Politics is a very strange game indeed, and in Johnson County, Kansas, it's apparently turned into a game of musical chairs. Last month, longtime Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison trounced Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline for the AG job. The margin of victory was especially big in Johnson County, where both men are well known. Now, the big switcheroo. Literally as soon as the ballots where counted on election night, the rumors started: Kline may go after Morrison's old job. That's right, he was interested in becoming the Johnson County DA.

It seemed pretty preposterous at first. It still does to many people, but Kline didn't need to be elected in this case. All he had to do was be selected by Johnson County Republican insiders. Morrison, of course, was a Republican before he switched parties to run for Attorney General, so Republicans got to chose the person who served out the rest of his term. Kline stepped up for the job.

Well, he sort of stepped up. He didn't officially announce he was a candidate until right before the vote, but he worked the phones and the back rooms hard and what do you know, he won. It was a close election, but Kline now gets the job of the man who defeated him. To complete the irony here, Kline also gets a $50,000 raise. Not bad for getting beaten badly in an election.

This whole thing seems very strange to me. Strange that Kline would want to do this, strange that Republicans would pick him for the DA spot and strange that Kline gets a big raise out of the whole deal. Kline hasn't talked to the media since his win, so we'll have to wait to hear his take on all this. All I can say is situations like this are what make politics so fascinating. In Phill Kline's case, I guess he can't lose for losing.