Kansas governor endorsing Obama
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - January 29, 2008 Her announcement came hours ahead of Obama's rally in El Dorado,
the hometown of his grandfather on his mother's side, and one week
before the Kansas caucuses, which are part of the multistate
contests Feb. 5. Sebelius said she would attend the event to
"welcome him back to Kansas and join the campaign."
Democratic presidential candidates long had sought Sebelius'
backing in a state that George W. Bush carried by large margins in
the 2000 and 2004 elections. No Democratic nominee for the White
House has won Kansas' electoral votes since 1964.
But Sebelius, now in her second term, has shown an ability to
triumph in GOP territory. She won re-election in 2006 with nearly
58 percent of the vote. In Kansas, less than 27 percent of the
voters are registered Democrats.
For Obama, it was another in a string of high-profile
endorsements in the past two days, following on those from Sen.
Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.; his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.; and
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy.
Sebelius has impressed Democrats nationally by election success,
and party leaders let her give the Democratic response Monday night
to Bush's State of the Union address.
She is coming off a year as head of the Democratic Governors
Association, a group that Bill Clinton once led. The governor made
Democrats' lists of potential vice presidential running mates for
nominee John Kerry in 2004, and while there's less of the same talk
this year, she is seen as possible Cabinet appointee in a
Democratic administration.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)