Kansas delegates to the Democratic National Convention were buzzing Monday about their neighbor -- Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, the 5th district Missouri congressman.
Apparently Cleaver helped some Kansans sneak into a congressional campaign committee event. He also unleashed the "full Cleaver" at a meeting of the Faith Council this week.
He spoke in a "very dynamic way," said Kansas delegate Missy Taylor.
Moses was eating a meal, Cleaver told the group -- a story not told in the Scripture. A stranger came by and joined the meal but forgot to give thanks.
Moses then struck the stranger, and God intervened.
Why, the Almighty asked, did you strike the guest?
"Because he failed to give you thanks," Moses replied.
"Well," God sighed. "I guess you're just more religious than I am."
Speaking of Cleaver, he speaks to the convention at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
His topics are ones he speaks about frequently -- civility and faith.
Cleaver, who heads the Congressional Black Caucus, helped form the House Civility Caucus, and he's a United Methodist minister.
He said his remarks have been screened by Democratic fact-checkers.
Fact-checkers?
"They do not want a problem like Ryan had," Cleaver said, referring to the GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan.
Ryan was widely panned for several inaccurate remarks in his convention address last week in Tampa.
Dutch Newman is fired up.
Missouri's oldest delegate at 92, Newman still runs the Westport Landing Political Club and has been buddies with all kinds of Democratic big shots over the years, including Jimmy Carter and Al Gore who used to call her for updates during his 2000 presidential run.
Newman has attended every Democratic convention since 1968 -- save for the the 1984 convention when she had a sister and daughter in the hospital at the same time and decided to stay home.
"I love 'em," she said about the quadrennial gatherings. ""This one especially. I'm excited about the convention so the voters will finally get to hear the truth."
Seniors, Newman said, have so much riding on the outcome of this election with the futures of Social Security and Medicare very much on the line.
"I've had a great time at all of them."
She called her first convention in Chicago "a little scary." That convention is remembered for violent clashes between police and protestors.
Oh, Newman isn't the oldest delegate in Charlotte. That distinction belongs to 97-year-old Elzena Johnson of Terry, Miss., born in 1914.
Tonight the Democrats target women voters, the same tactic the GOP used in Tampa. Michelle Obama speaks to the delegates in prime time.
Marlys Shulda, a Kansas delegate, said she thinks the Democrats can easily win the argument over women's voters. Expect to hear Rep. Todd Akin's name a few times tonight.
"We had five bills pass last spring in the Kansas legislature addressing women's reproductive rights," Shulda said. "I don't there's any question that we have the stronger case."
Recent polls suggest the so-called "gender gap" has narrowed.
Kansas delegates paid especially close attention this morning to a discussion of the shuttle service to the convention venue.
The state's delegates are housed far from the city's center. In fact, the delegation is in Concord, North Carolina, about a $50 cab ride from the Time-Warner Cable Arena and convention center.
That's one price you pay for being a reliably Republican vote on the presidential level.
Kansas City Councilman Scott Taylor had a moment in the limelight Tuesday. He sat on a small business panel, which marks the first time such a panel has convened at a Democratic convention, he said.
Taylor is chair of the council's Small Business Committee.
