Democrats dare to dream of recapturing the Bush heartland

[Judi Lynn]

Democrats dare to dream of recapturing the Bush heartland

From Kansas to South Carolina, Republican moderates are turning their backs on the neocons and defecting to the enemy

Paul Harris in Topeka, Kansas
Sunday June 25, 2006
The Observer

The squat, bunker-like building in a south Topeka suburb does not look like a place to turn American politics on its head. Nor does Mark Parkinson, a tall, affable man, look too much like a revolutionary. But here, deep in the American heartland, are the warning signs of a political earthquake.

The two-storey office block is Parkinson's campaign headquarters as he runs as Democrat candidate for deputy governor. So far, so normal. Except that only a few weeks ago Parkinson was a Republican. In fact, he was Kansas Republican party chairman.

His defection to the Democrats sent shockwaves through a state deeply associated with the national Republican cause and the evangelical conservatives at its base. Nor was it just Parkinson's leave-taking that left Republicans spluttering with rage and talking of betrayal. It was that as he left Parkinson lambasted his former party's obsession with conservative and religious issues such as gay marriage, evolution and abortion.

Sitting in his headquarters, the new Democrat is sticking to his guns. Republicans in Kansas, he says, have let down their own people. 'They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives. What matters is improving schools and creating jobs,' he said. 'I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right.'
(snip/...)

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1805330,00.html

[aquart]

1. 'Dare to dream"????

Well, how cat can look at a king of us. How amazing that tiny wee peasant Dems should have such noble, unattainable ambitions.

[cornermouse]

2. It all comes down to what kind of country you want to live in

I think a lot of people are taking a long hard look at Bush's perfect world and don't like what they're seeing. Some of them are pretty angry about what Bush has done.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Kick!

:kick: :kick: :kick: