The Lyon County Democrats and the 1st District Republicans had gatherings Saturday in Emporia. The Democrats drew a bigger crowd.
That was not surprising. The Democrats put on a picnic and rally at Peter Pan Park. The combination of political enthusiasm, a sparkling fall day, hot dogs, hamburgers and an event that would end conveniently before the KU-Oklahoma game was alluring enough to attract about 40 paying Democrats to the park.
The Republicans, although equally enthusiastic and given the chance to meet and hear two members of Congress, made do with their East Sixth Avenue office and smaller rations and turned out in smaller numbers — about 25 people, including the candidates and the press. But then, the GOP event kicked off about the same time as the football game.
What the Republicans did have was 1st District Rep. Jerry Moran and 4th District Rep. Todd Tiahrt, both running for re-election and both reported to be interested in taking a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2010, when fellow Republican Sen. Sam Brownback retires.
The representatives gave the audience some straight talk about the financial crisis, criticizing the bipartisan vote to pump $700 billion into U.S. financial markets.
“If you are for this plan,” Moran said, “you call it a rescue plan; if you are against it, you call it a bail-out. I call it a bail-out.”
Moran and Tiahrt said the bill does not address the root causes of the crisis, which Moran described in simple terms:
“Individuals, businesses and government borrow too much money.”
Tiahrt agree that the bill missed the mark.
“We’re putting a brand new shiny roof on a house with a crumbling foundation,” he said.
Moran said that bill was short on specifics.
“I don’t have enough trust in the Department of the Treasury to hand them a blank check,” he said.
Asked whether they preferred the financial proposals made by John McCain or those made by Barack Obama, the representatives were again in accord — neither.
At the Democratic picnic, attendees heard brief remarks from their candidate for Moran’s House seat.
James Bordonaro of Emporia invoked the name of William Allen White and said the issues in this election are much the same as they were in the 1890s, when White wrote the anti-Populist editorial “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”
The fundamental question, he said, is still whether the best way to make the economy strong is to support the rich and let the benefits trickle down to the rest of the people, or to invest in the rest of the people and create a rising tide that lifts everyone.
Reflecting on Saturday’s early morning fog and the fine day that ensued, Bordonaro said it boded well for the Democratic Party.
“The fog that we have been in for eight years is going to lift on Nov. 4,” he said.
Earlier, Phil Winter, the Democratic candidate for the 2nd District seat on the Lyon County Commission, sounded a more cautious note.
“My advice to us all is don’t get confident,” he said, speaking about the presidential race. “We’ve lost more (in the polls) in the past week than we have before.”
After the picnic, some the Democrats hit the road for Kansas City, Mo., where Obama was to speak Saturday evening. Others went out with their candidates to canvass door-to-door in Emporia precincts.
