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I keep thinking I should be mad at West Virginia. Not because Barack Obama was recently beaten badly in that state's primary. No, I'm thinking I should be upset about "why" he was beaten. According to exit polls, 2 of every 10 voters said race was a major factor in how they cast their ballots.

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" ran a clip of a white woman who explained her refusal to vote for Obama thusly: "I guess because he is another race. I'm sort of scared of the other race 'cause we have so much conflict with 'em." She spoke in the vaguely shamefaced, "what're you gonna do?" voice of someone who knows she should stick to her diet or stop smoking, but just can't help herself.

You'd think this would have me in a state of high dudgeon, fingers blazing the keyboard in righteous rebuke of attitudes so atavistic and wrong. But I can't. Oh, it's disappointing to see bigotry in Appalachia so vividly displayed. Yet I find it doesn't make me angry.

It just makes me sad.

I feel sorry for them. If that sounds patronizing, I apologize. That's not how it's meant.

The following commentary was submitted by Wichita Reps. Geraldine Flaharty, ranking Democrat on the House Health and Human Services Committee; Nile Dillmore, ranking Democrat on the House Insurance and Financial Institutions Committee; and Jim Ward, House assistant minority leader.

We read with interest a commentary by Gary Brunk with Kansas Action for Children ("Health reform is on the right track," May 11 Opinion). In Brunk's view, Kansans have to choose between helping children get health care and helping their parents. This is a false and unnecessary choice.

Brunk admitted there is no money to pay for the health care he supports. The change he advocated relies on lawmakers in Washington, D.C., passing a new law increasing the amount of money available for children's health care. Then Washington bureaucrats would have to allocate more of this money for Kansas children. Then the Kansas Legislature would have to pass a bill to increase state spending to pay our share of the coverage before anyone would benefit from this reform.

Without approval at the federal level, there will be no money to provide for the expansion of children's health insurance in Kansas. It is disingenuous to be promoting this bill as a significant step to providing coverage for children, knowing that it is unlikely that money will ever be allocated to do so.

The 2008 Legislature did pass a health care bill. This legislation did some good things -- more pregnant women will have health care coverage and dental care, and we added money for safety-net clinics.

Memorial Day weekend has become the unofficial kickoff of summer. And Memorial Day marks the time when we, as Americans, commemorate the patriotic men and women who have given their lives in defense of our country.

Although the holiday was first proclaimed by Gen. John Logan in 1868, it was not until after World War II that Memorial Day became more common, officially becoming federal law in 1967. Since that time, America's fallen heroes have been honored all across the country on the last Monday in May.

America would not be what it is today without our courageous servicemen and women and the 24 million veterans, including 270,000 who hail from the Sunflower State. The liberties we enjoy today were earned through great toil, including the bravery and sacrifice of these patriotic Americans.

Supporting our troops should not be confined to the battlefield. Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the 75th anniversary celebration of the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Wichita. If you have never visited the center, I encourage you to do so. VA employees and volunteers who faithfully serve those who have served us are an example of the kind of respect and dignity we should show our nation's veterans. Visiting the center also is an excellent opportunity to personally thank vets for their service.

The call to military service is a soft whisper in today's America. Less than 1 percent of our population wears a uniform in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard. Yet these few distinguished men and women have not only heard the call to service, they have answered the call with strength, conviction and a resounding "Here am I. Send me!"

There has been much debate in this campaign about which of our enemies the next U.S. president should deign to talk to. The real story, the next president may discover, though, is how few countries are waiting around for us to call.

It is hard to remember a time when more shifts in the global balance of power were happening at once -- with so few in America's favor.

Let's start with the most profound one: More and more, I am convinced that the big foreign policy failure that will be pinned on this administration is not the failure to make Iraq work, as devastating as that has been. It will be one with much broader balance-of-power implications -- the failure after Sept. 11 to put in place an effective energy policy.

It baffles me that President Bush would rather go to Saudi Arabia twice in four months and beg the Saudi king for an oil price break than ask the American people to drive 55 mph, buy more fuel-efficient cars, or accept a carbon tax or gasoline tax that might actually help free us from what he called our "addiction to oil."

The failure of Bush to fully mobilize the most powerful innovation engine in the world -- the U.S. economy -- to produce a scalable alternative to oil has helped to fuel the rise of a collection of petro-authoritarian states -- from Russia to Venezuela to Iran -- that are reshaping global politics in their own image.

"Sometimes I'm verbose, repetitive -- and my jokes aren't funny."

-- Pat Salerno, the likely next Wichita city manager, when asked last year while interviewing for a Florida job to name his weaknesses

"I'm afraid so."

-- House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, on whether his first session in charge will be forever linked to the law making Kansas the only state to allow state-owned and -operated casino gambling

"People are really upset by $4 gas prices. Wait until they see their electric bills if we don't have coal."

In 2004, I walked outside the U.S. Capitol building and beyond the Washington Monument to the newly constructed World War II Memorial, just a few days before its dedication. It was inspiring. At long last, nearly 60 years after the war ended, these veterans who did so much to protect our country and liberate the world were to receive recognition through a national monument.

I happened to have my cell phone with me and called my 90-year-old father in Plainville. He is one of the thousands of Americans who left their families and lives behind in World War II to fight on foreign soil. My father fought in Northern Africa, Sicily and Italy.

Fortunately, when I called, I got the answering machine. It is often difficult for sons and daughters to tell their fathers the things we should tell them. My message was, "Dad, I love you. Dad, I'm proud of you and, Dad, thank you for your service to our country." I told my dad what I should have said a long time ago and what we all should say to our veterans. It was too bad that many veterans of this "Greatest Generation," now in their 80s and 90s, are unable physically or financially to visit our nation's capital and see this beautiful tribute to their service and sacrifice.

A few months ago, former Sen. Bob Dole -- a World War II veteran who led the charge to build the memorial -- told me about a grassroots, nonprofit organization called Honor Flight. Staffed by volunteers and funded by donations, Honor Flight enables World War II veterans to travel to our nation's capital to see the memorial created in their honor. Honor Flight operates across the country using commercial and chartered flights to send veterans on a one-day, expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C.

I have had the honor of joining Dole to greet some of these veterans at the World War II Memorial. The time we spend with these proud men and women is very moving. As volunteers -- often local high school students -- help veterans off the bus, you can see the excitement in the veterans' eyes. As we walk past the fountains and to the granite pillar dedicated to Kansans, the student volunteers listen to veterans recount tales of their time in the service, of friends made and friends lost. Tourists stop their sightseeing to shake the veterans' hands and express thanks. Many veterans are moved to tears. It is a special day for a very special generation of heroes.

These days, people on "one side" of the political spectrum are not supposed to cooperate, much less have a personal relationship with anyone on the "other side." But my 25-year relationship with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has been something I have treasured.

It began in 1983 when I received a call from a Washington Post reporter. I was working for the Moral Majority at the time, and a computer had spit out a membership card for Kennedy and then inadvertently sent it to him. The reporter asked if I wanted the card back. "No," I said. "We don't believe anyone is beyond redemption. In fact, I hope Sen. Kennedy comes and speaks at Liberty Baptist College" -- now Liberty University, the school founded by the late Jerry Falwell.

A few days later, I received a call from Kennedy's chief of staff, who said: "The senator accepts your invitation." I was stunned and so was Falwell, but Kennedy went to the college and was well-received. He spoke on faith, truth and tolerance, and his remarks are as relevant today as they were when he uttered them.

While some might disagree on the way he applies such notions to the liberal policies in which he believes, few would contest most of the principles he articulated that night.

Getting to know Kennedy that night, and being with him on many subsequent occasions, helped me understand him on a level far different from TV images and direct-mail appeals that ask for $25 to keep him from doing things that will "ruin" America.

Chivalry is still charming, as Barack Obama proved when he recently warned Tennessee Republicans to leave his wife alone.

He was commenting on a GOP Web ad that highlights Michelle Obama's comment, made at a rally in February, that she was proud of America for the first time in her adult life. When asked about the ad Monday during an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Obama said Republicans were welcome to pick on him and his track record, but not his wife.

"If they think that they're going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful, because that I find unacceptable. The notion that you start attacking my wife, or my family... is just low-class.... Lay off my wife, all right?"

Far too much has been made of tongue slippages that are silly to insignificant, including Michelle's un-proud moment. We know what the woman meant. She was proud of her husband, proud of her country for recognizing his talents, and probably proud of herself. She was swept up in the moment.

That said, Michelle Obama doesn't get a pass from scrutiny and criticism. What she says matters, not least because she is the partner of the man who would be president but also because her statements are made in the service of his campaign.