Jim Suber of the Salina Journal summed it up best in a front page article headlined: "Yowell tees off on Sebelius here." The article began:

Toting a gunnysack of wheat and calling Keith Sebelius an 'incompetent big nonentity paper shuffler'... Yowell challenged Sebelius to a debate 'to see just what the man's made of.'

"I don't want anyone there," he continued. "Just me, Sebelius and the TV camera. I'm not afraid of him or any high-powered politician."

To those who grew up with Yowell, it almost appeared that he was challenging a sitting
Congressman to fisticuffs.

When Yowell unexpectedly upset Bill Addington in the 1976 Democratic primary in August to face Sebelius, the party regulars didn't know what to make of the situation. What he needed was a gimmick, and Hays lawyer John Bird gave Yowell an idea: "Carry a sack of wheat with you at all times." Yowell was never seen campaigning without his cowboy hat and the sack of wheat, which he promised to "spread across the halls of Congress" upon his election.

Bill Addington, a former Republican who was dragged down in a grain scandal, and whose former wife was once Kansas GOP National Committeewoman, was all too glad to help Yowell after Yowell beat him in the primary. "My name's Addington," he said to Yowell. "Just remember, like an adding machine."

When Yowell told Addington that he was going to fight the big grain monopoly in his campaign, Addington cautioned him: "You will have C.I.A. following you if you do that." Addington had reason to be paranoid. He had just finished doing 20 months in Lansing and 2 months in a federal prison in Texarkana, Arkansas for grain fraud.

Yowell's populist message - blasting the "money power," the corporate elites, the big grain conglomerates, was stark, and hearkened memories of "Sockless" Jerry Simpson, Mary Elizabeth Lease, and other populists who hailed from Kansas.

Not lacking in confidence, Yowell promised to carry the sack of wheat all the way to Norton (Sebelius' hometown) and to hit Sebelius with the sack "right in the Butz," a reference to Gerald Ford's wildly unpopular Agriculture Secretary, Earl Butz, who placed unwanted embargoes of wheat on the U.S.

Getting the party establishment behind Yowell wasn't easy. Hays is the capitol of the Democratic party in the Big First. Democrat Bill Jellison controlled $4500 in proceeds that was to go to the Democratic nominee - a godsend to the cash-strapped Yowell. The problem is, Jellison, the Dean of Men at Fort Hays State University, remembered Yowell's partying days as a Fort Hays undergraduate, and had to be convinced to give the money over to Yowell's campaign.

Yowell's highlight in the campaign was travelling to Washington D.C. to meet Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter. Yowell gleefully rode in a limousine with House Speaker Tip O'Neill: "Who are you running against?" said O'Neill. "Keith Sebelius," replied Yowell. "I've never heard of him," replied O'Neill.

In the end, the voters broke Yowell heart, re-electing Sebelius 142,311 to 52,459 on November 2, 1976. Sebelius was generous with him, telling Yowell that running for Congress was one of the best things Yowell ever did.

Yowell never ran for office again, but he did become a successful writer and novelist.
Randy Yowell's brother, Skip Yowell, went on to co-found JanSports, and is a member of Great Bend High School's Hall of Fame.