Kansas town soon to lose connection to a second senator

[proud2BlibKansan]

The spotlight that shone on Russell, Kan., for decades nearly blinked out on Election Night 1996.

But even as native son Bob Dole’s final presidential bid ended in defeat, a flicker of national prominence remained.

“We’ve still got one waiting in the wings,” a store owner reminded me on my visit to Russell that day 14 years ago. “We’ll get Arlen ready to go again.”

Sen. Arlen Specter never did run for president again. (His bid for the ’96 Republican nomination that Dole won had been brief.)

But in the years since, the 1947 graduate of Russell High School remained a key figure in national politics.

That is, until this week.

With Specter’s defeat in Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary (he switched parties in 2009), Russell loses its last tie to the political big leagues.

Which makes you wonder how much longer it will be before motorists passing by on Interstate 70 will spy the big blue billboards touting Russell as the boyhood home of Dole and Specter and ask themselves, “Who are those guys?”

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/20/1960040/kansas-town-soon-to-lose-connection.html#ixzz0ocezuMrU