Even with the name, congressman’s spouse is an unknown

Would Stephene Moore be an ace in the hole or a two of diamonds if she runs for Congress this year?

The first reaction some 3rd District watchers in Kansas are having about all this is well, they aren’t sure.

“I honestly don’t know what kind of candidate she’d be,” KU political scientist Burdett Loomis said.

Others wonder about Rep. Dennis Moore.

If he’s worn out from 12 years of travel, the endless issues and meetings with constituents (and who wouldn’t blame him), why would he step aside for Stephene only to face more years of back and forth to D.C. with his wife?

A husband or wife typically queues up for a campaign only when a spouse has died.

That clearly isn’t the case here, and onlookers such as Loomis don’t recall a situation quite like it.

Stephene Moore hasn’t said anything about her plans. She won’t return repeated phone calls. She said barely a word at last weekend’s Washington Days gala in Topeka, where Democrats gathered for their annual reunion.

The talking was left to the congressman, who uttered two words about his wife’s intentions that got jaws flapping — “stay tuned.”

Dennis wasn’t supposed to say even that much, I’m told.

But three weeks after yours truly broke the news that Stephene Moore was weighing a bid, she also hasn’t ruled out the idea. (In case you’ve misplaced it, my number is at the bottom of this column, Stephene.)

The word out there in 3rd District land is that Democrats are polling to gauge her support.

Confusion aside, the idea of Stephene might make sense.

First, she has that most valuable of political commodities — name recognition.

Second, she’ll have (at least indirect) access to her husband’s pot o’ gold — the cool $443,000 he has in his campaign till.

Three, friends and other Democrats view the always-on-the-move nurse and community activist as sharp and pleasingly energetic. She would be a quick study on the issues, many of which she undoubtedly already knows, they said.

The downside is she’s untested and a political newcomer in the sense that she has never held office. Many will assume, rightly perhaps, that her husband’s stands in favor of health care reform, cap and trade, and the stimulus would have been her stands.

Stephene Moore won’t have the luxury of editing first impressions. She would have to get it right immediately because moderate Republicans and Democrats alike will be eager to know if she has the stuff to be a good member of Congress.

A false move or two and word would spread quickly that she doesn’t.

Doubters are surfacing. One of them showed up at a talk I gave last week on the Plaza.

“What has she done besides being a congressman’s wife?” one man asked with obvious disdain.

If she’s a no-go, Democrats swear that they have another candidate in the wings.

Given her name, Stephene Moore may give Democrats their best shot at retaining a seat that never should have been theirs anyway. To be sure, it looks like a lousy Democratic year.

But the 3rd District political dynamics haven’t changed: Very conservative Republicans are vying for the GOP nomination, and they will have to prove that they aren’t too conservative for the 3rd.

That’s the door Dennis Moore sneaked through in 1998 and managed, against all odds, to overcome time and time again.

First, though, Stephene Moore would have to clear up all the confusion.