well, rep. candidate in '36 was alf landon, kansas 'favorite son', so that explains some portion of state's vote in that election...
however, i' ve been making above point for some time, including several weeks ago on lbo:
would it be too stodgy, or too naive, or too deterministic to attribute problem with kansas (for that matter, problem with u.s., uk edition of frank's is, in fact, titled _what's the matter with america_) to small organized labor movement...
euphemistically name 'right to work' movement succeeded in 20 southern and western states with relatively little union density between end of ww2 and mid-50s (florida was first to do so, in 1944), buoyed by these victories, so-called 'right to workers' became jubliant when, in 1957, indiana became first highly industrialized, strong union state to jump on bandwagon to restrict union security...
1958 would be different story as 'right to work' suffered significant defeat, in only one of six states with 'right to work' ballot measures that year was there adoption - *kansas* - where business faced small union movement (louisiana and idaho, for example, had greater union density and measures were rejected in those states)...
perhaps what's wrong with kansas is pretty much same thing that was wrong with kansas back then (such states, including, quite obviously, florida, offered u.s. look at present-day)... michael hoover
-------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.