Best Politician
Kan. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
We're sure that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has done a lot of great things over her last term and a half, even though we can't name any of them off the top of our heads. Except for one, that is. The national media seem to be considering her an ever-more-serious possibility for vice president in 2008. In Newsweek's December 25, 2006, edition, Sebelius appeared in a "Who's Next 2007" write-up, headlined "A rising Democratic star emerges on Red State soil." The mag noted that Sebelius had recruited Mark Parkinson, the former head of the Kansas Republican Party, as her Democratic running mate last year. "A pro-business, pro-military, pro-choice fiscal conservative, Sebelius easily won re-election this fall and has emerged as the dean of a new breed of Democrats taking over what was once reliably red terrain.... Last month they helped elect Sebelius head of the Democratic Governors Association, fueling chatter that she would make a good vice presidential running mate in 2008." And in a June story about how Democrats and Republicans were learning to work together in their states, USA Today noted that Sebelius, "a Democrat who works with a Republican-controlled legislature, has a 65% approval rating and gets favorable marks from voters of both parties." We think we've figured out her formula: Find the middle, stand perfectly still, and you'll look vice presidential!