It started with House Minority Leader Paul LeVota making an opening day speech that had partisan tones to it. When LeVota was questioned about his speech by Missourinet’s Brent Martin, he didn’t take kindly to being called partisan and the two argued about the speech.

It was the first hint that House Democrats — despite everybody else in the Capitol talking a good game of bipartisanship — were miffed they didn’t win more House seats in 2008.

There’s no arguing with the partisan tone in the Friday afternoon shot across the bow that came from state Rep. Jason Kander’s office. Kander, a Democrat from Kansas City, is alleging that House Speaker Ron Richard is keeping him off a committee because the speaker is scared of him in some way.

Never mind that the freshman Democrat is already on the House Budget Committee. Apparently, he’s miffed that he’s also not on what he calls the “powerful” professional licensing and registration committee. (Some might call it an obscure committee, but few would call it powerful, at least compared to budget).

“I think it says a tremendous amount about the strength of young Democrats when the Speaker of the House is going out of his way to play defense against one of our freshman,” said LeVota in the news release.

According to the release, Richard blocked Kander’s appointment to the committee making him the only “rank and file” member of the House to sit on only two committees.

But the real point of the partisan missive out of Kander’s office is to mention that he’s been appointed by LeVota to the House Democratic Campaign Committee. That means his most important role in the upcoming legislative session is to help elect more Democrats in the next election cycle.

Says the chair of that partisan committee (Rep. Mike Talboy) at the end of the news release: “It’s no surprise to me that the Speaker is worried about him.”

Worried? Really? Let the 2010 campaign games begin!