Boring, liberal Bush-haters.

That was Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of Lawrence on his radio program Monday, a day after Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards visited town.

“I got to tell you about liberal Lawrence, Kansas,” Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator — and native Missourian — said during a segment of his show. “They hate Bush there as much as they hate Bush anywhere in the country, and they desperately want to love Kerry.”

Limbaugh was lampooning Edwards’ decision to return to Lawrence on Sunday, 36 hours after the train carrying him and presidential candidate John Kerry zoomed past more than 1,000 supporters waiting at the city’s Amtrak station.

“The one thing that people in Missouri know, if you’re going to be traveling west and you’re driving, you’re on the ground, the one thing people in Missouri know is you go through Kansas at night because there’s nothing to see there anyway,” Limbaugh said.

In Lawrence, Limbaugh added, Kansas University students and professors date each other.

“It’s just all that you’ve thought liberal academia is rolled into one little population center,” he said.

A transcript of Limbaugh’s comments was posted to his Web site late Monday afternoon, under the headline, “Kerry blows off voters in Lawrence, KS.”

Coverage of Edwards’ visit in the rest of the national media was kinder to Lawrence, if a bit bewildered at the Democratic visit to a Republican state that the Kerry-Edwards ticket has little hope of winning.

“Outsiders could be forgiven for thinking that no one on a presidential ticket would visit Kansas before Election Day,” Thomas Crampton wrote in Monday’s New York Times. “For this small university town in a Republican county in a strongly Republican state, there would be no need for a Republican candidate to visit and no point for a Democratic one to, either.”

Show excerpts: Clip 1Clip 2 | Clip 3 | Clip 4 6News video: Edwards visit draws Limbaugh attention KUSports.com Message Board: Hawks on Politics Reader Reaction: Rush Limbaugh is such a tool Reader Reaction: rush limblahs comments on lawrence The Yellow Dog: This just in: Drug-Addled Radio Host Dislikes Lawrence Transcript: RushLimbaugh.com Listen to Limbaugh’s radio program from Monday 6News video: Thousands flock to candidate’s return Thousands welcome Edwards back (08-09-04) Audience finds Edwards in touch with concerns (08-09-08) More in Election ’04

But according to “First Read,” a political column on the MSNBC.com Web site, the campaign had little choice but to send Edwards back quickly to Lawrence.

Last week, Kerry made a big show of visiting Cuba City, Wis., a small town reputedly disappointed by President Bush in May when he drove through without stopping.

“After capitalizing the other day on how President Bush once drove through a small town in Wisconsin without stopping to meet the waiting residents,” the site said, “Kerry-Edwards couldn’t get caught doing the same to Lawrence.”

On the John Kerry Web site, staffers briefly blogged and posted photos about their return visit to Lawrence, linking to Journal-World accounts of the event.

“John and Elizabeth Edwards went back to Lawrence Kansas today,” staffers wrote in the campaign blog, “and got a rousing welcome.”

Far from the eyes of the national media, though, Mike Elwell was continuing cleanup of Abe & Jake’s Landing, which was host to the Edwards rally.

“We’re still doing it,” Elwell, the bar’s owner, said Monday afternoon of the cleanup. “We’ve got 11 umbrellas left over and about 300 American flags. They left a huge box of American flags. We’re in pretty good shape for Independence Day for the next 300 years.”