KS-01: Rob Wasinger for Congress

(I know both Rob and Billy and think quite highly of both. I certainly intend to write more on this - Soren)

With the 2008 elections behind us, its time to start taking a look at rising stars in the Republican Party who are running for Congress.

The candidate I'm most excited about is Rob Wasinger, who is running for Congress in the 1st District of Kansas. I got to know Rob from my work for Sen. Sam Brownback.

One of the first things I noticed about Rob is a characteristic that is hard to find: Rob understands both policy and politics. Rob seems to have a gene I am most definitely missing -- I love politics, but put me in some committee hearing on the Hill and I'll be in a deep sleep within 10 minutes. Having been a legislative director, campaign manager, and chief of staff, Rob has seen it all and gets it. Furthermore, Rob has nine -- yes nine -- children. Its defintiely a 24/7 party at the Wasinger house -- trust me, I've seen it!

I know its been said over and over, but it is important that the leaders of the Republican Party communicate their ideas online. Rob gets it, and is on it -- just in the past two days, Rob has made two posts on Redstate -- an intro post followed by a policy post.

Here is a great line from his intro post:

The sands have shifted for many of the people in Washington, DC. It sometimes seems we have more convictions than conviction. Our country is paying the price for that.

Many politicans get elected, go to Washington, and forget who sent them there. Rob has been tested and proven over the years in Washington to keep true to his values and convictions (I think his days as a conservative rebel at Harvard helped prepare him for that).

And a good line from his front-page policy post, titled Stop Passing the Taxpayers' Buck:

There are thousands of small business owners across the First District of Kansas who do not get bailed out if they make a poor decision. They know they own the consequences of their actions. Sure, it’s not always easy, but here in Kansas we wouldn’t have it any other way. We don’t ask for much, except to be left alone, allowed to keep our hard-earned profits, and to run our businesses as we see fit.

Personally, having grown up in the DC area, it was great to go away from home for college to a small town in Ohio. That is most definitely the consensus message to Washington from here -- just leave us alone!

To learn more about Rob, feel free to visit his website, and make sure to check out the "Big Family, Big First" blog, run by Rob's wife, Meg, which chronicles the adventures of the family of 11 on the campaign trail, its quite the read.