I’m the guy who says that a vote for an Independent candidate is a vote for the Republican in the race. I’ve been careful to add the caveat that national treasure, Bernie Sanders, is the exception to that (and virtually every other) rule. In a highly unusual development in Kansas, we have another exception.
The breadcrumbs were there, but it’s fair to say that Democrat Chad Taylor stunned the political world when he announced Wednesday that he was dropping out of the Kansas Senate race. That leaves independent Greg Orman, who was once a Democrat, to challenge incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) in November’s general election.
It bewildered outsiders in part because Taylor was performing admirably for a Democrat in the state with the longest gap since it lasted elected one to the Senate. TPM’s PollTracker average had Taylor trailing by less than 6 percentage points.
But did Democrats really think the best shot of knocking of Roberts was to clear the field for Orman, even if that meant getting their own nominee out of the race? Or was something else going on, too?
Political observers in Kansas suggest looking at the state’s gubernatorial election contest. State Sen. Paul Davis (D) seems to have a real shot at knocking off Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative stalwart; Davis leads by 6 percentage points, per TPM’s PollTracker average… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <TPM>
Rachel Maddow covered this story in two segments. In the first she explains the background and tells the story.
If MSNBC is unavailable in your location, you can watch this clip at You Tube.
If Orman is willing to caucus with the party that’s willing to go to work and solve problems instead of backing extremists in their party, all he needs to hear is the "secret" Republican recordings to the 0.1%, when they were begging for millions and sucking … never mind. Bought Bitch Mitch McConnell and others promised total gridlock to benefit billionaires and Banksters.
In the second Rachel talks about Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) role and what might happen if Orman wins with analyst Kasie Hunt.
If MSNBC is unavailable in your location, you can also watch this clip at You Tube.
Who who have thought that Kansas could be up for grabs. Chad Taylor deserves major kudos for sacrificing his own campaign, when he was ahead of Orman, to help remove an entrenched Republican from office.
Every Republican Must GO!
8 Responses to “Turnabout in Kansas”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
This election in Kansas should prove to be interesting. Alaska should be a wild ride too.
The more non-thuglicans, the better!! As long as they don’t subscribe to the Teabaggers tunes!!
And, just for you, TC! Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!! Glorious evening celebration for The Great Peyton and the Illustrious Bronco-phites!! A terrible battle will be won against the Baby Horsies!! All hail, The Great Ellipsoid Orb day if Worship!
Wooo Hoooo!! 😀
With the crazy TeaBagger attorney general who, incidentally, is also running for re-election, challenging his dropping out, this will actually be TWO races to watch in KS. DKos thinks maybe, just maybe this idiocy can he used by the AG's Dem opponent to blow him out of the water.
TC, your opinion and mine that a vote for an Independent is a vote for the Republican pre-supposes a three-way or more race. In any race where there are only two candidates, Republican and Independent, it breaks down. I am hoping and praying this race is allowed to become a two-candidate race.
The Kansas race now looks good for unseating a Republican. l looked at the graph of states that were yellow, and saw that West Virginia was one that might go REpublican. Nick Rahal has held the Senate seat there a very long time and has done much for the state. His opponent is a Koch bought Republican. We get all the WV ads on our local tv stations. I will be very surprised if Nick loses. But, I have been surprised before.
I very much enjoyed Orman's interview in the second video. If he is elected, maybe as a freshman he will team up with Bernie and actually get some bi partisan decisions made. At the very least, it will prevent Mitch from becoming majority leader. That in itself would be enough. Of course, I hope Mitch won't be there. Alison came up some in the polls this week after she ran an ad with a veteran stating what Mitch had and had not done for vets.
I had read earlier that Chad Taylor's name would remain on the ballot, this before I had read about him dropping out. I found an article about it on the Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/04/kris-kobach-chad-taylor-ballot_n_5768092.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
So, apparently Taylor asked a Kobach aide if his campaign termination letter was sufficient. The aide said "yes" but Kobach said "no". There is one reason, and one reason only IMO why Kobach wants to leave Taylor on the ballot: to confuse the voters into thinking that he is still there and therefore divide the vote so that the Republicanus/Teabagger incumbent is more likely to win.
Let's hope that everything works out well and that Kobach is thwarted, not only for his actions on the senate seat, but also in his bid for re-election as State Attorney General. I've heard more than enough over the past few years about this pariah!
Thanks all. Pit stop!
This wont the fvorst tome Republicand will have attempted election theft through hanging Chads. The court cased should prove interesting.
Thanks TC!