Why do Democrats prefer Kansas to Nebraska?

[kcguy]

I won't respond to the entire topic, but I will break down some of the examples in the original post:

"What's the Matter With Kansas?"  - Thomas Frank picked Kansas because he grew up here.

Obama 2008 - The focus on Kansas over Nebraska was because Obama's mother was born in Kansas.  According to the genealogy website wargs.com, Obama had at least 18 ancestors who were either born or died in Kansas.

Greg Orman - In 2014, Democrats abandoned their candidate and supported the independent because polls said that Pat Roberts was vulnerable.  (In the end, the polls were somewhat right.  Roberts got 53% of the vote, the worst showing of any Kansas Republican Senate candidate since 1974.  If 2014 had been like 1998, when the impending Republican wave suddenly dissipated, Roberts would have gone down.)

Sharice Davids - Republican House incumbents tend not to lose reelection bids in Kansas.  The previous two, I think, were Jim Ryun in 2006 and Vince Snowbarger in 1998, and both were regarded as being on the far right of the party.  Kevin Yoder, by contrast, was a fairly generic Republican who lost to a fairly generic Democrat, and his loss was regarded somewhat as a repudiation of the party as a whole.


That being said, I don't see any signs that Kansas is moving towards the Democrats on the presidential level.  Republicans may be weaker in Johnson County, but they seem to be gaining in most of the rest of the state.