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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) -- After lifting the spirits of Kansas Democrats eager to oust conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback over his aggressive tax-cutting experiment, challenger Paul Davis appears to be losing ground as the state's GOP loyalties and a hail of negative television ads take their toll. The closely watched race has begun moving in the incumbent's favor since the Republican Governors Association began bombarding television viewers with spots focused on how Davis was caught as a young attorney in a strip club during a 1998 meth raid. An officer reported finding Davis in a back room with a...

WICHITA, Kansas — Everyone in Kansas will tell you the same metaphor to explain the state's tax policy. It's their own take on President Ronald Reagan's three-legged stool, specified for tax policy. The three legs: Income tax, sales tax, and property tax. If all three remain relatively even — if each is about 33% of the puzzle — the stool is balanced. The theory is that as long as the stool is balanced, the tax burden on Kansans will remain remarkably steady for a long period of time. It's relatively fair across income groups, and Kansans who support the policy...

Poll available at link. To summarize the results among likely voters: KS Senate Race: Roberts (R) 49% Orman (I) 48% KS Governor Race: Brownback (R) 49% Davis (D) 49%

A new poll out Wednesday from Suffolk University and USA Today confirms something we kind of already knew: Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is in a remarkable amount of trouble. The poll shows independent Greg Orman leading Roberts 46 percent to 41 percent with Democrat Chad Taylor now off the ballot. It has plenty of bad news for Roberts, but also some reasons to believe his goose isn't cooked just yet. Below, we're recapping three ominous signs for Roberts, and three reasons for hope. (And it all comes with the caveat that one poll shouldn't be taken as gospel.) First, the...

Kansas Tea Party supporters are threatening to sit out the state’s pivotal Senate election, potentially dealing another blow to the reelection hopes of Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.). Though schisms within the GOP base rarely have such an outsized impact on a general election contest, the lack of support from the conservative base could be devastating to the vulnerable Roberts’s chances against surging independent Greg Orman. Multiple sources tell The Hill that a group of Tea Party leaders in the state are meeting Wednesday to try to decide whether they should go to bat for the incumbent this fall or sit...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged Kansas Republicans on Thursday to unite behind U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, alleging his independent opponent is trying to “snooker” voters in what has become a surprisingly close race. Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, donned an apron and flipped pancakes alongside Roberts, once considered a near lock for re-election but now facing a tough battle....

He’s not up for re-election, but U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran has much riding on the Senate race raging in Kansas. Moran’s fellow Republican senator from the state, Pat Roberts, is locked in a pitched battle for his political life. Most polls show incumbent Roberts trailing independent challenger Greg Orman. Moran doesn’t face voters again until 2016, but as the party leader in charge of the GOP’s national effort to win control of the U.S. Senate, he badly needs a Roberts victory. Republicans must pick up six seats in November to wrest control of the Senate from the Democrats. Analysts say...

Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida and a possible 2016 presidential candidate, will come to Wichita on Sept. 29 to stump for U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts in a tight Senate race that has drawn national attention. Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/election/article2207842.html#storylink=cpy

Former Alaska Gov and GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin will campaign with vulnerable establishment Republican Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas as a "special guest" at an Independence, Kansas event on Thursday.

Independent Greg Orman has opened up a lead in his effort to unseat Republican Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, according to a new poll from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. Orman leads Roberts 41-34, with Democrat Chad Taylor — who announced plans to end his campaign earlier this month — capturing 6 percent of the vote. Libertarian Randall Batson earned 4 percent support in the poll, which was first provided to the Huffington Post. The automated phone and online survey of 1,328 likely voters was taken between Sept. 11 and Sept. 14. The margin of error is plus-or-minus 2.7 percentage points....

The Democratic candidate in the race for U.S. Senate, Chad Taylor, withdrawing last week from the race has created an interesting dynamic going forward, in the race to represent the state of Kansas on the Senate floor on Capitol Hill. The latest KSN News Poll, conducted by SurveyUSA exclusively for KSN-TV, released Monday indicates that, if the race for the U.S. Senate were held today, September 8, and Chad Taylor’s name remained on the ballot, Independent Greg Orman and incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts are effectively tied. Orman would get 37 percent of the vote, while Sen. Roberts would get...

Labor Day week ought to start clarifying the partisan battle to control the Senate, but if anything, the picture just got muddier and the map bigger. An afterthought all year, conservative Kansas is suddenly abuzz. An independent candidate drove the Democrat from the race and positioned himself to consolidate discontent with three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. Washington-based GOP strategists are rushing to help Roberts, who's accused of sleepwalking through the race in the deeply Republican state. If Kansas brought welcome news to Democrats, Alaska did not. First-term Sen. Mark Begich initially was seen as running a smart campaign with excellent...

Let me summarize the Hill article: as of this moment, hastily-withdrawn Chad Taylor is back on the ballot for Kansas’s Senate race. Turns out that state law has very specific criteria for withdrawing from the ballot after the primary – like being dead, or being incapable to do the job. And if it’s the latter, you have to say so. Chad Taylor, in his withdrawal letter, did not. Better and better, even if Taylor is allowed to withdraw then the state Democratic party is obliged to put up a replacement. This puts Democrats in a definite bind. It would seem...

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...

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...

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.)

<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts as he battles an aggressive GOP primary challenge from tea party candidate Milton Wolf.</p> <p>Huckabee announced his endorsement Thursday. He described Roberts as a conservative warrior and said he's fought tirelessly for lower taxes and federal government spending.</p>

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts won't debate tea party challenger Milton Wolf ahead of the state's Aug. 5 Republican primary. The Lawrence Journal-World reports that Roberts executive campaign manager Leroy Towns said Friday that Wolf has failed to outline positions beyond what Towns called vague rhetoric and false attacks on the senator. Wolf campaign spokesman Ben Hartman said it's unbecoming for Roberts to duck debates and noted that Roberts previously had promised publicly to have them. The 78-year-old Roberts is seeking his fourth, six-year term in the Senate. Wolf is a 43-year-old radiologist making his first run for...

Appearing on a Kansas City local radio talk show on KCMO Thursday morning, Senator Pat Roberts made a verbal gaffe that plays right into his primary opponent's main talking point against him. Reports show that Roberts spends very little time his home state of Kansas - less than 100 days using official funds over the course of two years, an issue his opponent, radiologist, Dr. Milton Wolfe has capitalized on. "After 47 years in Washington, it's clear that Kansas is a distant memory for Pat Roberts," Wolf said back in May. "How else do you explain Roberts wanting to spend...

A new PPP survey released today contains some very good news for Dr. Milton Wolf, the conservative candidate challenging incumbent U.S. Senator Pat Roberts in the Kansas Republican primary. Last month, Roberts released an internal poll showing him with a 54-point lead. Roberts 69%, Wolf 15% Today, after news that Roberts no longer lives in Kansas and misled voters about his residency for years, Roberts only has a 26-point lead. Roberts 49%, Wolf 23% That's a 28-point collapse in just one month! Pat Roberts is in a free fall. PPP says that Roberts' image has now flipped upside down. Pat...