This is the kind of news that just warms the cockles of my heart:
A political newcomer knocked Phill Kline out of the race for Johnson County district attorney Tuesday, defeating the hopes of abortion opponents who had campaigned nationwide.
With all of the vote counted, Steve Howe, a former Johnson County prosecutor, trounced Kline with 33,260 votes to Kline’s 22,188, a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent, according to final unofficial returns.
Howe will face Democrat Rick Guinn in the Nov. 4 general election.
So Phil Kline is not even wanted by Republicans in Johnson County, which is pretty strong evidence that he isn’t wanted by anyone, anywhere.
Incidentally, it’s not like Kline wasn’t well-supported by national anti-choicers:
Abortion played a key role in the race because Kline is the first prosecutor since Roe v. Wade to file criminal charges against a Planned Parenthood clinic. The case is pending.
Independent groups from outside Kansas are thought to have spent more than $100,000 to keep Kline’s candidacy alive.
And even with all that money, Phil Kline couldn’t even get through the primary.
I’d like to think this is the last we hear of Kline, but it probably isn’t. Doubtless he’s already working on a strategy to become city attorney for Olathe, or perhaps an assistant D.A. in Kansas City, Kansas. It’s part of his long, slow, interminable slide into obscurity. But at least he’s sliding in the right direction.
