Topeka ? After 9-11, politics in America would never be the same.

Or so we were told.

Special section¢9-11: One year later A daily diary of photos, stories and video since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001¢Americaresponds.ljworld.com

Indeed, things looked different. Voters suddenly felt they could trust their government. “Politician” no longer sounded like a dirty word. Members of Congress put aside their partisan war and sang “God Bless America” on the Capitol steps.

One year later, the patriotism is alive, but the unity has long faded. In fact, both parties have accused rivals of using the historic day for political gain in this election year.

And as the anniversary of the terrorist attacks approaches, political experts say that, in some ways, politicians and voters have matured, discarding the “gotcha” politics of the 1990s.

“I think we’ve gotten serious,” said Richard Norton Smith, director of the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University. “There are life-and-death decisions at stake, and we expect them to be dealt with in a thoughtful way by serious people, and we don’t have the luxury of entertainment masquerading as politics.”

The sex scandal surrounding President Clinton and the months of screaming from both sides in Congress and on late-night talk shows seem almost silly in retrospect and may have been a product of a nation enjoying a great economic ride with no burning national issues.

Now, with the United States thrown into a war on terrorism, there is a sense there is a real threat to the nation, and Americans want it to be handled, Smith said.

“Extremists on the right and left are the losers. People want politicians to rise above partisanship,” he said. “This is not a year for politicians to be indulging in negativism and name calling, the kind of mindless, short-term jockeying for advantage.”

But with control of the House and Senate possibly hinging on fewer than 10 races this fall, perennial debates on topics such as prescription drug coverage, education and Social Security have re-emerged between Democrats and Republicans.

Gone are the days when Democrats tiptoed around Republicans, afraid to criticize or question President Bush about his prosecution of the war on terrorism and his administration’s handling of matters unrelated to the attacks. The change came, in part, when a wave of corporate accounting scandals shook Wall Street and rattled the economy. Democrats say this emboldened them to criticize the president on other issues.

“It’s time for the administration to stop being cheerleaders and start being leaders,” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said in a recent speech, which aides acknowledged probably would not have been delivered immediately after Sept. 11. “If they don’t lead, Democrats will.”

Still, Bush has been a big political beneficiary of the attacks.

Prior to 9-11, he was a politically wounded some thought illegitimate president. He was brought into office by a U.S. Supreme Court decision without a majority of the popular vote.

Focus and mission

“He was really struggling to get his bearings,” said former 2nd District Kansas congressman Jim Slattery, a Democrat who now is a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. “Since the attacks, Bush has emerged as a strong, forceful leader. It has given his presidency focus and mission.”

Though declining a bit of late, Bush is enjoying stellar approval ratings from the public and raising record amounts of money for Republican candidates. In a World Company poll taken in late July, 67 percent of registered Kansas voters rated Bush’s performance in office as excellent or good.

Still, political experts believe Bush’s influence on congressional and statewide races will be minimal because of increasing concerns about the nation’s slumping economy, ballooning deficits and the president’s inability to make a case for Americans and their allies to attack Iraq. The same World Company poll showed most voters 49 percent were concerned about the economy, while only 25 percent cited terrorism as their major concern.

Governor’s race

In Kansas, the terrorist attack had a big influence on the lineup of potential candidates.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., from the western 1st District, was considered the favorite to be the Republican Party nominee for governor because he was seen as acceptable to both the moderate and conservatives wings of the GOP.

But after 9-11, Moran opted to stay in Congress. He said he didn’t think it was appropriate for him to vote to send Americans into conflict and then campaign for another political office. Moran’s absence from the race helped thrust State Treasurer Tim Shallenburger into the primary. Shallenburger won the race and faces Democrat Kathleen Sebelius in the November general election.

For Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall, 9-11 made her jump into the Republican governor’s race. Earlier, she said she had grown tired of politics, but after the attack she said the heroic actions of rescue workers inspired her to try to stay in public service. A few months later, she dropped out of the GOP primary, saying she was not committed to being governor.

Senatorial race

The terrorist attacks also cut short a potential bid by former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, a Democrat, against U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.

At the time, Glickman said, “I didn’t relish a partisan race when we could be losing lots of people on the battlefield.”

“It certainly changed the political landscape in Kansas,” said Dan Stanley, a Kansan who has gone back and forth between Topeka and Washington, D.C., on various political missions. “It changed many people’s decisions about where they wanted to be over the next few years, and perhaps they gave greater thought on how to use what precious time we have.”

Stanley, now a high-ranking Pentagon official, had been on the job one week when one of the terrorists’ hijacked planes hit the Pentagon.

Smith, with the Dole Institute, said that a year after the attacks, some have tried to use 9-11 to their own political advantage. But he maintains that most people will be able to sniff out those efforts for what they are.

“There is some exploitation going on, but people are really very smart and sophisticated,” he said. “By and large there is a very real sense of a continuing emotional engagement in this story, and that is inspiring.”

Staff writer Scott Rothschild can be reached at (785) 354-4222.