Late last month Republican gubernatorial candidate and former state Sen. Jim Barnett took the unprecedented step of selecting his wife, Rosie Hansen, to be his running mate.
In doing so, Barnett rejected the usual bits of political advice that suggest a candidate should choose a running mate based on the running mates geographical home base or the amount of money or quality of political connections the running mate is able to attract, or else based on some other obvious metric calculated to project a balanced ticket and, thus, a ticket with the widest possible appeal.
I actually pushed all those [considerations] aside, Barnett has said. What is most important to me is that the lieutenant governor is right on the issues.
Since Barnett announced his candidacy last summer, the couple has crisscrossed Kansas many times over racking up 74,000 miles in all, Barnett said, side by side the whole way, in the cab of a big red pickup truck.
We dont listen to the radio while were driving, said Hansen. And no audiobooks either. We talk.
Through those many miles of travel, explained Barnett, weve developed what weve called our One Kansas agenda [and] its probably safe to say that our agenda is many times better because of the hours and hours of conversation weve had in the truck.
In fact, it was in that very pickup that Barnett finally screwed up the courage to pop the question: Rosie, will you be my running mate?
Result: swing and a miss. Are you crazy? Hansen protested. No, I absolutely wont. Im not a politician.
But thats exactly why youd be good, insisted Barnett.
Barnett wisely dropped the subject. A couple of months later, however, once more out on the open road, the question resurfaced. Once again we were talking about the need to re-create a functional state government, remembered Hansen, because, as we all know, thats sorely needed right now. And I said, You know, I would love to dig in and help with that, because thats my background, thats what I did for my career.
I would like that, too, Barnett told her. But you cant do it from the outside; you have to be on the inside.
Hansen agreed. But did she sign on? No, she didnt. Again she demurred.
Strike two.
More weeks passed. Finally, remembers Hansen, it got to the point where I just realized: If you can see where you can make a difference, you have to step up and do it. And so I said, Yes, lets do it I want to be part of Team Barnett. And here we are.
On Thursday, where they were was The Iola Register, where the pair paused just long enough to talk love and politics during their latest multi-city tour.
