The way things will continue to be

LJWorld.com weblogs Congressional Briefing

Posted by Joel Mathis November 3, 2004 at 9:50 a.m.

It seems we Kansans like things in Washington D.C. [just the way they are.][1]We voted, as expected, to keep George Bush as president. Same for incumbent Republicans Sam Brownback, Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt -- none of whom were expected to face any serious opposition.It was in the Lawrence-area races -- Jim Ryun versus Nancy Boyda and Dennis Moore versus Kris Kobach -- that challenges were mounted. But incumbents Ryun, a Republican, and Moore, a Democrat, both managed to win by comfortable margins.[The Lawrence Journal-World][2] reported that Moore, a "hree-term incumbent won re-election to his 3rd District seat Tuesday, defeating Republican Kris Kobach. "Moore kept the predominantly Republican district, which includes east Lawrence, in Democratic hands. He is the only Democrat in the Kansas congressional delegation. "'I think people in this district want somebody who's going to look at issues on an issue-by-issue basis and not vote a straight party line,' Moore said. 'When the president is right, I will vote with the president. When the president is wrong, I will respectfully say, 'Mr. President, there is a better way.'""'At the end of the day and in the final analysis, we could not overcome the power of incumbency, the extra million dollars' that Moore raised, said Todd Abrajano, a Kobach spokesman. 'And a negative ad campaign we could not compete with.'"In his campaign, Kobach made few overtures to moderate Republicans, betting he could find enough conservatives among the district's unaffiliated voters to win."[Jim Ryun][3] made his victory speech around 10:45 p.m."'It has been a tough battle,' Ryun said to supporters around 10:45 p.m. and before Boyda gave her concession speech. 'It has been a very spirited campaign.' "He said he wanted to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent and to try to lower health-care costs. "Boyda conceded shortly before 11 p.m. "'Running a first-time campaign, we gave it everything we could have,' she said. She called the campaign a 'labor of love.'" How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation [here.][4] [1]: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/election2004/10084745.htm [2]: http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/186610 [3]: http://www.ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/186585 [4]: http://ljworld.com/extra/where_to_write.html#fed