From left Brad Burnside, Lawrence, with U.S. Bank, visits with Lawrence Mayor Rob Chestnut and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., prior to Brownback’s speech to members and guests of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Monday at Maceli’s, 1031 N.H.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback still wants to shrink the federal government by a third, work for “incremental” change in U.S. health care and maybe even coordinate a U.S. visit for what would be a formidable Sudanese basketball team.

But make no mistake: Despite his focus on work in Washington and on international relations, Brownback — a former Kansas president for Future Farmers of America, former student body president at Kansas State University and former Kansas agriculture secretary — is busy running to be Kansas governor.

During a Monday breakfast meeting organized by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, the soon-to-be-former senator served up his vision for the state’s future: one that’s pro-growth, pro-business, pro-Lawrence and decidedly pro-Kansas.

He noted previous and ongoing work to win a National Cancer Institute designation for Kansas University, establish a National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, bolster military intelligence activities in Leavenworth, enhance wind-energy efforts in the state, expand animal agriculture production in western Kansas, and boost tourism in the Flint Hills with the possibility of a new destination hotel.

He foresees even more.

“These are the sorts of things we can do to grow: targeted and specific,” Brownback told a crowd of 100 chamber members and their guests. “And where Kansas comes together — Republican, Democrat; liberal, conservative — and says, ‘We can do this, we’re going to do this and we’re pushing it forward,’ that’s the way we grow. We’re not big enough, populationwise, to be fighting with each other, and then think we’re going to be able to take this on and win it on a national and international basis.

“But if we come together — on these specific, targeted areas that we’re world class at — we can win these things, and we do. And that’s the way I want us to move forward as a state.”

Brownback’s hourlong appearance came as part of the chamber’s National Congressional Series. The two-term senator mingled with attendees and offered brief remarks before answering written questions from the audience — a welcome difference, he said, from the “town maulings” that lawmakers in the House of Representatives had been facing during the past week regarding health care.

“Thank you for having happy faces,” said Brownback, R-Kan.

Brownback again turned his focus to state business when discussing growth, comparing the approaches of California and Texas. California looks to lose a seat in Congress after the next reapportionment, he said, while Texas is poised to gain four, because of population shifts driven largely by tax policies and business decisions.

“California is just about to fall off the cliff,” Brownback said. “And every place that I know of, every state that I know — including, I think, Kansas — is poaching businesses out of California and trying to get the people to come with them. And should.”

After the meeting, Brownback noted that he’d worked as Kansas agriculture secretary to convince dairy producers to bolt California for the Sunflower State, where costs would be lower. Today, Brownback said, there are some 20 such large-scale producers in southwest Kansas.

The state should seek relocations and also foster in-state growth, he said. Either way, Brownback expects Lawrence to build upon its ties and strengths with KU, especially in the pharmaceuticals industry as the KU Cancer Center gains National Cancer Institute designation.

“Lawrence needs to be one of the hub cities for Kansas growth,” he said. “This really is one of the key communities for growth in the state of Kansas.”

Brownback also was quick to acknowledge the community’s embracing of even more KU excellence.

“By the way, congratulations on KU being the national basketball champion in 2010,” he said, drawing predictable applause.

Then, continuing the basketball theme, Brownback explained how he’d already informed his staff about a foolproof plan to win his “next election.”

It came when members of the Dinka tribe, of south Sudan, recently visited his office in Washington. The men — averaging 6′ 7″ or 6′ 8″ easily — had let him in on a little inside information.

“They have 10 guys in south Sudan who are playing basketball, between the age of 15 and 23, that are over 7 feet in height,” Brownback said. “Ten.

“So I’m thinking, if we can get three in Kansas — one at KU, one at K-State and one at Wichita State … this is all over.”