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Posted at 9:59 AM on Friday, November 1, 2002

GOP tries to pull together factions
By CAROL CRUPPER
Harris News Service

MANKATO -- At the Red Rooster Cafe, three old friends share a giant cinnamon roll as Republican candidates for state office stop to shake hands.

Election Day is Tuesday, and in many cafes around Kansas, politics tops the menu.

Here, where Republicans outnumber Democrats two to one, a splintered Republican Party is trying to fend off a strong slate of Democrats led by gubernatorial contender Kathleen Sebelius.

Polls show her leading GOP conservative Tim Shallenburger but with Shallenburger narrowing the gap.

Last week, as Republican candidates toured western Kansas, moderates and conservatives urged a straight party vote.

"This is a Republican state," treasurer candidate Lynn Jenkins said. "The only way Democrats can win is if we elect them."

In Mankato, the three friends mulled it over.

Jewell County Treasurer Lynn Scarrow backed Shallenburger in the primary and likes him still.

The man in the middle wasn't sold.

"I'm a Democrat," Wayne Dunn said.

"I didn't know we had one in the county," Dick Willmeth quipped. "You're an awful nice guy to be a Democrat."

A moderate, Willmeth said he's leaning toward Shallenburger.

"He's probably a bit too conservative, but she's too liberal," he said. "I'd like to see the Republican Party get together."

But getting there won't be easy.

Uneasy alliances

The bus tour, organized by the Shallenburger campaign, had its share of awkward moments.

In Abilene, Bill Kassebaum, elected the Republican candidate for House District 68, stepped off the tour bus with Shallenburger and Bob Dole.

In the audience stood House Majority Leader Shari Weber, a Shallenburger ally whom Kassebaum defeated in the primary. Weber, now running a write-in campaign, was not introduced.

Then came Connie Morris, the party's candidate for state school board who doesn't think Kansas should educate illegal immigrants.

When it comes to immigration, Shallenburger said, "her views and mine are like water and oil."

But, he said, it's time for Republicans to close ranks and support the primary winners.

"When it's over, it's got to be over," he said.

Insurance commissioner candidate Sandy Praeger said party discipline compelled her to support the ticket despite differences with conservatives.

"If I'm not willing to do that, how can I criticize the other side for not doing that?" she said.

Not all Republicans agree.

Former Senate Majority Leader Tim Emert, Independence, is openly backing Sebelius for governor, and Clyde Graeber, who heads the Department of Health and Environment, donated more than $500 to her campaign.

Gov. Bill Graves, who endorsed Shallenburger late, has refused to back Phill Kline for attorney general.

State Rep. Clay Aurand, R- Courtland, can't understand party members backing Sebelius.

"I see Tim closer to Pat Roberts or Jerry Moran, so I can't figure out Republicans who aren't in support," he said.

Looking to govern

With Kansas facing one of its more challenging years ever, Tuesday's election could prove pivotal.

Joe Aistrup, head of the political science department at Kansas State University, said political parties offer some sense of direction.

In Kansas, he sees two Republican parties: "the moderate, traditional Republicans who have controlled the party for generations, and the new-breed Republicans who have brought in more conservative issues and want them addressed."

State GOP Party Chairman Mark Parkinson sees not two wings but six -- moderates and conservatives of all shades.

"Being Republican Party chairman in Kansas is a very difficult job," he said.

Yet he senses the party starting to pull together, particularly in the past three weeks.

"The problem is, the very rabid parts are also vocal," Parkinson said. "They create a negativity that hurts the whole ticket. It could keep us from winning some of these races."

This year, with Democrats fielding a stronger-than-usual slate, Aistrup said Republicans need each other to win and to govern.

"But for the pressure of gathering votes, they would not unify," he said.

Aistrup considers Kansas moderate.

"Those who chart Kansas as a Republican state really mischaracterize it," he said.

In the GOP primary, two candidates who supported a tax hike for education split 60 percent of the vote. Shallenburger claimed the rest.

If Shallenburger loses, Aistrup expects conservatives to resent it and Sebelius to have "a very tall order to fill."

Sebelius thinks she's up to the task.

"I know how to put together a coalition," she told a school group recently. "It may be easier for a Democrat because I start with the premise that I need bipartisan support."

Aurand said that during Shallenburger's tenure as speaker of the House, he, too, proved he could work with anyone.

"He's got a history of pulling people together," Aurand said. And if he wins, he said, "He's going to have to."