So Long, Phill Kline
By JUSTIN KENDALL
Don’t cry for Phill. It’ll only encourage him.
Moderate Republicans drove a stake through the heart of Phill Kline‘s political career Tuesday night. Steve Howe ran a lackluster campaign but it was enough to hammer Kline, burying the anti-abortion crusader by 20 percentage points in the Republican primary for Johnson County district attorney. Howe will now face Democrat Rick Guinn in November.
But the story this morning is Kline. In the 2006 race for Kansas Attorney General, Paul Morrison ousted Kline. Kline’s political career appeared dead. Then a month later, Johnson County Republicans resurrected Kline by handing him Morrison’s DA job in a special election.
Kline’s political career appears dead and buried again. But will Kline rise from the dead like Jason Vorhees? Or will Tuesday’s loss be the final dagger through Kline’s political career?
The Pitch pays tribute to Kline’s career with a retrospective look at his career.
October 19, 2000: We name him Best Local Politician with Populist Appeal, long before we knew what was in the heart of Phill.
October 24, 2002: As a right-wing candidate for Kansas attorney general, campaigning for Kline must have been full of little irritations.
