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"It's an election year. You know, we can't do this. We don't want to do it. I just -- it's too hard."

-- A hand-wringing, high-pitched Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, imitating legislators' response to the proposed cigarette tax hike to fund health care reform

"There are a fair number of Hillary supporters who aren't too fond of me right now."

-- Sebelius again, suggesting her high-profile "Obama-ing" has affected her standing among some Democrats

"Why do you need a Corvette?"

On the same day that Pennsylvanians gave Hillary Clinton a victory that still left unclear who will eventually be the Democratic nominee, voters in Mississippi's 1st Congressional District failed to settle who will fill the seat left vacant when Republican incumbent Roger Wicker was appointed to the Senate.

The Republican hopeful in Tuesday's special election, Greg Davis, has been forced into a runoff on May 13 against Democrat Travis Childers. Childers actually led 49 to 46 percent and came within 400 votes of a first-round majority that would have sent him to Congress. Four other candidates diverted just enough votes to force the runoff.

Davis had the endorsements of Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. Thad Cochran, Wicker and the man Wicker replaced, Trent Lott. He also outspent Childers almost 2-to-1 and pummeled his opponent with a flood of negative ads, emphasizing the standard GOP menu of social issues.

But Childers relied on the same issues that produced a surprise Democratic win in a special election earlier this year in the Illinois district vacated by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. High gas prices, shaky job prospects and a grinding war in Iraq have fueled a call for change.

The message to Republicans could not be plainer: In a time when the public has soured on President Bush and the GOP, the old appeals are just not enough.

After Barack Obama's defeat in Pennsylvania, David Axelrod, his campaign manager, brushed it off: "Nothing has changed tonight in the basic physics of this race."

He may well be right -- but what a comedown. "Yes, we can" has become "No, she can't."

This wasn't the way things were supposed to play out.

Obama was supposed to be a transformational figure, with an almost magical ability to transcend partisan differences and unify the nation. Once voters got to know him -- and once he had eliminated Hillary Clinton's initial financial and organizational advantage -- he was supposed to sweep easily to the nomination, then march on to a huge victory in November.

Well, now he has an overwhelming money advantage and the support of much of the Democratic establishment -- yet he still can't seem to win over large blocs of Democratic voters, especially among the white working class.

According to the Kansas Health Insurance Study, about 11.5 percent of Sedgwick County residents are uninsured -- that's nearly 55,000 of our neighbors, friends and family members.

And the faces of most uninsured people look just like you and me, working adults. Among all adults working full time, 9 percent are uninsured. Among those working part time, nearly 20 percent are uninsured.

Our current health care system is designed to help those with health insurance. But too many without insurance fall through the cracks, and when they have a medical need, they use the only option they know of for immediate care -- the hospital emergency rooms. This is a costly option and, in most cases, not the level of care needed.

What folks need is access to an affordable, appropriate health care home. Having a "medical home" not only helps provide the most appropriate level of care needed, often minor or chronic disease management, but helps to assure a continuity of care -- your doctor knows you and your health needs. It is also most cost-effective for our health care system. It reduces the demand on the emergency rooms to take care of the most critical and immediate needs, and it begins to focus on prevention, not just "sick care."

Last summer, the Sedgwick County Commission initiated a community dialogue to research and look for possible ways to decrease the barriers citizens have to health care. Three main barriers emerged: coverage, system coordination and system navigation.