Best Political Eavesdropping

Around the August 3 primary elections in Kansas City, the Levee was a wall-to-wall Democratic geekfest. Governor Bob Holden's unlucky supporters partied there during his debates against the eventually victorious challenger Claire McCaskill and screamed at the big-screen TVs mounted to the ceilings as if the Chiefs and the Raiders were tied at 14. Beth Low, who won the race for 39th District Missouri State Representative, held her celebration at the Levee while the final primary tabulations were counted, and she commiserated with the opponents of Amendment 2 as they watched the yes votes slosh in. The head of the Legislature, Scott Burnett, has an office just a few addresses away from the Levee, and lawyers from the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office have been known to chug-a-lug and get loose with the language in these same parts. So the Levee sees its share of winners and shakers, losers and movers. A sharp ear and a pitcher of beer might be all it takes to know which way the winds of political change blow. Or perhaps you'll hear only burping.