If you are a big Democratic spender looking to make an impact, you won’t find a better place than Kansas. With two months left to go before the midterm election, the latest polling shows three Republican incumbents trailing their challengers in statewide contests.
Independent Greg Orman jumped to his first lead over U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, who now trails by 1 percentage point. Democratic governor nominee Paul Davis registered a 7-point advantage over Gov. Sam Brownback. Democratic secretary of state candidate Jean Schodorf broke a tie with Secretary of State Kris Kobach, procuring a 3-point margin.
[…] “It’s a nail-biter. Everyone’s talking about this race,” said Jim Jonas, Orman’s campaign manager. “Kansans are sick and tired of the partisan dysfunction in Washington, and Greg’s focus on problem solving continues to attract support from Republicans, Democrats and independents.”
Trying to divide the anti-Brownback vote, Kobach is desperately trying to keep Democrat Chad Taylor on the ballot after he withdrew from the race. Governor Brownback’s deep tax cuts have failed to spur economic growth and led to three downgrades of the state’s credit rating.
But the GOP’s woes don’t end there.
Incumbent US representative Tim Huelskamp failed to win the endorsement of farm groups two months ago, and this week a moderate group ‘Traditional Republicans for Common Sense’ endorsed his Democratic opponent Jim Sherow.
The vulnerability of Kansas Republicans offers a big opportunity for big liberal money. Media time is incredibly cheap in Kansas: you can buy an entire FM station for the cost of a week’s ads on a comparable New York City station.
Plus, it is the home base of Charles and David Koch, the biggest names in right wing political money. Kansas has been an excellent laboratory for disproving their economic theories, so a resurgence of progressive politics in the state would be a huge repudiation of their libertarian austerity formula.
We will be keeping an eye on this story in the weeks to come.
Very glad to see Huelskamp sucking.
That man is an extraordinary asshole.
If you have nothing nice to say about him, please come sit down over here by me and tell me everything.
True but if Texas failed it would nailed the coffin. Republicans always use Texas which is going in that direction with a lot of population growth.
There’s an old joke about a city slicker who goes out into the countryside and finds himself in coversation with one of the locals, who regales him with tales of what a smart and talented donkey he owns. When the city man says he’d like to see a demonstration, the country dweller picks up a 2×4 and smashes the beast between the eyes. “Why did you do that?” the urbanite shouts. “My donkey’s smart,” the rustic replies calmly, “but I have to get his attention first.”
Will losing high-profile races in Kansas get the GOP’s attention? I have me doubts. It will take losing every race in several successive elections to do that.
Still, good news is good news.
Also too: congratulations, Matt, you’ve attracted the attention of Martin Longman at Political Animal.
–alopecia
The answer to the title question is YES if Democrats have anything to do with it. They are working hard to open the eyes of Republicans in Kansas, and a lot of eyes are opening.
Brownback, Kobach, and Roberts: All three major leaders in the state of Kansas have their elections on the line, and all three of them blame Obama for their having to face the consequences of their own actions.
Kansas is going over the cliff because of their behavior. Kansas may still go over the cliff even if they’re voted out because they were so unethical that their far right legislature voted in some cases to make it impossible for a new governor to undo the horror that they have set in motion.
But at least a Democrat or an Independent or even a Moderate Republican can stop the bleeding by not signing any more of the horrendously damaging things they have planned to do as soon as election day is over.