Slouching at the podium Tuesday in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union, Johnson County Dist. Atty. Paul Morrison appeared fairly relaxed.

But he sure didn’t talk like it.

The Democratic candidate for state attorney general in the upcoming November elections ripped his counterpart, incumbent Republican Phill Kline, and preached the word of criminal justice, law and safety as if he were the only man capable of delivering such things.

“Who’s in the best position to keep people safe? To me, that couldn’t be more clear,” Morrison said.

Wearing a gray polo shirt and speaking with the tenor of a man who would be wholly shocked if he didn’t win, Morrison told a group of about 25 students how his outlook on being a prosecutor would shift the direction of the state’s highest law enforcement office.

The shift would come, Morrison said, because of the job Kline has done.

“I was stunned,” he said of Kline’s 2002 election victory. “This guy can’t be the top law enforcement officer in the state.

“I thought he might do a good job. It didn’t happen.”

Morrison went on to list dozens of reasons he thought Kline failed in his duties as attorney general, including lacking experience, “squandering” money on outside attorneys to try cases and using his power for political means – specifically, Kline’s attempt to obtain the medical records of dozens of women who received abortions in the state.

“If you want to change things, if you want to make laws, run for the Legislature,” Morrison said.

Looking ahead, the longtime Johnson County prosecutor – who earlier this year changed parties from Republican to Democrat to run against Kline – said that regardless of how he views his chances, the road to Topeka won’t be an easy one.

“I guarantee you,” he said, “before it’s all over, it will be rough.”