Posted on 07/18/2014 6:08:45 AM PDT by cotton1706
Sen. Pat Roberts sits in a Lenexa fast-food restaurant, spooning ice cream from a cup.
It’s already been a long day. That morning, the 78-year-old Republican braved the heat of the Lenexa July Fourth parade; after lunch, he would be shaking hands at the VFW hall down the street.
Then on to Wamego for another parade. Then Hays. Then another town, another campaign appearance, another search for votes.
It’s tough and familiar political terrain — Roberts has spent the better part of three decades running for office. If Kansas returns him to the Senate this year, he’ll rank among the longest-tenured public servants in Kansas history.
Does he ever think about stepping aside to give someone else a chance?
Roberts’ face grows red below his Marine Corps ball cap. The ice cream softens.
“Why on earth would I not run, if I feel good (and) the people are for me?” he asks.
“The years have got nothing to do with it.”
Mixed blessing
The years, of course, are the biggest issue in the campaign.
Roberts was first elected to the U.S. House in 1980, from the sprawling 1st District, after then-boss U.S. Rep. Keith Sebelius walked away from the seat.
Roberts quickly carved out space as a sometimes prickly GOP moderate, focused largely on agriculture. He worked to persuade Ronald Reagan to lift an embargo on grain sales to the Soviet Union, while striving to protect generous farm subsidies and agri-business autonomy.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
And why do they work so damned hard to keep from having to go out and live under the laws they helped pass for the last 50+ years?
Just go away. Retire. Spend some time with your wife and mistresses.
78: KS likes older senators; the popular Bob Dole could still be there had he not quit in 1996.
Retire. Spend some time with your wife and mistresses.
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Mistresses??? I think you have him confused with Thad Cochran in MS.
Baloney. He was handed his first elective office on a silver platter because he was a staff for a retiring Congressman and his daddy had been chairman of the Republican National Committee. He has been anointed ever since with never a real opponent. He hasn't lived in Kansas since 1957 and has lived in Washington since 1969. Pat catches a case of conservatism whenever an election roles around, but he has enjoyed a miraculous cure once Election Day is over.
He has only rented to the current tenant, an Army Captain, for a few years. It’s a duplex that he bought some years ago. I’m sure that he’s had a number of tenants over the years and there were times that there was only one side or the other that was occupied. But, his home has always been Alexandria, that’s where he raised his family, that’s where his kids went to school. Kansas is a place he visits from time to time.
He did not vote for Obamacare.
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