Peering Across the State Line: Dennis Moore Hangs It Up

An interesting bit of political news from across the state line. Dennis Moore who had served as the Kansas third district US rep decided that he would not run for reelection in 2010. I say good riddance to Mr. Moore; may he have a nice retirement. He was elected by this generally republican district to be a moderate alternative to a very conservative incumbent (a gentleman by the name of Vince Snowbarger) and has withstood both conservative and moderate republican challengers since (some of which were pretty good like Chris Kobach). He has become less and less moderate and more and more leftist, voting with Barack Obama just about 100% of the time. He also has lost touch with the people. He was the only area pol to not have any forums or meetings on health care. Even Emanuel Cleaver waded into the health care hot mess, but not Dennis Moore. He would only have carefully choreographed and accessed- controlled events. It is as if he was afraid of the difficult question or the passionate constituent. For me the breaking point was his yes vote on Crap and Tax--oops I mean Cap and Trade. Nobody in the third district was in favor of this pile of legislative manure but there's Dennis Moore, voting yes on it.

Now the number of republicans stampeding to get into the race is positively unnerving. The numbers will guarantee a primary before the November vote. Democrats at this point have only offered two names, both are of the "Who dat" quality. Meantime, the district may have gone a little more to the left since the last time there was an open race in 1996 when Snowbarger was elected. So it will be interesting to watch. Except for all the commercials on TV. They will be a pain to watch.