The Kansas Senate race is becoming something quite unique this year. There are several candidates running – incumbent Republican Pat Roberts, Democrat (Shawnee County District Attorney) Chad Taylor, Libertarian candidate Randall Batson and Independent businessman (and former Democrat) Greg Orman. Roberts won the GOP primary in an underwhelming fashion when he beat Tea Partier Milton Wolf by 48-41 last month. The GOP thought they had the race in the bag at that point. But then some interesting information emerged:
… But with less than ten weeks until the election, Roberts, who endured a bruising primary, finds himself in an unexpectedly competitive race against a Democratic challenger and an independent who has emerged as a wild card. The close contest has presented Democrats with an intriguing, if delicate, opportunity to shift the race in their favor, and help themselves in the battle for the Senate majority.
Roberts’s Democratic challenger is Chad Taylor, a little-known Shawnee County district attorney who has waved off help from national Democrats, despite raising little money on his own. Independent candidate Greg Orman, a former Democrat who says he is open to aligning himself with either party in the Senate, has raised more money and has the potential to tap his personal wealth for further reinforcements. One recent automated survey from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showed Orman leading Roberts in a head to head race. In a two-man race against Taylor, Roberts led …
So far, national Democrats have not tipped their hand. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Justin Barasky declined to comment when asked how the committee views the race. Taylor’s campaign says he’s received no encouragement from the DSCC to exit. The DSCC has not deployed paid staff to Kansas, or run paid media efforts in the race …
Taylor had a paltry $1,673 in his campaign account in mid-July. Orman, who had nearly $363,000, says the campaign is shaping up as a race between him and the senator. As of now, the anti-Roberts votes are likely to split between the two …
Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The Washington Post article goes on to note that Orman has contributed to both Democrats and Republicans -- both in terms of money contributions as well as how he voted in the last two Presidential elections.
What’s interesting is something I saw yesterday in the New York Times -- a chart outlining the political ideology of all the candidates running this year for Senate (you can see below) -- and this chart, perhaps in addition to the vast differences in financial resources between Orman and Taylor and the polling numbers, helps to explain why the Democratic Party has been so agnostic in relation to this race.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/...
I was a bit surprised by the chart. It appears that not only is Orman to the left of Taylor, ideologically, but also -- UNLIKE Taylor, Orman is actually left-of-center. Just for the record here, via this diary I am trying to give a brief ”state of the race” summary, as I see it, of the current Kansas Senate election, and am not advocating for the election of a non-Democrat in this race. Yes, I know the Daily Kos rules re. supporting the Democratic Party … The chart does help to explain, however, why several Kansas Democrats are publicly supporting Orman, including one of our Congressional candidates:
http://www.kansascity.com/...
In conjunction with the Gubernatorial race, where incumbent Sam Brownback is at real risk of losing to Democrat Paul Davis, November 4 may indeed be a very interesting day in Kansas.