Paul Harris in Topeka, Kansas
Sunday June 25, 2006
The Observer

The squat, bunker-like building in a south Topeka suburb does not look like a place to turn American politics on its head. Nor does Mark Parkinson, a tall, affable man, look too much like a revolutionary. But here, deep in the American heartland, are the warning signs of a political earthquake.

The two-storey office block is Parkinson's campaign headquarters as he runs as Democrat candidate for deputy governor. So far, so normal. Except that only a few weeks ago Parkinson was a Republican. In fact, he was Kansas Republican party chairman.

His defection to the Democrats sent shockwaves through a state deeply associated with the national Republican cause and the evangelical conservatives at its base. Nor was it just Parkinson's leave-taking that left Republicans spluttering with rage and talking of betrayal. It was that as he left Parkinson lambasted his former party's obsession with conservative and religious issues such as gay marriage, evolution and abortion.

"They were fixated on ideological issues that really don't matter to people's everyday lives. What matters is improving schools and creating jobs.I got tired of the theological debate over whether Charles Darwin was right."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1805436,00.html

by Vesica on Mon Jun 26, 2006 at 09:38:20 AM EST
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