Kansas GOP Insider (wannabe): KS Dem Insider Wannabe

Thursday, September 4, 2014

KS Dem Insider Wannabe

I have no inside scoop as to what the Kansas Democrats are doing, but someone at The Hill, a publication that covers Congress, obviously does.

Democrat Chad Taylor is trying to withdraw from his U.S. Senate race against incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts. The Dems' goal, according to The Hill, is a two-way race between Roberts and independent Democrat Greg Orman.

“What most Democrats know is that Orman would be better than Pat Roberts, and we want Roberts out. We wanted to win, this is the year to win, and Chad Taylor couldn’t be that candidate,” Chris Reeves, a Kansas Democrat, told The Hill.

Taylor requested to formally withdraw from the race yesterday. But, Kansas Republicans are saying, Not So Fast, my friend.

 
 The state GOP is calling the withdrawal request, "an attempt by liberal Washington Democrats to disenfranchise Kansas Democrats and invalidate their primary election," Party Chair Kelly Arnold said in a press release.

Taylor beat Patrick Weisner in the Democrat primary in August.

 It appears Taylor, the Shawnee County District Attorney, can't withdraw from the race unless he is "incapable of fulfilling the duties of office if elected." That's not the Republicans talking. That's state statute.

"The people of Kansas demand to know what changed in the last few days that made Mr. Taylor suddenly incapable of serving... Is he now incapable of serving as the Shawnee County District Attorney?"

 Ouch. 

Whether Taylor's name is removed from the ballot, there will be a Democrat candidate listed in November. Kansas statute requires that if a major party candidate withdraws, the candidate "shall" be replaced.

I don't know which Dem insiders will be making that selection, if it comes to that. For what it's worth, Weisner said he'd be willing. He did receive 47 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary. The crowded ballot -- there are at least four people currently running for the Senate seat -- should help Roberts, especially since it appears Orman and Taylor (or insert name here Democrat) are likely to split votes.

Still, there are a few uncomfortable takeaways from The Hill story:

First, story notes that there are indications that the National Republican Senatorial Committee "is facing pressure to send resources down to support Roberts."

And, the story continues, "there's talk of a campaign staff shake-up."

If the NRSC has to defend an incumbent Republican Senate seat in red Kansas, that may spell disaster for the uber goal of the 2014 election -- taking back the Senate from the Donkey Party. 


1 comment:

  1. I really like how you've been putting meme after meme out there just hoping one of the sad-sack Brownback campaign staffers will come to understand meme construction techniques. Good modeling behavior.

    ReplyDelete