http://blogs.cjonline.com/index.php?entry=8494he Obama veepstakes are a distant memory and the Cabinet rumors have been put to rest, but speculation about Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is as hot as ever.
The talk is about Sebelius becoming the chancellor at The University of Kansas, and it gets the pot bubbling on a lot of levels.
The governor raises money like Willie Nelson scores funny cigarettes, and she has political lines not only to the Statehouse but for the next four years, anyway the White House.
She's a KU grad who frequently is seen with Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who is stepping down at the end of June.
So will Sebelius make the 20-mile move from Cedar Crest?
Here are a few arguments for and against:
She's gone On Dec. 6, Sebelius announced she wouldn't join Obama's Cabinet. Two days later, Hemenway said he was stepping down. Coincidence? The timing suggests something was in the works.
She's gone KU's timetable for replacing Hemenway gives Sebelius plenty of time to help deal with the looming state budget crisis before moving to Lawrence.
She's gone With the university's budget under strain because of the recession, KU won't necessarily pick its next chancellor from the world of academia. It needs an executive who can handle budgets and make political deals that would bring more funding to Mount Oread. As far as academic needs, that's what provosts and deans are for.
She's gone At 60, Sebelius might not be ready to abandon her political career. But as some university presidents have shown including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the former president at Texas A&M there isn't a wall between college jobs and politics.
She's staying Sebelius is angling at a run for the Senate seat that will be vacated by Sam Brownback. True, Kansas hasn't elected a Democratic senator for more than 70 years, but perhaps Sebelius has crunched the numbers from counties with the highest concentration of Democrats Wyandotte, Douglas, Shawnee, Johnson and Sedgwick and thinks she can pull it off. If Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt wage a primary battle, as they appear to be aiming for, Sebelius may think the winner will emerge weak enough to pick off.
She's staying Speculation like this has popped up before. Former Gov. John Carlin was rumored to be in line for a college presidency at one time, as was former Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum. Neither got the jobs.
She's staying Kassebaum was a good fit for the job in many of the same ways as Sebelius, but she didn't have a doctorate. Neither does Sebelius. 'Nuff said.
So is she going or staying? It's impossible to say, but the folks at KU would be crazy not to at least ask her about it.
