In election 2008, integrity will be the gold standard for candidates, and in my travels on Capitol Hill in the past, I have been told that Sen. B. is considered by many to be the conscience of the Senate.  His views closely mirror the much coveted "Red" states in his concern for the integrity of the family despite calls for welfare reform.  That is a principled and courageous stand to take.  His message also includes concern for the masses in Africa who are the poorest of the world's poor.  He is concerned about the weakest of the weak and that includes a consistent Life ethic including capital punishment and abortion.

I consider myself an old Bob Casey (the former Pa. Governor) Democrat whose party has disappointed me as it moved out of the political mainstream.  In the 1980s via the Presidency Research Group of the American Political Science Association, I tried to get the Hunt Rules for the Democratic Party written to move more to the center after the McGovern Debacle.  By the 1990s, the DLC moved this way a bit the Clinton administration's position on social issues like abortion moved the party back left.

To me Brownback respresents what a good politician should be, ie. bright, principled, courageous, innovative, a problem solver and experienced.  Our students who have worked as interns in his DC and Wichita offices have seen him up close and personal and found him to be a most genuine person.  For these, and so many other reasons, partisanship aside, I think he a fine moral compass for a nation gone adrift.  (more)