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Sen. Sam Brownback may be eyeing the White House these days, but there was a time when his ambition was different.
"He wanted to be a farmer," his mother, Nancy Brownback, said.
The Republican senator and darling of the religious right plans to jump into the presidential race officially with an announcement Saturday in Topeka.
It's a move his mother said she didn't foresee when her son was just a lad running tractors and watering hogs on the family farm outside Parker, a town of fewer than 300 people southeast of Ottawa in Linn County.
"I know he feels very strongly about that type of thing," Nancy Brownback said of her son's ambition. "He wants to help, so I suppose it's just another step up."
After 20 years in public life - as Kansas secretary of agriculture and United States representative and senator - Brownback has fashioned himself into a politician with what he calls "full-scale conservative values."
He opposes abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research. He is an outspoken critic of turmoil in Sudan. He wants a flat tax rate and term limits for judges and members of Congress.
When family, childhood friends and teachers think back on the senator's early years, they recall a straight-laced do-gooder.
"Just a good kid that wanted to please," Nancy Brownback said.
Sam Brownback was born in 1956 in Garnett and raised on the farm near Parker.
"It's right in the middle of farm country," said Dianne Bailey, a Parker resident and the town's former mayor. "It's a very close-knit community, a very religious community. Everybody knows everybody and everybody is concerned about everybody."
Juanita Holderman, Brownback's second-grade teacher, said she recalls a wee perfectionist.
"He wanted everything perfect, especially his arithmetic," she said. "He was that way with everything."
Brownback was the third of four children. And his upbringing was typical for the area.
"He was always a workin'," Nancy Brownback said. "The boys did the chores and the daughter stayed in helping me cooking."
Nancy Brownback said she didn't need to set a lot of rules at home.
"If they had chores to do in the morning and chores to do after school, they didn't have time to get into trouble," she said.
In high school, Brownback played sports and was active in Future Farmers of America. He went on to be state president of FFA.
"We used to tease him a lot and call him 'governor,'" said Joe Atwood, a childhood friend. "He was like 'oh, no.'"
Brownback went to Kansas State University, where he was student body president.
After graduating from K-State, Brownback headed to Kansas University's law school, where he got a degree in 1982.
Sam Brownback timeline
Robert Casad, the John H. and John M. Kane professor emeritus in the KU School of Law, remembers Brownback from his class for his distinctive name and as a student driven to graduate.
"He was a serious student. And I don't ever recall him getting into any trouble," Casad said.
Four years later, at age 30, Brownback became Kansas Secretary of Agriculture, and a political career was born.
"He was just a wholesome, all-American, Kansas country boy," Atwood said. "He had the country values, the family values and, as far as my knowledge, still has that same value system."
Comments
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cowboy (anonymous) says…
the latest installment of brownbackaganda , how much does he pay for these daily instalments ? Is this a press release ?
KS (anonymous) says…
The man doesn't stand a chance and should quit before he gets started.
ljreader (anonymous) says…
In 2008 on the timeline, they can add, "Got stomped in Presidential election".
He should have stayed in farming. He could have stolen an illegal alien's identity and worked harvesting crops since we all know that farming is a job "Americans won't do".
It looks like he used to perm his hair. That fro he's sporting would make Sly Stone envious.
kansan3486 (anonymous) says…
The headline has it backwards. Sam's ambition has always been the same, but he's done lots of changing.
cutny (anonymous) says…
Sam Brownback: Portrait of a Man with No Chance of Becoming President.
govols (anonymous) says…
When did Greg Brady decide to run for president?
nugget (anonymous) says…
"This advertisement for Sam Brownback for president paid for by the Lawrence Journal World."
ksmoderate (anonymous) says…
I just hope he resigns his Senate seat while he's campaigning.
Centrist (anonymous) says…
"I'm the real Greg Brady, the real Greg Brady" ..
**lol**
Centrist (anonymous) says…
"" "He was always a workin'," Nancy Brownback said. ""
Tell me, did the ljworld seriously have to quote her exactly like that??
Are we in Tennessee? Arkansas?
Centrist (anonymous) says…
Circa 1845 to boot ...
JimmyJoeBob (anonymous) says…
He stands about as much of a chance as a peanut farmer from Georgia.
jonas (anonymous) says…
And would probably do about as good of a job.
Hellllloooooo recession!
feefifofum (anonymous) says…
Cowboy
the latest installment of brownbackaganda , how much does he pay for these daily instalments ? Is this a press release ?
-----------------------------------
Yeah, it probably is a press release, seems like I have read many like this one from the Nancy Boyda office. Now I hope that LJW is not charging Brownback more than the rate Nancy gets!
Martin_D_15 (anonymous) says…
Sam Brownback is one of the best things that has ever happened to Kansas! you libtards hate him because he stands up for family values! It's just a handful of goofs from lawrence who hate him, the rest of the State of Kansas loves sam!!!
sam is awesome ! ! !
p.s. lawrence should seceed from Kansas and become part of massachusettes, california, or cuba!
toefungus (anonymous) says…
Sam is an opportunist and chameleon . He will do what ever it takes to get the presidency. Too bad Kansas only has the likes of him to run for the Presidency. He will just continue to draw attention to the state that rebuffs evolution, sex education, and intelligence. Remember he is married to an old Topeka family that used to own the Topeka newspaper. That is why the Kansas press gives him so much attention.
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
How sweet that his buddies can read well enough to get on here and stand up for him.
Now go sit down, Martin, that's a good (ol) boy. Aren't there some spellin' words you should be a-studyin'?
It's heartwarming that this paragon "stands up for family values"---such as denying rights to families that happen to be headed by gay partners, and snuffing out the hopes and chances of thousands of fully developed HUMANS who could benefit from stem-cell research. The potentially human but still embryonic clusters of cells are more important, apparently.
In the confused minds of the brownbacks of the world, the course of life goes like this: embryos are sacred--actual people (post-birth) are human waste.
Porter (anonymous) says…
"Seceed"?? I don't normally make fun of spelling errors, but when it comes from someone calling Lawrence a bunch of 'goofs', I think it's appropriate.
white_mountain (anonymous) says…
I didn't realize he got elected President already?
janeyb (anonymous) says…
Sam looks African-American on that button. Is that in honor of MLK?
cowboy (anonymous) says…
To quote Alec Baldwin , " If he is president I will move to France "
bcresident (anonymous) says…
Stranger things have happened. It's a big country out there and lots of them are conservatives. Sam B. may be exactly the alternative when Rudy & McCain destroy each other during the primaries.
jonas (anonymous) says…
Martin--D--15: C'mon, man. With only one comment in your history, how are the rest of us going to tell if you're doing great satire or just being a fool?
purplesage (anonymous) says…
Amazing how freely you liberals bash folks. People used to howl about how unfair it was for President Clinton to be taken to task for his moral miscues. Today, President Bush is regularly ridiculed and malligned. D.A. Phill Kline is bashed for changing staff while A.G. Morrison does the same thing with impunity.
Senatro Brownback is a good man. Contrary to what you folks think, Kansas has good ideas, too. Give it rest. I agree - someone this "right" is a longshot - but those values and views need representation in the public square along with all the rest.