Here are today’s headlines from the 2006 election race:

Election 2006

(Reuters) In Kansas, 9 former Republicans run as Democrats ormer Kansas legislator David Adkins may be a self-described “washed-up white male Republican politician,” but come election night he and many others in the longtime Republican stronghold state of Kansas are placing their hopes, and votes, on Democrats. A mini-rebellion is under way in an American Heartland state so historically unswingable that neither national party typically spends much time or energy stumping for candidates. But this year President George W. Bush, the country’s leading Republican, is making a last-minute campaign stop in Kansas, where at least nine candidates running on the November 7 ballot are Republicans-turned-Democrats. They include a veteran county prosecutor seeking to unseat the Republican attorney general and a former state Republican Party chairman running as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. A cross-section of Democrats, moderate Republicans and independents are backing the party-switchers, saying a Republican obsession with expanded government and deficit spending, along with divisive social issues like abortion and gay marriage, has marred efforts to limit government, boost spending on education and ensure fiscal responsibility.

Governor

(Wichita Eagle) In Wichita, Republicans back Barnett and Sebelius: Several $2,000 contributions to Jim Barnett‘s campaign for governor come from the same address: a doctor’s office on North Webb Road. Brothers George and Jim Farha, both physicians who know Barnett personally, run several investment holding companies, most from their medical office, according to state records. The Farhas’ families and their companies gave at least $24,000 to Barnett’s campaign during the most recent reporting period, which was July 21 through Oct. 26. They were the top donors to Barnett’s campaign among Wichitans. The Eagle looked at $1,000 and $2,000 lump-sum contributions from Wichita residents and businesses in the race for governor. While Barnett, a doctor, received support from fellow physicians, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, received donations from several well-known registered Republicans in Wichita.

(Wichita Eagle) Party switch brings Parkinson back to roots: In one sense, lieutenant governor candidate Mark Parkinson’s switch to the Democratic Party for the lieutenant governor’s race marked a return to his roots. Parkinson’s grandfather, Henry, a Scott City farmer, was a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Congress in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Attorney General

(Hutchinson News) Groups try to affect Kline-Morrison race: The two candidates running for attorney general aren’t the only ones spending large sums of money on the campaign for the office this year.

(Hutchinson News) Kline nets donations after preaching: Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline collected $1,900 in campaign donations from Hutchinson residents on Aug. 27 – the day he preached at a local church and appeared at a later, separate reception. The donations were not given at church, but more than half of Kline’s donors that day attend the First Church of the Nazarene, 4290 North Monroe, where he spoke.

(LJW) Stephan seeks investigation into Kline fundraising: Former Atty. Gen. Bob Stephan on Wednesday called for an investigation into the fund-raising of current Atty. Gen. Phill Kline. Stephan requested that the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission look into Kline’s fund-raising at churches, and $41,552 in unitemized contributions he reported on his campaign finance statement filed this week.

(Wichita Eagle) Koch backs Kline: In the race for the state’s top law enforcement office, Wichita’s lawyers and car dealers gave large checks to challenger Paul Morrison, helping fuel a string of feisty political ads between him and incumbent Phill Kline. People and businesses with Wichita addresses have given at least $140,000 since late July in large donations to the two attorney general campaigns, according to The Eagle’s review of donations of $1,000 or more. Businesses and individuals can only contribute $2,000 per reporting period to a statewide candidate. But several people in one family can give the maximum donation, as can several businesses — even if they are owned by the same company. It’s common for several maximum contributions to come from one company and its subsidiaries. Companies owned by Koch Industries Inc., for example, gave at least $12,000 to Kline.