Brownback losing ground in race against Mr./Madame X

Ex-players, parents tell-all about Mark Mangino

Meet the Pied Piper of sick Honeywell tradesmen

Studies in Crap: The itchy, whiskery horror of macrame

By CJ Janovy in Janovy, Politics

Mon., Oct. 12 2009 @ 2:00PM

I'm Sam Brownback, and I'm ready to take you on, you, you ... who are you?

Last week, the Kansas Democratic Party was celebrating a drop in approval ratings for Sen. Sam Brownback, who is leaving the Senate to run for governor.

"In September, public support for Brownback dropped 6 points," the Dems said, heralding new numbers from SurveyUSA. "More notably, one in ten moderates withdrew their support from Brownback during September. With an approval rate of only 48 percent, Brownback has reached his lowest rating of 2009 and is approaching the all-time-low he set in 2007 when his Presidential ambitions led to increased scrutiny of his extreme views.

Added Kenny Johnston, the executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party: "This poll reveals Brownback's candidacy isn't as strong as he'd lead us to believe."

Especially since Brownback faces a strong challenge from ... uh, they'll have to get back to us on that one.

Larry Gates, the chair of the state's Democratic Party, will probably step up, but nothing is official.

"We expect an announcement soon," party spokesman Tyler Longpine said when I called to ask how Brownback's poll numbers could be that significant if he had no challenger.

"But I think it's telling that even in a vacuum people are looking for an alternative. I think it's good news, that, even before there's a clear choice in the race, voters are showing their concern about a Brownback candidacy."

Laura Kelly

Meanwhile, actual, real news came in the form of Friday's announcement that state Sen. Laura Kelly will run against Congresswoman Lynn "Looking for the Great White Hope" Jenkins. That announcement led Topeka Capital-Journal political columnist Ric Anderson to nearly pee his pants with excitement.

The announcement also resulted in a mixed message from Kansas Republican Party Chairwoman Amanda Adkins, who issued this statement in support of Jenkins:

"Rep. Jenkins is an extraordinary public servant with a proven record of getting things done for Kansans. Among her many accomplishments, she has served the 2nd District by keeping the world's most dangerous terrorists out of Leavenworth ... and worked tirelessly to make Kansas the home of the cutting edge National Bio and Agro Defense Facility."

In other words: Human terrorists from Gitmo to Leavenworth = bad; animal terrorist bioorganisms to Manhattan = good.