I sometimes wonder if we see the same debate as others. Today, in Hutchinson, Pat Roberts put on a feisty and attack prone case that I think will be remembered by many in the same sense of Gore in 2000 - one where the home audience enjoys for a short while, but the lasting stigma is simply not very good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) didn't debate just Greg Orman, his independent challenger, on Saturday. He debated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid by relentlessly portraying Orman as beholden to the Nevada Democrat's record and agenda in the U.S. Senate.
While Huffington Post notes that he roped in Harry Reid, that would be an understatement. Roberts went so deep into the debate where every single response mentioned Harry Reid that at a certain point Greg Orman found himself saying outloud: "I think you forgot to mention Harry Reid that time."
Somehow, I found this shirt - a slogan for the state fair, seemed to sum up a debate where the Republican said "Farmers don't care about water" in reference to farming Milo.
The debate was aggressive - and showed a Pat Roberts that ran contrary to the media storyline of a man who was too old to aptly fulfill the role.
At the same time, Roberts combative nature often went too far - as Roberts elevated his voice, yelling at the audience 'damnit, listen'. The argument suddenly had very little to do with Roberts, but rather a plea that he was ineffective simply because Harry Reid and Obama had made him so.
The refrain of Harry Reid became so frequent, so open that audience members began yelling out "Harry Reid", at one time flustering the senator.
Roberts found himself making several unusual claims:
"I am the father of crop insurance" (despite his recent vote against)
"I am the father of NBAF" (despite his recent vote against, http://www.pitch.com/...)
Roberts proclaimed "Harry Reid is a one man rules committee" and proclaimed 'he's stopping Republicans', continuing to hammer home to the audience not only the partisan divide but the reasoning for his lack of success on policy issues.
Roberts moved to say that "don't worry about social security, we can't do anything about it.. Harry Reid will stop that real quick". In fact, there were seldom questions that were answered with anything except for Harry Reid.
Harry Reid wasn't the only Democrat to take a few blows - "I have a message for Claire McCaskill.. we have had a lot of people from Missouri come across the border, think of Quantrill and stay on your side of the border." The reference to the pre-civil happening is oft trotted out in the border war between the Kansas / Missouri schools, but not so often used as a political attack against specific individuals.
What became clear after a short while was that Roberts wasn't at the debate to argue with Greg Orman, who often agreed with policy stances - no, he was at the debate to argue with President Obama and Harry Reid, and to let the audience know he'd do anything possible to stop them at all cost.
While there were real disagreements voiced - Pat Roberts expressing why he felt Citizens United was rightly decided and Orman expressing the opposite, often it was Pat Roberts hammering home his points in an aggressive stance that teetered on.. weird.
Roberts asserted that Obama is a "failure" and he will stand in stark opposition to Obamacare (ACA) vowing to work to overturn the legislation.
Roberts found himself repeatedly yelling at the audience "You can yell all you want, but that's the truth." "Congress can't do a damn thing". While playing up the idea that this ineffectual nature is 'how things work', and the fact that little is getting done is the sole responsibility of the President and elected Democrats of other state, something Kansans have no control over.
It is interesting to hear a sitting Senator, no matter the circumstances, campaign on the idea that if elected, he "Can't do a damn thing" without cards outside of the state breaking his way, as after all, you'd require a lot more races then just Kansas if that is his main concern.
http://bigstory.ap.org/...
Challenger Greg Orman got in his digs, too, during the event at the Kansas State Fair, poking fun at Roberts for repeatedly invoking Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's name in his answers and saying, "What I haven't heard from you is, 'Solve problems.'"
The debate, full of zingers saw Roberts lay out his roadmap for the rest of the campaign - a turn to the very hard right, to bring back into line Milton Wolf tea party voters, with vows of opposition to medicare, food stamps as well as claims he'll fight Obama at all levels. This attitude led to the response above.
Those present often had a very different interpretation of events, Roberts came across in person as somewhat bitter, combative - and often over the top. The repeated yelling, occasional cursing, and decries that a Senator could get nothing done in DC didn't help him portray the message that if elected, he would be of great service to Kansas, merely that he would be another person who would work to attack Harry Reid.
Is this performance enough to win back tea party voters? It might help - he could always mention Obama and Harry Reid more often, and I expect he will, but Roberts bright lines also established a new style of politic in this Kansas race that will force a lot of Republicans either to their right to join Roberts or find themselves at conflict with this new rage against DC tone - an odd one to take for a life long insider.
Watch for yourself. My gut tells me the yells from the audience to remind Pat Roberts that he repeatedly ran over the debate host "TIME" signify what is really being burned here in Kansas this weekend.
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At 7:42 into part 2, Roberts launches into another tirade of 'nothing gets done in the senate'. This is a difficult case for a senator when your opponent has as his whole case bipartisanship.
Watch for yourself. For die those who want to see Roberts run to the right - this is definitely it. The question is, will this dash to the right be enough to shore up those who were unhappy? Will the new, combative Roberts be the tonic he needs for his campaign?
We're about to find out.
4:59 PM PT: Please note: I've also uploaded full video and commentary of the governor's debate here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
6:24 PM PT: Fact Check
At one point in the debate, Pat Roberts declares:
"I haven't received any outside money from interest groups"
Point of fact:
Top 5 Contributors, 2009 - 2014, Campaign Cmte
Contributor Total Indivs PACs
Burns & McDonnell $98,000 $90,000 $8,000
Koch Industries $48,450 $38,450 $10,000
Votesane PAC $42,500 $42,500 $0
Blackstone Group $41,800 $40,300 $1,500
Novogradac & Co $32,850 $32,850 $0
And
Top 5 Industries, 2009 - 2014, Campaign Cmte
Industry Total Indivs PACs
Leadership PACs $321,000 $0 $321,000
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $250,649 $50,750 $199,899
Oil & Gas $240,550 $116,850 $123,700
Securities & Investment $233,850 $125,350 $108,500
Agricultural Services/Products $212,717 $26,750 $185,967
Uh.. yeah.
Sun Sep 07, 2014 at 12:46 PM PT: This is another view, where someone was outside of the 'media area' and frankly since the media area was parked behind Brownback's people, it's a ncie view.