(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers Aug. 1, 2016)
Well, the Kansas delegates are back and are probably sorting through the credit card receipts to see just how good a time they had—and how long they are going to remember and pay off—those trips to the Republican and Democratic national conventions.
And, for many of the Republican and Democratic delegates and alternates and friends and staff and, well, whoever else showed up at the GOP festival in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Democratic party in Philadelphia, Pa., they’re probably also wondering just what they achieved for their political parties in Kansas.
Remember, neither delegation to either convention saw the result it was after.
Kansas Republicans, well, they saw the party nominate Donald Trump for president, and he didn’t win the Kansas caucuses—Texas Sen. Ted Cruz did.
And Kansas Democrats who by their numbers were in favor of Bernie Sanders saw Hillary Clinton become the party’s standard-bearer.
No wins here, and for Republicans, the best to come out of the convention was that there was no motion to nominate Trump by acclamation, which would have meant that all 40 Kansas delegates would have instantly become “Trump people” though they all didn’t want to.
And the majority of the Kansas Democratic delegates—many first-time political activists—were Sanders delegates who were dashed when Sanders who lost the delegate count moved that the entire convention line up behind Clinton. It was a heart-breaker for those new-to-politics Sanders supporters, many of them moved to tears by the Clinton nomination.
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Sound like fun? Yes and no.
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We aren’t going to know until November, of course, who gets to move into the White House, and whether two high-profile, bitterly fighting presidential nominees are going to have an effect on Kansas political races. But for Kansas delegates to those national conventions, the choices aren’t what they hoped for and their level of enthusiasm for getting out the November vote is not yet known.
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But this probably means that Kansans are going to have about 100 days to consider who should be president. For those Kansans who don’t have a favorite at the top of the ballot, this week’s primary election results just might have the effect of voters focusing with unusual precision on legislative races which many times have a bigger impact on their lives than the presidential race.
No, don’t look for legislative candidates to be photo-shopping their faces into pictures of Clinton or Trump; look for them to almost avoid those links and instead campaign to Kansas voters on the issues that we’ll feel where we live.
It’s the level of state spending, taxes and who pays them, the provision of health care, whether the highways are repaired and just what sort of education Kansas provides to its children.
Those are the state issues that voters not enthused about either presidential nominee may be moved to concentrate on and which candidates need to bring to the front porch and the bulk mailed campaign materials in the state.
If there was ever a presidential scrap that clearly focuses Kansans inward on, well, Kansas, this might just be the time. That “straight party line” vote probably is going to happen less frequently than in the past, and practically, that’s likely to be good for Kansans and the state. The real key will be whether candidates of both parties realize it.
The elephants on GOP signs are generally smaller this year, and the donkeys are, too. Which brings it down to individual candidates and their pledges and platforms and the issues that will be important in the upcoming legislative session.
Maybe that’s the difference that the presidential nominees of both parties brought to Kansas. A reason to learn more about the state candidates and figure that whoever is president, those voters will have to live right here, in Kansas.