are the 9 Kan. legisl. Reps. turned to Dems. really Dems?

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061102/pl_nm/usa_elections_kansas_dc


In Kansas, 9 former Republicans run as Democrats


Former Kansas legislator David Adkins may be a self-described "washed-up white male Republican politician," but come election night he and many others in the longtime Republican stronghold state of Kansas are placing their hopes, and votes, on Democrats.

-snip-

But this year President George W. Bush, the country's leading Republican, is making a last-minute campaign stop in Kansas, where at least nine candidates running on the November 7 ballot are Republicans-turned-Democrats. They include a veteran county prosecutor seeking to unseat the Republican attorney general and a former state Republican Party chairman running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.

A cross-section of Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents are backing the party-switchers, saying a Republican obsession with expanded government and deficit spending, along with divisive social issues like abortion and gay marriage, has marred efforts to limit government, boost spending on education and ensure fiscal responsibility.

-snip-

Republican faithful discount the significance of the shifted loyalties as opportunistic political maneuvering.

-snip-

"This is a real groundswell," said Boo Tyson, a registered Republican and executive director of a 12-year-old nonpartisan organization called Mainstream Coalition.
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Boo???


do Kansans think this shift is for real?