Jennifer Winn says she ran in the Kansas Republican primary for governor to defeat the biggest crony capitalist politician in the state: Gov. Sam Brownback (R).
Winn lost to Brownback but not without making a dent. When the primary was over Winn had gotten 36.7 percent of the vote while Brownback got 63.3 percent. Brownback, a tea party favorite is expected to face a tough general election against Democratic state Rep. Paul Davis, has arisen as a surprisingly vulnerable incumbent governor, even in deep red Kansas.
On paper, you wouldn’t think Brownback would even have a primary challenger. He’s the mastermind behind a massive tax cut that’s helped to sink the state’s finances (on Wednesday Standard & Poor’s downgraded Kansas’s credit rating due to a serious dip in the state’s revenues and tax cuts).
So how did Winn — whose policy proposals include raising revenue by bringing industrial hemp to the state — give a tea party governor in red-state Kansas a run for his money on primary night?
Jennifer Winn (AP Photo/John Hanna)
To Winn, Brownback’s core problem and the reason she did as well as she did despite having a pittance of a campaign war chest, is because of the wasteful government spending and “good ol’ boy” culture.
Winn told TPM that the reason she got as much support as she did was because people, even the beneficiaries of the tax cut, are “very concerned” about state revenues.
“Even some of … the small business owners that are receiving the tax release, they’re very concerned — well, where is that money going to be replenished at?” Winn said. “What are we going to do to replace the income we’ve lost. So, for me, there is no plan. Nobody seems to have the answer.”
“Stop the wasteful spending, the buddy system of jobs that taxpayers are paying for,” she continued.
Some recent polls have placed Brownback behind Davis and the race is in the tossup category on RealClearPolitics. But Winn argues she wasn’t a protest vote against Brownback (some Republicans have actually thrown support behind Davis in protest to the incumbent governor).
“A lot of people will vote based on party. They don’t really care,” Winn said. “They just stand with the party.”
“I came as someone who’s tired of the corruption, I’m tired of the cronyism, I’m tired of the good ol’ boy system,” Winn said.
Thats 36.7% of REPUBLICANS who dont want to vote for Brownback. Even they know his smoke and mirrors at some point just wont work anymore, and that he did it so quickly helps people see it for the folly that it is…there aint no free lunch, even in Kansas.
Anyone who considers losing 37 % to 63 % as giving someone a run for their money should refrain from betting on sports.
Well, maybe not. Brownback has led a concerted effort, with heavy Koch funding, to eliminate all but the True Believers from state government. It was Brownback who brought discredited hack economist Arthur Laffer to lay out the fantasy case for tax cuts, and it’s Brownback who refuses to acknowledge – much less deal with – the tangible adverse consequences of his leadership. He may be the front man for the plutocrats, but without a puppet the puppeteer is only a hand waving in the air.
The line was generally assumed to be 20% at best for Winn. She handily beat the spread. Or, more accurately, Brownback seriously failed to cover.
More interesting is Brownback’s excuse for his poor showing. He dipped into delusion, saying because people are so upset with Obama they voted against Brownback. Seriously.