By CHRIS GREEN

and SARAH KESSINGER

Harris News Service

House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney stopped in Chapman recently to assess the damage from a June twister that tore through the north-central Kansas community.

McKinney, whose home was destroyed by the Greensburg tornado a year ago, said it was painful to see the destruction.

"The schools and churches took a lot of damage. That alone is very difficult for a town," he said.

With experience in the recovery process, McKinney said he'd offer this advice to Chapman residents: "Be patient but persistent.

"Everything takes longer than you want it to, but if you're persistent, you'll get there," he said. "I hope people who lost their homes will come back there and rebuild their community."

McKinney, who has spent the year running between legislative duties and helping to rebuild his hometown, doesn't have to worry about an opponent in this year's election.

And again, we ask ...

Is Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius on the short list to be Barack Obama's running mate?

Sebelius still isn't talking much about that prospect. But according to one report, what she isn't saying could be telling.

CQ Politics, a free political Web site of Congressional Quarterly, wrote that Sebelius is no longer denying that she is being vetted by Obama's campaign for the No. 2 Democratic slot.

Sebelius told reporter Jonathan Allen that she wasn't closely scrutinized for the vice presidency in 2004. But she declined to say the same for this year's process.

And Sebelius told another reporter last month that she hadn't been vetted yet.

"Her reply Thursday is not exactly a smoking gun, but 'No' is such an easy answer when it's true -- and she has given it before," Allen wrote. "It is, at least, an opening of the door and probably a hint that she is being vetted."

Gov. Parkinson?

Although this year's election fights are just ramping up, one analyst is already looking ahead to 2010.

Louis Jacobson, a Stateline.org columnist, wrote Thursday about eight popular governors who lead states where their party is in the minority, including Sebelius.

Jacobson noted some of those governors may see their parties lose the governorship after they leave office. But Sebelius has one of the best shots at seeing her party keep control, he wrote.

He suggested that Lt. Gov Mark Parkinson, a former state GOP chairman who switched parties two years ago, wants the job in 2010.

"If Sebelius leaves to join an Obama administration and Parkinson runs as the incumbent, he'd get an extra boost," Jacobson wrote of Parkinson.

He called the GOP gubernatorial picture muddier, mentioning Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt, both Kansas Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, as possible contenders.