Update on Jenkins/ Ryun Ad Buys

Just as a quick update as to media expenditures from Lynn Jenkins & Jim Ryun:

Jenkins:

Topeka: WIBW, KSNT and KTKA- total of 91 spots for $11,075
Kansas City: KMBC- 45 spots for $20,855
Joplin: KSN, KODE, KOAM and KFJX- total of 102 spots for $11,425

Total buy: $43,355

Ryun:

Topeka: WIBW & KTMJ- total of 138 spots for $14,960
Cable: 206 spots for $1,981
Joplin: KOAM & KFJX- total of 104 spots for $12,680

Total buy: $29,621

What Christian Morgan Really Means: He's Scared to Death

The Kansas Republican Party is falling all over itself, clamoring to tell the world the fact the DCCC purchased ad time for Congresswoman Nancy Boyda means both that Boyda's on the brink of defeat and that it's just proof (proof, I tell you, proof!) that Boyda's beholden to House Democrats.

In the end, Christian Morgan and the KS GOP are trying desperately to get voters to ignore their real motivation behind attacking the ads: They know that, if the DCCC does indeed spend $1.2 million in the Kansas 2nd lauding Nancy Boyda's first 2 years in Congress, whoever ends up winning the primary won't stand a chance in Hell come November.

They want- and who could blame them, really?- to keep the good news about Boyda's record from the eyes and ears of the voting public. They want to do anything they can to make the ads toxic because they're not so dumb that they don't realize what 16,000 media points would do to this district.

So, what is Morgan doing? Painting this as evidence Boyda's in league with the devil herself, Nancy Pelosi, he's alluding Boyda & the House Leadership coordinated the whole thing. That's a mighty significant claim- and in making it Morgan's insinuating Boyda has broken the law, because, just like Washburn political science professor Bob Beatty said last week:

"There's nothing she can do about it. She can't even call and say, 'I don't want it.' Any involvement with third-party independent expenditures would be illegal."

Even though a candidate disavows a third party's actions or asks the group not to be involved in his or her race through a public statement, that doesn't mean the group will comply, Beatty said.

Morgan's not dumb enough to actually say what he's insinuating, because he knows it's not true: he knows Boyda isn't coordinating the ads because he knows she's not breaking the law. He's just trying to manage perceptions...a good trick that we're hoping he doesn't get away with.

Why is he so afraid of the ads the DCCC has bought? Because that much message about all the good things Boyda has done while in office will be impossible for him to cut through. The DCCC might talk about Boyda's efforts to end the Solider Tax (and lowering taxes on 150,000 of our fighting men and women). The ads could talk about Boyda's efforts to secure $80 million in federal investments into Kansas- including money for highways, police departments, and our military bases. And the ads might touch on the fact Boyda's office has helped 2,600 Kansans solve problems with federal agencies ranging from Social Security to Veterans Affairs. And they could talk about so much more...and he's scared to death they will.

Boyda has publicly said she'd rather the DCCC not invest in her race- that's certainly her prerogative. She'll, of course, run her campaign exactly as she always has, independently and free of outside influence. But, as everyone involved knows, the DCCC will run ads if they so chose, no matter how much Boyda or Christian Morgan scream- because it's illegal to coordinate the purchase- or cancellation- of a third party ad buy. The DCCC would have to decide independently to pull out- and we just dont' see that happenin'.

In the end, the straw man Morgan is trying to create here isn't the story- the story is his abject fear someone will knock down his straw man and see the ads for what they really are: An independent buy Boyda legally couldn't have anything to do with- and an independent ad buy with which the Kansas Republican Party cannot even begin to respond. It's nothing more than a ham-fisted attempt on his part pull a bait and switch on the voting public. And it just ain't gonna fly.

Good try though, Christian. Maybe next time.

GOP Attacks Boyda on FISA- Again

Yesterday, the Kansas Republican Party threw up a post on their official blog, The Kansas Trunkline (Trunkline? Seriously?) that reopens an old wound for the KS GOP: Their massive, massive failure to make Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's vote to renew and extend FISA somehow akin to letting terrorists sleep in her guest bedroom.

While this is an argument that has been a losing one for the Kansas Republican Party for months at this point, they continue to harp on it in an effort to mislead and misinform the voters of the state of Kansas. Why? Because they're so out-of-touch they don't realize it's hurting them.

Not only does the KS GOP willfully bend the truth in their new post, saying "no civil liberties of American citizens are in jeopardy" and "Boyda is trying to make our intelligence experts go through a bureaucratic legal process to be able to monitor terrorists outside the United States" with the House-passed bill, they also dredge out of the Internet cesspool the "Defense of Democracies" TV ad that was aired against Boyda and that was completely shredded by an independent review that was then published in Newsweek. No, not published on some liberal blog- published in Newsweek. It's today painfully clear the ad was nothing more than a fabrication created to scare voters.

So, either the Kansas Republican Party staff can't read or they're just OK with lying. Not very patriotic either way.

That's why Boyda called those statements "damned lies" for in her speech to the Kansas Democratic Party on March 1, and, by reminding all of us of their blatant scare tactics, they show us all that they are now unrepentant in peddling those damned lies.

In addition, they're also stupid peddlers of damned lies- the copy of the Defense of Democracies TV commercial they linked to in their post is twice as long as the actual ad- because it includes 30 seconds of rebuttal to it- "Don't believe this ad's lies" is what it says, actually.

Congresswoman Nancy Boyda's vote on FISA was courageous, it was honorable, and it was simply the only right thing to do. The Kansas Republican Party, however, asked us all at the time to call her and ask her if she was "on our side or on the side of the terrorists."

And, just like Boyda said then, "That is what we'd call a stupid question."

(Link to the video & transcript of Boyda's speech on FISA).

Lynn Jenkins Photo Caption Contest #1

Friday was a crazy busy day so sadly we couldn't post a pic for the caption contest. So we offer this one in hopes we can all join in for some Monday fun!