Free Republic

The Democratic candidate in the race against Sen. Pat Roberts in Kansas ended his campaign Wednesday, leaving an independent candidate and a Libertarian candidate to face off against the three-term Republican incumbent. Chad Taylor, a district attorney, informed the Kansas Secretary of State Wednesday that he is withdrawing from the race. Originally, his statement said "suspended," but the word was lined through and replaced with a handwritten "terminated." Taylor issued a separate statement saying he made the decision after consulting with his staff, supporters and Democratic Party leaders. He did not give a reason.

Democratic nominee Chad Taylor dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate in Kansas on Wednesday, an 11th hour move that could clear the way for his party to rally behind and independent candidate and potentially change the math in the battle for the Senate majority. Taylor, who raised little money and had not gained traction in the campaign, submitted a letter to the Kansas secretary of state's office that said he was withdrawing from the contest, without providing any further information. An e-mail to his spokesman seeking more information on why he bowed out was not immediately returned. The...

Democrat Chad Taylor has dropped out of the Kansas Senate race, according to local reports, complicating Sen. Pat Roberts’s (R-Kan.) reelection fight. ADVERTISEMENT Local outlet Kansas First News is reporting Taylor, the Shawnee County district attorney, said he submitted papers to withdraw himself from the ballot at 4:15 p.m. Central Time Wednesday, just 45 minutes before the deadline to exit the race. The race is now a three-way battle between Roberts, independent Greg Orman and libertarian Randall Batson. Now, Taylor’s exit may create more of a headache for Roberts, who has emerged as surprisingly vulnerable in recent weeks, with multiple...

With more than 1,000 Russian troops now occupying portions of eastern Ukraine, U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins said she is growing frustrated at what she says is a lack of strategy from President Barack Obama. But she does not think that Congress or the American people are ready to commit U.S. military forces to the region. "I think everyone's frustrated that we don't have a strategy yet," Jenkins said Friday. "I think the nation is war-weary. There's very little if any support for troops on the ground. But we do need the president to step up, listen to his national security...

Netting six Senate seats is a challenge, especially since part of that equation would require Republicans to retain their own competitive seats in places like Georgia and Kentucky. But Republicans believe that the stars, moons, and planets are all aligning for just such a changing tide this November.

Republicans have reason to hope for a wave election in 2014, with Barack Obama’s approval ratings sinking to a six-year floor and Democrats defending several red-state Senate seats. That wave hasn’t washed ashore in Kansas, which one would normally expect to be reliably Republican in the current environment. Republicans even have incumbents running for both the gubernatorial and Senate seats, which should make it an easy hold. According to a new Survey USA poll, though, it looks like both Republican incumbents are in trouble: Despite primary wins 3 weeks ago for both top-ticket incumbent Kansas Republicans – Governor Sam...

WIBW) - A new poll shows tough battles shaping up for incumbents on the November ballot in Kansas. SurveyUSA conducted the poll for KSN Television in Wichita. In the governor's race, Republican incumbent Sam Brownback continues to trail Democrat Paul Davis. The margin of 48 percent to 40 percent is the same as that found in a Survey USA poll done before the August primary... In the U.S. Senate race, Survey USA says Independent candidate Greg Orman continues to cause a wrinkle for both three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts and Democrat Chad Taylor. The poll found Roberts with 37 percent,...

Shawn Parcells bills himself as a medical investigator, an expert in forensic medicine and a consultant on child abuse. He has testified at murder trials, taught at universities and conducted lectures for lawyers and police officers. Parcells, 33, runs Kansas Forensics, a company based in Leawood, Kan., that provides medical examiner services for county coroners in Missouri and Kansas, and private autopsies for families across the country. He says he has observed or helped with more than 1,000 autopsies, and he’s trained in gunshot wounds, strangulation and drug deaths. But some coroners and medical examiners in Missouri say Parcells has...

Republican Governor Sam Brownback is in a 10-point hole in his bid for reelection in Kansas. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Kansas Voters finds Democratic challenger Paul Davis with 51% support to Brownback’s 41%. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, while five percent (5%) are undecided.(To see survey question wording, click here.)

"Governor Brownback's administration took prompt action in 2011 to adopt new disclosure policies and procedures and to include the relevant KPERS information in the CAFR (comprehensive annual financial report)," Kansas Secretary of Administration Jim Clark said in a statement. "The SEC has considered these changes and we are pleased that the SEC did not seek any financial penalties or make any claims of intentional misconduct based on the actions of former administrations. We remain committed to complying with all disclosure requirements and require training and updating of the policies and procedures annually."

Kansas may have a Senate race after all. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Kansas Voters finds incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts with just a four-point lead – 44% to 40% - over Democratic challenger Chad Taylor. Seven percent (7%) like some other candidate in the race, and eight percent (8%) are undecided.

At the weekly press conference with Republican leaders Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) discussed the 352 bills – 98% which passed with bipartisan support in the House – that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuses to bring up for a vote ... “The President is fond of referring to the House as the “Do-Nothing Congress.” But we have 352 reasons why it’s a “Do-Nothing Senate.” 352 bills are sitting on Harry Reid’s desk, awaiting action. 98% of them passed with bipartisan support. Republicans and Democrats working together to pass legislation. 50% of the bills passed unanimously, with no opposition. 70% of...

An ambitious plan to cut income taxes in Kansas will end up costing the state more money than it initially estimated after a key ratings agency downgraded the state’s debt on Wednesday. Standard & Poor’s cited structural imbalances created by the tax cut in its decision to slice Kansas’s bond rating from AA+ to AA. That means Kansas will have to offer a higher interest rate to lenders when it issues new bonds. The package of tax cuts, backed by Gov. Sam Brownback (R) and his conservative allies in the state legislature, was never offset with equal spending cuts, S&P...

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach rolled latecomer Scott Morgan in the Republican primary Tuesday, leveraging advantages in fundraising and name recognition. Kobach, whose work on illegal immigration and other issues had earned him a national profile even before he was elected secretary of state in 2010, was out-polling Morgan, a Lawrence businessman, 65 percent to 35 percent with more than two-thirds of precincts reporting when The Associated Press called the election for him.

Before the polls closed in Kansas yesterday, I predicted that the Republican primary for the US Senate race would be closer than people expected. The incumbent, Sen. Pat Roberts, hadn’t spent much time at home of late — and may not even own a home there at all any more — and losing touch with constituents was what doomed Eric Cantor. Roberts won, but only by single digits against his Tea Party challenger: Veteran Republican Senator Pat Roberts fought off a Kansas primary challenge by a Tea Party-backed doctor who had promised a “family feud” with his distant relative...

Stories about Milton Wolf, the conservative physician aiming to unseat Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) on Tuesday, always include one particularly interesting detail: The guy running to the right of the incumbent Republican senator is also a second cousin to the president of the United States. What's not usually articulated is precisely how the two are related. In short, Wolf's mother was cousins with Obama's grandmother. But the story is a bit more interesting than that. We pieced together the family tree from a number of sources: a tombstone database, online genealogy sites, old newspapers. Giving us this family tree, with...

Should be an interesting night.

Eureka, Kansas — Orella Hosack, wearing a Choose Life shirt and sitting at the edge of the room at the Copper Kettle restaurant, liked what she was hearing from a Tea Party candidate challenging the state’s longtime GOP senator. But she had also heard a potentially alarming rumor — that Milton Wolf, the radiologist trying to unseat Sen. Pat Roberts in Tuesday’s primary, is related to President Obama — and she wanted him to address it. “If you’ve been paying attention to the campaign, you know there are a lot of vicious personal attacks,” Wolf replied. “I think you deserve...

... According to the Senate Conservative Fund, poll numbers now show Wolf only trailing by nine points to Republican Senator Pat Roberts in the Kansas Republican primary race that will be decided on Tuesday. The race has closed steadily since January, when Wolf was down as much as 54 points. By March, he was down 26 points and has made headway every month since. The continuous and rapid closing of the race seems reminiscent of what happened in Virginia, where Dave Brat defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The first test will come Tuesday, when Dr. Milton Wolf tries to end Kansas GOP Sen. Pat Roberts' 33-year run in Congress. Wolf, a radiologist who also happens to be a second cousin of President Obama, has taken heat for Facebook postings of X-rays of gunshots wounds -- while Roberts has awkwardly attempted to laugh off questions about whether he indeed lives in Kansas.