Pat Roberts has found himself in a lot of trouble here in Kansas, battling against Greg Orman to remain in control of his US Senate Seat. One of the largest stumbling blocks on this journey has turned out to be the Kansas Tea Party, who doesn't believe Pat Roberts properly reflects them.
http://thehill.com/...
Aware of the vulnerabilities it faces, the Roberts campaign has been engaged in a full-court press to mend fences with conservatives over the past few weeks and regain some of the trust lost during the bitter primary fight against radiologist Milton Wolf, whom the senator beat by a closer-than expected margin.
“It all comes back to whether or not there’s an agreement reached. I don’t know if there’s going to be,” said Steve Shute, a city councilman in Gardner, Kan., and Tea Party activist.
“They’ve just done some nasty, ugly, backhanded stuff here and things they shouldn’t be doing, and it’s a frightful despotism,” Rob Wood, another conservative activist engaged in the negotiations, told The Hill.
Shute declined to confirm the parameters of the demands from conservatives, but conversations with members of both wings of the party indicate that they include, but aren’t limited to, Brownback intervening to dismiss the ethics investigation into Wolf.
Conservatives are also demanding Anne Hodgdon, a member of the state organization that launched the investigation — and who conservatives believe not only triggered the investigation but leaked the news of it to the press —be removed from her post and barred from ever working again in any state agency.
Alexandra Jaffe, the reporter from The Hill, effectively covers the lay of the land, as the Kansas Tea Party works to re-assert itself. But while the Kansas Republican party is privately seething over political demands that the Topeka Capital Journal thinks might be illegal:
http://cjonline.com/...
It would be extraordinary -- illegal? -- if a governor undercut the Board of Healing Arts. The board is statutorily responsible for shielding the public from wayward conduct by the state's 20,000-plus health care professionals.
So, who should be the emissary? Enter Tim Huelskamp.
Tim Huelskamp, who has prided himself as refusing to refer to himself as a Republican until recently found himself at odds with his own party - in times alienating them to the point the have to rebel.
http://www.hutchnews.com/...
Four years ago, Tim Huelskamp chose to attend a tea party event in Hutchinson instead of a candidate debate in Salina after staff said they overbooked him.
On the evening of Oct. 7, U.S. Rep. Huelskamp, R-Fowler/Hutchinson, will attend a tea party meeting in Hutchinson and participate in a candidate forum in Salina - with an approximately 60-mile road trip squeezed between appearances.
The Patriot Freedom Alliance's website says Huelskamp is on a meeting program that will start at 6 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center, 1400 N. Lorraine St. He "will comment on current events and analysis of times and politics," the website says.
A few years ago, Huelskamp found tending to the tea party more important than talking to his district, but now, this meeting sets up more of an issue - with the Tea Party in a locked battle that seemingly involves near blackmail, is Tim Huelskamp really the right negotiator for this standoff?
This summer, the PAC Now or Never came out to challenge Huelskamp in the primaries - a primary that most people thought would be a walk turned difficult.
http://www.motherjones.com/...
The ad was paid for by Now or Never PAC, a conservative super-PAC that has spent more than $8 million since 2012 in support of tea party candidates. Huelskamp, who once compared the Obamacare rollout to Hurricane Katrina and proposed impeaching Attorney General Eric Holder over his refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, is the kind of candidate Now or Never PAC would traditionally get behind. Instead, in the week leading up to Tuesday's congressional primary, Now or Never has spent $260,000 hammering Huelskamp—and in the process, propping up his opponent, Alan LaPolice, a little-known Army vet and onetime actor who has lived in the district full-time for only a year.
Huelskamp finds himself battling the Tea Party organization in a way he hasn't faced before - in fact, some of those who were previously considered hardened conservatives have continued to swing at him:
http://www.hutchnews.com/...
A Garden City Republican businessman with energy and agricultural interests was the donor behind the advertising blitz aimed against U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Fowler/Hutchinson.
In the span of 11 days in July, Cecil O’Brate’s companies gave a quarter of a million dollars to the Now or Never political action committee. The PAC placed advertising criticizing Huelskamp’s farm record in the closing days of the primary campaign. Huelskamp won about 55 percent of the vote over Alan LaPolice, R-Clyde.
But maybe, just maybe these hardened conservatives, having lost in the primary would give up chasing Huelskamp.. nope.
http://www.hutchnews.com/...
Cecil O’Brate, a wealthy Garden City businessman, does not agree with Democratic congressional candidate Jim Sherow on every issue, but he is endorsing Sherow over U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp
So, here sits Tim Huelskamp - who now finds himself with powerful forces against him, having promised to "Never Debate Again" locked into at least two debates with Jim Sherow, the Democrat in the district.
So unhappy with Tim Huelskamp, Bob Dole, appearing in Rawlings County had this to say:
When Bob Dole stopped there on his “thank you” tour across the state, they went down and had their picture taken with him “to be friendly”... They are Democrats. Bob Dole said to them, “You know you have an idiot representing you in the first district.” They told him that they were fully aware of it. He said, “Get rid of him.”
This isn't a surprise for many, as Bob Dole took time to pose with LaPolice in the primaries, and his dislike of Huelskamp isn't much of a secret.
With all of this in mind - is Tim Huelskamp the right representative to save Pat Roberts from Tea Partiers who are unhappy? Or does his appearance with the Tea Party groups that are fighting the (R) senate campaign signal a sign that he is onboard with their plan to sabotage Roberts?
No one really knows just yet, but a lot of Republican eyes are watching. What we do know - at least those of us who do this - is that Huelskamp now finds himself in a race in a district that shouldn't be competitive. With conservatives lashing out at him and a fight from his right and left, the latest polling conducted in that district in a head to head shows the two candidates in a DEAD EVEN, within 1 Point. Weeks ago, we felt as though these kind of results were just stunning, but as time has gone on, Huelskamp has failed to really pull up in the district, where major newspapers find themselves wondering if they can tolerate more of the congressman.
What message will Tim take to the Tea Party on Tuesday? I'm imagining that's a question Republicans would love to know.