There’s been head-spinning changes on the hustings

The political world is spinning so fast these days, you’ve got to time your jump to get aboard.

I just made it.

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The word out of Washington on Friday was that Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas was on the verge of endorsing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president.

Now I see why that would be a boon for Giuliani, who supports abortion rights and gay rights. He needs backing from a movement conservative such as Brownback to smooth over cracks in his relations with the right, where Giuliani is most vulnerable.

But what’s in it for Brownback? Backing Giuliani would set the conservative wolves a-howling back home.

Roll back the tape from just one week ago, and there’s the Kansan bowing out of the presidential race at the statehouse and telling reporters that the party won’t nominate a pro-choice Republican.

“I don’t see him winning the nomination,” Brownback said of Giuliani.

That sentiment hasn’t changed already, has it?

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Stick this one in your bonnet: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will win either the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary.

Whaaaat? You’ve never heard of Huck?

Get him on your radar screen. Huckabee has supplanted John McCain as the hot GOP contender on the circuit these days.

With the Republican field remaining a jumble, look for the unexpected to trump the expected.

Now, whether Huckabee can translate an upset win in either state to the nomination is an entirely different question.

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You may be one of the legions of Americans who believe that Election ’08 will produce nothing but more of the same.

If Hillary Clinton wins, Republicans will demonize her with all the old stories about Whitewater and Monica, and Rush Limbaugh will run amok.

If a Republican wins, little will be accomplished with a Congress that may well remain Democratic.

A group called Unity08 ( www.unity08.com) is billing itself as your political antidote. The group’s aim is to shake things up and use the Internet to nominate a centrist presidential ticket that will include a presidential nominee from one major party and a vice president from the other.

That may sound a little dreamy, but the movement is headed by a couple of well-respected politicos, Gerald Rafshoon, who once worked for Jimmy Carter, and GOP operative Doug Bailey, who helped found The Political Hotline.

Unity08 already has raised $1 million to begin the laborious process of getting on ballots in all 50 states.

“Basically what we’re saying is the system is broken because Republicans and Democrats don’t talk to each other, much less agree on anything,” Bailey said.

Political insiders, such as Joe Trippi — who was the brains behind Howard Dean’s innovative Internet-driven campaign in 2004 and now is working for John Edwards — already have acknowledged Unity08’s potential. Trippi has said enough money and volunteer energy exists to overcome either party establishment.

“Alarm bells should ring loud at both party headquarters” if the new online movement begins to draw a crowd, Trippi wrote in a column in London’s Guardian newspaper.

One key is making an online vote secure and accurate. Bailey said he thinks the technology exists to ensure just that.

Bipartisanship is the basis for every major advancement in American politics, Bailey said.

These days, the search for a bipartisan solution is on.

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What’s up with Freedom Inc., the African-American political club in Kansas City?

First, the group signals that it will oppose the 1-cent sales-tax renewal for capital improvements. Then it reverses course.

Now, the group has yet to take a stand on the big question of whether public schools in Independence can pull out of the Kansas City School District.

At some point, the question for Freedom becomes: What is the point?

To reach Steve Kraske, call 816-234-4312 or send e-mail to skraske@kcstar.com.