(Syndicated to Kansas newspapers July 25, 2016)
If there is news from the just-completed Republican National Convention in Cleveland and the just-getting-started Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, it’s that Kansas politicians probably ought not talk much about what happens outside the state border.
Kansas Republicans, with just nine of the state’s delegates committed to vote for Donald Trump, saw the rest of its 40-member delegation get to take a deep breath. Kansas’ Republican delegate votes were, of course, settled at the Kansas GOP caucuses across the state this spring, but the best news for Kansans was that they were locked into their votes before the convention opened. And with no non-Trump candidates (6 for Marco Rubio, 24 for Ted Cruz and 1 for John Kasich) releasing their delegates to vote for others, Republicans in Kansas pretty well have insulated themselves from whatever happens in the November presidential election.