EudoraNews.com

Eudora's Dan Bloom admits he's the persona non grata among the four GOP candidates that include a past speaker of the Kansas House, current Kansas Senate president and mayor of Wichita.

Given his political resume, Bloom didn't help his legitimacy by having his son join him as his lieutenant governor candidate. It is a move that smacks of a gadfly approach to the race. It invites the press to view his campaign as comedy relief a tendency Bloom's sense of humor sometimes encourages. Such was the case when he told the Hutchinson News that he retired because he grew tired of taking orders from seven less intelligent people.

Any tendency to dismiss Bloom's candidacy is unfortunate. We've witnessed Bloom hold his own with the perceived serious candidates in the race. He is comfortable public speaker who connects to his audience.

Agree or disagree, it must be said Bloom does a very good job of articulating the position of the three moderate Republicans in the race regarding the state's fiscal problems and K-12 funding. His message that a tax increase is needed if the state's schools aren't to be harmed is direct and honest. There are no nearly inaudible admissions that spending cuts can't address a shortfall that drastic or evasive talk of revenue enhancements. He has used the soapbox the campaign has afforded him to remind voters that if they want change in Topeka, they have to quit sending the same people there.

We doubt Bloom expected a populist upheaval would sweep him into the governor's mansion. We suspect he wanted to use the visibility of the campaign to make a point about the ineffectual leadership traditional politicians have provided in Topeka for the better part of the past decade. He has done that remarkably well. So well, in fact, we wonder what he could have accomplished had he had more serious goals and a less confrontational style.

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