railfan, photographer, left-handed right-winger.
This week, the Turkey Creek division of the NMRA held its monthly meeting at the home of two of its members. The purpose was to introduce some of its members who live south of the Missouri River to have a look at the model railroad work of their northlander counterparts. I took a whole bunch of photos of the two layouts.
The first is Floyd Brittian’s Midland Valley, depicting the former Midland Valley line from Wichita to Fort Smith.
The second layout is Mike Porter’s Chicago Great Western:
I decided to do an unofficial poll on how the Kansas Governor’s race is looking, based on the results of last night’s primary. Basically, I compared the votes tallied for Brownback with the total voters for Jennifer Winn (Brownback’s primary opponent), Chad Taylor and Patrick Wiesner (the two Democrat candidates for the US Senate seat)
Overall, Brownback is leading with 50.9%. In the “Big 5” Counties (Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, Douglas, and Wyandotte) Brownback trails with only 48.3%. He’s leading in Johnson and Sedgwick counties, but is getting demolished (unsurprisingly) with less than 30% in Douglas and Wyandotte counties. In Shawnee County, Brownback trails with 41.9%
Other counties where Brownback is trailing with less than 45%: Elk (!), Lyon (Emporia), Crawford (Pittsburg), Jackson (north of Topeka), and Pratt (!).
My advice to Sam Brownback and to his general election opponent, Paul Davis: eat lots of KAKE (and KSNW, and KWCH). Wichita is the prime battleground — and I expect a no holds barred campaign between the two candidates.
I don’t mind that the state of Kansas can tell me my voting history (for the record, I’ve voted in every August/November statewide election, and have (maybe) only missed one city/school board election) Hell, I’ll even tell you how I voted 😛
US Senator: Pat Roberts. In the duel between “Ya’ ever been to Dodge City, Kansas?” and “I’m a doctor, not a politician,” I’m tipping towards Dodge. My Message to Mr. Wolf: [in Scottish accent] “Now you’re a politician.” Furthermore, he’s apparantly not a very popular doctor, either.
US House: Lynn Jenkins. I have no beef with the incumbant.
Governor: Sam Brownback. Obviously, he’s the incumbant going into this race with less than shining publicity. However, I do think Mr. Davis has a weakness that the Brownback campaign has yet to exploit.
Secretary of State Kris Ko….. Actually, I didn’t vote for him last time, either. I voted for Scott Morgon.
Attorney General: Derrick Schmidt ran unopposed.
State Treasurer: Ron Estes. Same Deal
Insurance Commissioner: Beverly Gossage. For 36 out of the past 44 years, the Insurance Commissioner spot has been held by a Republican from Douglas County. Fletcher Bell, Ron Todd, and outgoing commissioner Sandy Praeger all came from Lawrence, with Kathleen Sebelius inturupting the pattern. None of the candidates are from Lawrence, but Gossage is from Eudora.
State House: Ramon Gonzalez. No competition.
County Commissioner: Lynn Luck. Maybe I can run in 4 years.
Sarcoxie Township Clerk: No candidate. Didn’t write one in, either.
Pricient Committeeman and Committewoman: John and Annette Fales
As an aside, indirectly, Fletcher Bell could be credited with propelling Sebelius’s star. Bell received a workman’s comp award after retiring from the Insurance Commission’s office which some considered to be dubious. Since his sucessor, Ron Todd, was also Bell’s longtime deputy, voters took it out on him.