Dick Kelsey spent some more of his own hard earned dollars to showcase some of his top brass supporters for his bid for Congress in KS-04. Last week, Kelsey posted this radio spot featuring Kansas GOP Presidential caucus winner Gov. Mike Huckabee in a strong endorsement.
(Script of Huckabee Spot after the jump.)
"Hi, I'm Mike Huckabee. Our country is going through some extraordinary challenges right now. Out of control spending and debt, high unemployment, excessive taxation, regulation and litigation, government run healthcare! Washington politicians just don't get it.
But in Kansas, there is a conservative leader and he's ready to go clean up the mess in Washington: Senator Dick Kelsey. Senator Kelsey didn't tell me he is conservative; his record did. Dick Kelsey is a successful businessman with a proven conservative voting record in the Kansas Senate. Dick Kelsey is for smaller government, allowing businesses and entrepreneurs to create jobs and grow the economy. Dick Kelsey has not only voted to protect life, marriage and second amendment rights, he's led the fight for faith, family and freedom. Dick Kelsey will represent Kansas values in Washington, something Congress could use a lot more of.
Join me in supporting my friend Senator Dick Kelsey, Republican for Congress. Learn more at dickkelsey dot com."
Kelsey earlier this year loaned his campaign more than $220,000, getting himself named one of Congressional Quarterly's ten non-incumbents for Congress who topped $100,000 in the last fundraising quarter. The strategy: while the rest of the Republicans for the KS-04 Congressional seat are engaged in a heavy fundraising battle, Kelsey would run a name ID campaign. Funny thing? The strategy appears to be working, or at least according to most in KS-04.
Kelsey began this summer running full page Wichita Eagle advertisements. Recently Kelsey cut a decent TV ad that serves the point of increasing his visibility with Republican voters. And, now, this Huckabee radio spot. While Huckabee announced his support for Kelsey early in March of this year, this radio spot is a strong endorsement of Kelsey. At a minute long, it'll also prove to be an expensive bit to run. No clue how much this thing will cost the Kelsey campaign, but FEC reports are due within the week, so we'll soon know. Whatever the cost, the spot is a real feather in Dick Kelsey's cap in his bid for the KS-04 seat in Congress and must be worth some damage to his GOP challengers for the seat.
Those challengers have been relatively mum over the summer. Kansas GOP National Committeeman Mike Pompeo, Wichita State Senator Jean Schodorf and oilman Wink Hartman are the real challengers for the seat, and until recently, it was anybody's ballgame. Pompeo, who announced in April of this year, had only one piece of real news over the summer: the June endorsement by mother-son duo, Wichita City Councilwoman Sue Schlapp and 2000 recount rioter (Rioter #6) Matt Schlapp. Jean Schodorf, who officially announced in late-August, but has been on a "Listening Tour" since late July 2009, must represent some fundraising threat as a three-term state senator and sister to media mogul Bill Kurtis. The Schodorf campaign, however, has been silent, except for the occasional communication from her Twitter account. And, finally, Wink Hartman, who only announced his candidacy for the seat mid-September, has had no official news, except that he's running.
It appears that each of these candidates is engaged in a behind-the-scenes fundraising battle for the KS-04 Congressional seat, playing into Kelsey's plan: to engage in an early name ID campaign while other candidates stayed focused on fundraising. The Kelsey plan is not without risk: it relies on the name ID campaign not only driving the Kelsey name with Republican voters in KS-04 but also the Kelsey fundraising campaign. To be sure, campaign donors like seeing their money put to use in a tangible way for campaigns--especially in TV and radio. However, if the name ID campaign fails to also drive the fundraising, Kelsey could be in the difficult position of loaning significant cash to his campaign, again. While risky, the name ID portion of the plan appears to be paying off and we'll know by week's end the results of the fundraising portion of the plan.
The impression from several Wichitans has been that Dick Kelsey is making an impact. To date, he has been the only one on the airwaves and in print and has notably increased his name ID within the district. And each time Kelsey gets on the airwaves unanswered by his GOP challengers, his name ID is impacted to the detriment of the challengers. While he may have been an unlikely contender for the seat early in the KS-04 race, Dick Kelsey has set himself as the frontrunner in the GOP campaign. If the GOP challengers want to salvage their viability, they may try showing up to the game before the bottom of the ninth.
The GOP challenger who wins the August 2010 primary for the KS-04 seat in Congress will face either Kansas Representative Raj Goyle or Robert Tillman, both Democrats.