Last year, we named Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius Best Politician. Sebelius seemed to have earned that recognition not just from us but also from the Democratic Party, which was smitten with her ability to govern a blood-red state. The establishment's love affair with her grew deeper in January, when Sebelius delivered the Democrats' official response to George W. Bush's final State of the Union. On paper, Sebelius' speech was an echo of Barack Obama's call for unity, even if her oration lacked Obama's flourish. No matter: By the end of January, Sebelius was resplendent in a photo spread for Vogue magazine. The magazine called her "elegant, circumspect (a trait Kansans approve), and strikingly fit" — indeed, the 60-year-old beauty looked all that in a $5,450 Oscar de la Renta taffeta dress showing off her toned arms, her right hand resting on a Carolina Herrera duchesse-satin wrap and an enormous Carol Lee pearl dangling from her ear as she gazed into the distance. She looked tough, sexy and menacing to right-wing Republicans who might disturb the peaceful equilibrium Sebelius has brought to her state.
