This fascinates, dateline Topeka, Kansas, GOP pols are registering and running as Dems, as social conservatives claim the state GOP: "Mark Parkinson got his start in Republican politics at age 19, as a precinct committeeman. He served six years as a Republican state legislator, eventually becoming state Republican chairman. But two weeks ago, Parkinson announced he was running for lieutenant governor — as a Democrat. He said he no longer felt welcome in the increasingly conservative Kansas Republican Party. Parkinson became the third Republican politician in the last nine months to startle this red state by switching to the minority party. [...] Political observers say the fracture within the Kansas GOP may foreshadow the future for the national party. The division between moderates and social conservatives is expected to define the contest for the party's 2008 presidential nomination."

Posted by Laura at June 13, 2006 11:12 AM