received 780 "votes," breaking down this way: Democrats will capture:

• Just the House -- 17.7 percent
• Just the Senate -- 1.3 percent
• Both -- 47.9 percent
• Neither -- 33.1 percent

  This poll is now closed, and we're open to suggestions for a new one.

Posted by Keith Chrostowski