CommenTerry, February 9th, 2007
On Saturday, January 20, 2007, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback formally announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Brownback first entered public office as the Kansas’ secretary of agriculture in 1986. He made his first bid for elective office in 1994, when he successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, after serving only one term in the House, he decided to run for the senate seat vacated by Bob Dole in 1996. When Dole resigned from that seat in the spring of that year to run for president, former Lieutenant Governor Sheila Frahm was appointed to fill it until a special election could be held in November. However, Brownback defeated her in a primary and subsequently defeated Democrat Jill Docking in the special election. After completing Dole’s final term in the U.S. Senate, Brownback was elected to a full term of his own in 1998, and then reelected in 2004 with 69% of the vote. As a strong believer in term limits, he promised not to run for reelection in 2010, when his current term is scheduled to end.
Brownback has solid social conservative credentials and is therefore a favorite of organizations and advocacy groups that push a “family values” agenda. He has strong anti-abortion views and opposes both gay marriage and civil unions. Like President Bush, he opposes embryonic stem cell research, but supports the use of adult and umbilical cord stem cells for medical purposes. In addition, he has led the charge in the U.S. Senate against indecency on television and introduced bill to regulate the rating system of the computer and video game industry.
Brownback also portrays himself as a fiscal conservative. He now supports the idea of a kind of flat tax, similar to that which was floated by publisher Steve Forbes during his runs for GOP presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000. He suggests that his version of the flax tax be tested in Washington, DC for a while before going nationwide.
Brownback was an early supporter of President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and has consistently aligned with those who favor the war effort, but he now opposes Bush’s recent call for a troop surge. However, he continues to be critical of Democrats who call for what he labels a “cut and run” strategy in Iraq.
If Mitt Romney cannot sell himself as the alternative for right-wing Republicans who demand a presidential nominee who is more socially conservative than John McCain and Rudy Giuliani, they might well turn to Brownback. However, pragmatic primary voters might shun him, feeling that he may be a bit too extreme to win a general election. Of course, two years before the 1980 election, many Republicans expressed those same sentiments about Ronald Reagan.
