I’ll kick things off with a couple of cool snaps I took from my office window a few weeks ago. I’m on the 5th floor of a building at Kellogg and Rock Road in Wichita, KS. I have the honor of looking over the flight line at McConnell Air Force Base.

Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d share this photo with you. Today is the first Saturday since I don’t remember when that I don’t have to walk in a parade. Allie is very sad because she’s missing out on candy and riding in here Team Pompeo wagon. Daddy, meanwhile, enjoyed sleeping in.

It appears the severe weather season finally began in southcentral Kansas this week and on Monday, I must admit I was a little stir crazy. It was the first time since I left KFDI that my colleagues were out chasing big storms and I wasn’t involved. Odd, indeed.

I was sort of involved. I followed along on Twitter and watch the NWS chat log among meterologists in the area, but it just wasn’t the same.

With that said, there is one aspect of severe weather chasing I don’t miss. Now when the weather alert radio blasts off the nightstand in the middle of the night, I can roll over and go back to sleep!

It’s been more than a month since I’ve been creative enough to blog.  I think the problem is I’ve been busy living my life.  Or it could be that I’ve been too lazy.  You decide.

A lot has happened since my last update.  The new gig is still rockin’; Team Pompeo is picking up major momentum with all sorts of new endorsements and exciting things happening in the office. K-State basketball is in the big Dance and the ACHS Jaguars won the KSHSAA Class 5A Girls State Championship. Also, Allie and Alicia still think I’m cool enough to be a daddy and a husband!  So, things are great!

Speaking of great…check out this video of Allie waving her American flag during a parade with Team Pompeo:

It’s all part of the day to day operations for a communications director for Congressional campaign.

Then came an e-mail, then several e-mails…then phone calls. The Club for Growth PAC announced Tuesday its endorsement of Mike Pompeo in the Kansas 4th District Congressioal race. We were wondering if and when an endorsement from the national PAC would come, but their standard operating procedure is not to make direct contact with the candidates they endorse. Instead, they post the release on their website (www.clubforgrowth.com) and then send out a news release from their own press office. 

Within a matter of minutes, I began working on our official  news release, audio statement, web update, Facebook post and Twitter alert.

Here’s the response from Mike Pompeo on the Club for Growth PAC endorsement:

“As a business leader whose success has been built on the foundations of American entrepreneurship and dedication to responsible spending, I’m proud to accept the endorsement of Club for Growth PAC,” said Mike Pompeo.  “The Club for Growth PAC endorsement is a welcome addition to the endorsements of many local officials and thousands of volunteers and contributors here in the 4^th District.”

“People in Kansas are concerned about out of control government spending, higher taxes and an increasingly burdensome federal government.  The thousands of Club for Growth members in Kansas and nationwide share the same concerns,” Pompeo said.  “For the last decade, Club for Growth has been in the forefront of the fight for economic freedom and opportunity and they have not been afraid to stand up for candidates committed to those values.”

You can read the complete endorsement for Pompeo For Congress from Club for Growth on our website by clicking HERE.

Monday, I was on the road with Mike Pompeo as we traveled to Montgomery County to meet with workers and company leadership at the Cessna Aircraft plant in Independence, as well as with city leadership and other residents in southeast Kansas.

It was the first of several tours that I’m working on planning across the 4th District for Mike to meet voters and for them to hear about his platform and vision for his run for Congress.  It was great meeting with members of the aviation industry in Cessna, hearing their concerns and frustrations about the health of their industry and the economy.  The trip even landed Mike on the front page of the Independence Daily Reporter with an 18 inch article and a photo.  [CLICK HERE to read the text of the article]

The last stop on the trip Monday was at King’s Coffee House in Dearing, KS where we met with the Republican Women of Southeast Kansas.  The group of nearly two dozen met and discussed their concerns about the direction our goverment is headed and they asked good questions of Mike.  The video below contains highlights of our King’s Coffee House stop:

In case you weren’t aware or didn’t know, I’ve left the radio news business for now and I’ve taken a new job in politics.  Long story short, I’m now the Communications Director for Mike Pompeo’s 4th District U.S. Congressional campaign.  It’s an exciting opportunity that I feel will grow my career and help the right man for the 4th District win a seat in Congress.  For more information about Mike and to learn what he’s about, click here.  You can also read more about my job by clicking here.

With that said, I’ll still be a journalist…just a different type of journalist.  Instead of asking the questions from behind the microphone or camera, I’ll be working to get Mike in front of the camera and taking calls from my colleagues who have question about Mike and his platform. 

I’ll also get to travel across the 4th District of Kansas which stretches from Kingman and Harper counties to the west, north to Sedgwick and Harvey counties, then southeast to half of Greenwood county down to Montgomery county.  In all, the 4th District covers about 9,500 square miles and about 672,000 people.   You can check WIKI for more information on the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. 

The new job officially begins when I’m in the office on February 1st.  The first day on the job will include a trip with Mike to Independence, KS. 

 I’ll keep you updated with my experiences on the job…as well as in life via this blog.  Speaking of life, my wife and I are loving parenthood.  Allie is 16 months old today and she’s growing up so fast.  I always heard people talking about how fast their kiddos grew up but I never completely understood until now.  Allie is running all over the house and talking.  She says baby, dog, cat, cow, Daisy, “bobo” for her blankie, mama, daddy and several other toddler words.  Basically, life is good…we are healthy and blessed and couldn’t be happier.

We also talked about a very special fundraising event she’s hosting tomorrow afternoon to help the Children’s Miracle Network in Wichita.

Becki is an amazing young woman who has a passion for music, the arts…and K-State!  It’s a honor to call her a friend and for her to join me on the radio as another famous person to grace the KFDI studio.  Click on the audio player below to listen to the complete interview with Miss Kansas, Becki Ronen.

Carrie’s Have You Heard business blog is one of the best business scoop sources around and I read it everyday, so when she joins me on the radio I’m always entertained and intrigued by what she has to say.

Click on the audio player below to listen to this week’s Have You Heard – radio style segment with the Carrie (aka the Business Scoop Diva).

In that instance, the AP sports writers delivered a big oops in a story about the KU basketball national championship that was won in 2008.  Click here for a refresher on that mistake.

This morning, I was again confused and concerned about copy from the Associated Press that was sent to broadcast media affiliates across the country.  However, I wasn’t necessarily concerned about the AP.  Read it for yourself and you’ll understand:

From the AP 7th NewsMinute: 
The Obama administration says the Christmas Day bombing attempt of a U.S. airliner shows that U.S. aviation security worked. The administration has ordered investigations into how travelers are put on watch lists and how are explosives are detected on passengers.

THEN….this from the AP 8th NewsMinute:
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the aviation security system failed when a young Nigerian man with a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Napolitano says investigators are examining Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was allowed the flight despite being on a terrorist watch list.

THEN…they clarified it all in the AP 9th NewsMinute:
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano now says the aviation security system did fail when a young Nigerian man with a powerful explosive hidden on his body was allowed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. A day after saying the system worked, Napolitano backtracked in interviews on the morning news shows, saying her words had been taken out of context.

Uh, are you as confused as I am?  I called the AP, but they blamed the Obama Administration for the confusion.  I did not call the White House…but if I did, I wonder what they would say?