GREAT BEND, Kan. - At the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Republican Governor Robert Bennett called Kansas "the most Republican state in the Union." And he may have been right. But those days are over.
The book How Barack Obama Won
Although the authors point out that Kansas is the #2 state in self-identified Republicans at 49% (only Wyoming at 52% is higher), Kansas strangely doesn't even rank in the top fourteen states in self-identified "conservatives."
Of the fourteen most conservative states, most of them are in the South or border states: Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. The others are Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Alaska.
Kansas didn't make the top fourteen states on "percentage of conservatives," although we are #2 on "percentage of Republicans." Stated differently, Kansas has a lot of moderate Republicans---the kind of moderates who crossed over and gave Democrat Gov. Sebelius and Rep. Dennis Moore their undefeated records.
Although Kansas hasn't voted Democratic in a single Presidential election since 1964, Obama actually won one congressional district in Kansas due to the support of moderate, Independent and young voters. Obama improved John Kerry's 36.6% in 2004 in Kansas to 41.7%.
Obama did better in Kansas than in at least nine states---Utah, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Wyoming, Alabama, Kentucky and Oklahoma. These 9 states are all in the top 14 states of "self-identified conservatives." Authors Todd and Gawiser note that Oklahoma is the reddest state in the Union (Obama didn't win a single county there), with Utah breathing down Oklahoma's neck as the second reddest state.
Obama outdid his Kansas performance in 5 of the fourteen "most conservative states:" Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. This is due to the large minority populations in those states. For instance, Mississippi voters---a third of them African-Americans, cast 98% of their votes for Obama.
Any Democrat activist in Oklahoma or Utah who isn't depressed doesn't know what's going on. But Kansas Democrats have reason for optimism. We have a long ways to go, but we are on the right track.
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