For years, Sam Brownback and Ted Kennedy shared a joke.</p><p>&ldquo;Thanks for getting me elected,&rdquo; the conservative Brownback used to crack to the liberal Kennedy.</p><p>When he first ran for the Senate in 1996, Brownback used Kennedy as a political punching bag, reminding Kansas Republicans that if they didn&rsquo;t elect him, Kennedy would be chairing the Labor and Human Resources Committee that Nancy Landon Kassebaum of Kansas headed.</p><p> Kassebaum, a Republican, was retiring after the 1996 elections, and Brownback was seeking to succeed her. Brownback figured that if he lost in 1996 in a heavily Republican state, the Democrats would be winning everywhere and would regain control of the chamber, thereby elevating Kennedy to the chairmanship.</p><p> Kennedy would roar at the joke.</p><p> The quip apparently created something of an opening for what became one of the Senate&rsquo;s oddest pairings. Kennedy rarely hesitated to reach out to senators of the other party to team up on legislation.</p><p> Kennedy and Brownback rode together on lots of bills. One was the North Korea Refugee Act. Other issues included immigration and helping parents of children with disabilities.</p><p>Perhaps their most notable effort came after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and was aimed at strengthening borders.</p><p> &ldquo;He was a very gregarious man,&rdquo; Brownback said the other day.</p><p> The Kansan sometimes caught flak at home for working with the liberal lion, but given Kennedy&rsquo;s stature, Brownback rarely hesitated. Most bills don&rsquo;t pass Congress, Brownback reasoned. With Kennedy, you had a shot.</p><p> &ldquo;He was secure in his own philosophy,&rdquo; Brownback said.</p><p> Good thing, because he had another line about the man from Massachusetts.</p><p> &ldquo;Every life is sacred and beautiful,&rdquo; the anti-abortion Brownback would say, &ldquo;whether it&rsquo;s the unborn or whether it&rsquo;s Ted Kennedy.&rdquo;</p><p>&bull;&bull;&bull; </p><p> John Carlin knew firsthand how Kennedy could twist arms.</p><p> While the country has focused on Kennedy&rsquo;s famous &ldquo;dream shall never die&rdquo; speech at the 1980 Democratic convention, the former Kansas governor remembered the hardball politics that came the day before that New York address.</p><p> &ldquo;I got invited to his private suite for a little discussion,&rdquo; remembered Carlin, the head of the Kansas delegation.</p><p> Kennedy wanted to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for the candidate of their choice &mdash; an &ldquo;open&rdquo; convention. Without such a change, Kennedy knew that President Jimmy Carter was a lock for renomination.</p><p> Carlin supported Carter, but he wavered and endorsed the idea of an open convention. Like many Democrats, he may have been worried about Carter&rsquo;s fading popularity and the prospect of a fall campaign against Ronald Reagan.</p><p> When the time came for the actual vote, though, Carlin stuck with Carter.</p><p> &ldquo;I respectfully made it clear that I was committed to the president,&rdquo; Carlin said of his private chat with Kennedy.</p><p> Some Kennedy supporters in Kansas remained angry with Carlin for years.</p><p> But Kennedy, who went on to give the greatest speech of his life, never mentioned the vote again, Carlin said.</p><p>&bull;&bull;&bull; </p><p>Political guru Charlie Cook already is forecasting grim days ahead for Democrats.</p><p>Specially, Cook is saying that the political environment this summer has &ldquo;slipped completely out of control&rdquo; for President Barack Obama.</p><p>The party could lose more than 20 seats in next year&rsquo;s midterm elections, Cook said.</p><p>&bull;&bull;&bull; </p><p>Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri seems to have figured out the best way to manage angry critics of health care reform at her town hall meetings.</p><p>Based on her appearance here last week, the formula includes:</p><p>&bull;No signs.</p><p>&bull;A spacious hall to spread the crowd.</p><p>&bull;No microphones in the audience.</p><p>&bull;A requirement that names be attached to questions.</p><p>&bull;Having a reform opponent pull questions out of a hat.</p><p>&bull;Limiting the session to an hour.</p><p>&bull;Stationing the podium above the crowd to avoid those nose-to-nose confrontations like Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania encountered.