Kansas Senator Pat Roberts appears to be cruising to victory over challenger Jim Slattery.
You can’t say victory is assured. Too many of Roberts’ Republican colleagues are struggling in their reelection bids. It’s a tough year for Republicans.
You can say, though, that Roberts is firmly in the driver’s seat as the campaign enters its final week. The latest KCTV5/SurveyUSA poll shows Roberts with an 18 point lead over Slattery. That’s the way it’s been for months.
A lot of folks thought Slattery, a former Democratic congressman, might make the race interesting. He’s an articulate candidate. Democrats were wildly excited to have him.
What went wrong?
Well, for one thing, Slattery made a serious miscalculation: Pat Roberts is in no way a divisive figure among Republicans. Roberts hasn’t been part of the bloody and largely pointless intraparty battles that have given the upper hand in Kansas to Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius.
Democrats feast in Kansas on Republicans who’ve engaged in those battles.
Roberts isn’t one of them. He mastered the politics of inclusion a long, long time ago. His father, Wes Roberts, was an important Republican leader in Kansas in the 1950’s. Wes Roberts was friends with Dwight Eisenhower, for goodness sake.
Roberts’ inclusiveness paid off when Slattery tried to win the support of the so-called Sebelius Republicans. He made phone call after phone call and came up with virtually nothing.
There were other flaws in Slattery’s campaign plan. Roberts boasts strong support in rural Kansas. The Slattery people thought they’d break that down by hammering Roberts on gas prices. Rural folks, particularly in Roberts’ western Kansas base, didn’t buy it.
In the meantime, Roberts went on the attack. His campaign manager, David Kensinger, who is Senator Sam Brownback’s major domo in the Sunflower State, devised a brilliant plan: The Roberts campaign would remind folks at every turn that Slattery had been a lobbyist and lawyer in Washington, D.C. for the past fourteen years.
It undercut Slattery’s argument that Roberts had been in Washington since men walked on the moon and should be retired.
Slattery’s poll numbers tanked and have never recovered.
Still, you have to give Slattery credit for taking on Roberts. You also have to give a lot of credit to the Kansas Democratic Party for recruiting such a quality candidate. It’s a clear sign of that party’s growing strength.
Kansas Republicans should consider themselves fortunate that Roberts was up this year. He’s the last link to the days when Kansas Republicans had moderate Senator Nancy Kassebaum on the one hand and more conservative Senator Bob Dole on the other and loved it.
It will be tougher after Roberts. The politics of inclusion haven’t been much in favor in the Kansas GOP in the last decade.
Sunday, October 26, 10 p.m.
