According to LinkedIn, McCabe is a former executive producer at KSHB-TV and the former director of communications for Jeff Colyer for Congress for three months in 2002. That was apparently a thing in 2002. I do not remember Colyer running for Congress, but it must have happened however briefly!
So, why has Colyer recently hired communications help? Why now? I do not have an answer, but my crystal ball says Colyer is considering a run at something.
My Wayback Machine tells me that at one point, there was talk of Sen. Pat Roberts not serving out his full term if reelected in 2014. It was a poorly kept secret that Roberts was going to run for Senate for the 9,000th time to avoid a bloody primary that year (That happened anyway.) and step aside after two or four years of his six year term. At that point, Colyer was going to be appointed to finish the remainder of Roberts' term.
Something changed, and that plan was scrapped at least for the foreseeable future. (I hear Roberts' wife didn't want to leave the pork-filled trough of the Washington, D.C. inner circle, but I don't know if that's true.) And so, Colyer is now left to consider his political future after 2018. Enter a communications consultant, who was likely hired to carefully and gently put political space between Gov. Sam Brownback and the Lt. Governor, so Colyer can launch a run at some other office.
It's no secret Colyer wants to join the cocktail scene in D.C., but word on the street is that he may be eyeing the Governor's office. If he chooses that route, Colyer will face Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, who sources say hasn't even finished the discussion of whether to run for Governor with her family. (Sorry, but I'm not buying that one, as there's wide speculation that Jenkins has already selected a Johnson County running mate.)
We may know more as the press releases and Colyer appearances under the tutelage of a new press expert are rolled out. Stay tuned.
All of these rumors about the '18 Governor's race are amusing. They are just that....rumors. It is such a JV move to plant running mate rumors on a potential run --- nothing quite like putting the cart before the horse is even out of the barn. If a current elected official is really interested in a race in '18 -- they are out there building a statewide machine, raising their profile on TV, actively engaging and helping candidates so they can bank their support later. If you want to see who is really serious about '18 you should look at the doers and not the talkers.
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