President George W. Bush in Kansas City

That's right, the least popular president in modern history is coming to Kansas City, Kansas, to campaign for Republican congressional candidate State Senate Nick Jordan.

What on Earth is wrong with Jordan we do not know- this comes after he threw an ill-attended fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney- so this makes him only the second Republican candidate in the nation to bring both Cheney and the President in to glad-hand for him.

The other? Missouri Congressman Sam Graves- who, like Jordan, suffers from a desperate lack of money and Democratic opponents they're going to have an awfully hard time defeating.

How does this fit into the race in the Kansas 2nd?

Our sources say Lynn Jenkins is on the sponsor board of the event (she was also in attendance at the VP event). Strangely absent from the list of sponsors- Jim Ryun.

Is Jenkins simply too dumb to know her potential district disapproves of the president as much as the rest of the country, or is she simply a gadfly who is in desperate need of attention? And why is Ryun not supporting fellow candidate Nick Jordan? Has he really been pushed that far out of the center of the Kansas Republican Party?

UPDATE: Well, indeed Jim Ryun is on the invite- and while he is, apparently, still welcome to play with the big boys (and girls) of the KS GOP, we're now left with TWO candidates for Congress in the 2nd District stupid enough to put their names next to George W. Bush's. Guess it was just to much to expect any of them to learn from the disaster that was Bush's swing through for Ryun in '06.

More at Left Brain Kansas.

Boyda & Moore Vote on Tax Relief While Republicans Lie

"Largest tax increase in history," right?

Wrong.

From the Lawrence Journal-World:

It’s a simple statement that packs a powerful political wallop.

Jim Ryun, Lynn Jenkins and Nick Jordan — all Republicans trying to unseat two Democratic congressional incumbents who represent Lawrence — say the Democrats voted for the largest tax increase in the history of the United States.

Did U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, whose district includes west Lawrence, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, whose district includes east Lawrence, endorse such a proposal?

Both Boyda and Moore say absolutely not, and that their potential rivals are distorting the record.

And they, of course, are distorting the records of both Boyda & Moore. What actually happened?

Hours after the vote, the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a news release targeting what it considers vulnerable Democrats, and accusing them of voting for a record $683 billion tax increase.

But the Democrats say that’s not true, and so does a nonpartisan budget study group.

“It’s dishonest to claim that the budget resolution passed by the House ‘raises’ taxes,” said Moore. “The budget resolution does not change the tax code at all, but presents a fiscally responsible long-term plan for our nation’s finances, including keeping tax relief for families and the middle class,” he said.

Democrats argue the resolution envisions eliminating the budget deficit in 2012, while funding critical needs and preserving middle class tax cuts.

Repeat: it preserves the middle class tax cuts. Preserves them. End of story. Might taxes go up on the wealthiest Americans? Yes, yes they just might, but will they increase on middle class Americans. No.

But Jim Ryun is perfectly happy to lie about that.

In a speech before the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity, Ryun said the resolution that Boyda voted for will increase the taxes on millions of Americans, including many in the middle class.

But the resolution also includes policy language that calls for middle income tax relief, including extension of the increase in the child tax credit, relief from the so-called marriage penalty, and other deductions aimed at the middle class.

“Nancy has always believed that the middle class relief should be made permanent,” said her spokesman Thomas Seay. He said the sunset clauses in Bush’s plan don’t take effect until 2011. “Nancy has said again and again that when this issue reaches a vote, she’ll support extending middle class tax relief,” Seay said.

Ryun is willfully misleading anyone who will listen to him about what this resolution did- and that is simply beneath someone who wants to represent all of us in the United States Congress.

So, fine, you don't want to take it from two Democrats that they aren't raising taxes when Republicans say they are? That's fair. How about, instead, a non-partisan group of budget analysts?

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the budget resolution contains no tax increase, let alone the largest in U.S. history.

The resolution approved by the House assumed that the nation’s tax law would be amended to extend some of the expiring tax cuts, especially those affecting middle class families, according to the center, which is a nonpartisan group that works on policies and programs that affect low- and moderate-income families. The costs of those tax cuts would be offset by other changes in policy, which could include eliminating the tax cuts for the very wealthy, some Democrats have argued.

Of the allegations made by the Republicans, Aviva Aron-Dine, a policy analyst with the center, said, “Our view is that that claim is inaccurate.”

She added, “The language of tax increases is very powerful. It’s important to correct the record.”

You better bet your boots it's important to correct the record. Lynn Jenkins, Jim Ryun & Nick Jordan, along with the NRCC, are all misleading voters- and, we're sorry, lying about something as fundamental as a tax increase is deeply distressing.

Don't let the Republicans lie to voters- make sure everyone knows Nancy Boyda is committed to working for middle class tax relief.

A Lot of Money, and We're Only Halfway In

In Ric Anderson's column in the Topeka Capital Journal today:

3 With the amount of campaign money that Kansans seeking seats in the U.S. Senate and the House 2nd and 3rd districts had on hand during the first quarter of this year, which of the following could be provided?

A) Salaries for 150 public school teachers

B) One semester of in-state tuition for more than 2,200 students at Washburn University

C) Either

Correct answer: C. The seven congressional candidates had about $6.2 million on hand between them.

The average salary for a Kansas teacher is $41,369, according the National Education Association.

Washburn charges $185 per credit hour in tuition for in-state students, which adds up to $2,775 for a 15-hour semester.

The cash on hand figures are as follows: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., $3 million; Jim Slattery, Roberts' Democrat challenger, $288,000; Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., $812,000; former Congressman Jim Ryun, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Boyda, $461,000; Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, who also is competing for the Republican nomination, $486,000; Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., $889,000; state Sen. Nick Jordan, Moore's Republican challenger, $307,000.

Holy cripes, folks...and those numbers are only going to get bigger and bigger and bigger...

Lynn Jenkins & Nick Jordan: We love you, Mr. Vice President!

We hate to quote other blogs, because you never know for sure if they actually have their information down, but, hell, it's Sunday night and this is simply too much fun not to post.

According to conservative blog The Kenig Konnection, State Sen. Nick Jordan's campaign fundraiser with Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday last was a rousing success, raising upwards of $30,000 and featuring all sorts of Kansas Republican Party royalty, including none other than Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins.

First off, begging apologies, but $30K raised at a fundraiser with the sitting Vice President of the United States is PITIFUL- just miserable, awful, embarrassing and laughable.

Think we're full of it liberals? Missouri Rep. Sam Graves raised $275,000 at a fundraiser with Cheney in Kansas City in September.

So, the above link proves Kansas City Republicans still like Mr. Cheney (God, why?), and, also, we know Kansas City Republicans are happy to fork out huge sums of money for Republican candidates.

Knowing both of those things, what does it say about Jordan's candidacy? Not sure, but it could be a couple of things. Could be that Kansas Republicans know Dennis Moore's an excellent member of Congress and that they have no interest in replacing him with a two-bit state senator, or it could mean that even rank-and-file Kansas Republicans have the good sense to know Dick Cheney's stamp of approval is a bad thing, and candidates so endorsed ought be avoided at all costs.

Where does that leave Lynn Jenkins? Was she hoping some foreign policy expertise would rub off Mr. Cheney if she got close enough to him, or that she might be able to convince a Jordan donor or two to flip her a dime, or is it just that she's too stupid to realize the majority of people in Kansas- heck, in the country- think the man's the worst vice president in history? It's a lesson Jim Ryun learned in 2006- it's good to see it didn't stick.

Go ahead, Lynn, convince him to come to Topeka for you- we'll be there will bells on.

(By the way, we'll give anyone a shiny dollar if they can send us a picture of Lynn and the VP... boydabloc@gmail.com)