While Jim Barnett, Republican candidate for governor, may have found the best qualified running mate for his lieutenant governor in wife Rosie Hansen, the selection may not be the wisest.
Barnett bucked the trend of choosing someone who would help broaden his base. Current candidate pairings are former state Ag Secretary Josh Svaty, Democratic nominee, picking fighter pilot Katrina Lewison; Kris Kobach, Overland Park, with Wichita oil magnate Wink Harman; Sen. Laura Kelly, Topeka, is banking on Sen. Lynn Rogers to pull in Wichita moderates; and Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer has tapped Jenifer Sanderson, a businesswoman all the way from Goodland.
Instead, Barnett and Hansen, former sweethearts who rediscovered their love late in life and were married just last September, are two peas in a pod.
Barnett practices medicine in Topeka and represented Emporia in the Kansas Senate from 2001 to 2010.
In 2006 he ran unsuccessfully for governor against incumbent Democrat Kathleen Sebelius and again failed in a bid for Congress against Tim Huelskamp in 2010.
Like Barnett, Hansen attended the University of Kansas, where she received a degree in biology before moving on to law school at the University of Minnesota and then to Harvard for a masters degree in public administration, after which she joined the foreign service for the next 26 years. Hansens posts included U.S. embassies in Germany, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Barnett and Hansen are individuals who have dedicated themselves to public service in their chosen fields and as such are supremely qualified to lead the state.
Barnett stands apart from the Republican crowd as a moderate who supports expanding Medicaid for the needy. And Hansens extensive experience abroad would better position Kansas in both agricultural and diplomatic endeavors.
The two said after working on Barnetts campaign for the past 22 months they found their combined stories would make a compelling ticket, though initially over Hansens protests.
Even so, the decision sends the message of an insular-minded campaign that is distrustful of outsiders, putting an outsized burden on the team.
At this point in the campaign the Barnett-Hansen ticket is a distant third, behind current Gov. Jeff Colyer and Secretary of State Kobach.
The biggest thing in their favor is the 30 percent of voters who remain undecided.
If voters still believe Republicans hold the answer, then they could do no better than the Bartlett-Hansen ticket.
Susan Lynn
