1. Roberts' unintimidating approval numbers
   
2. Roberts oversaw intelligence scandals
   
3. Kansas is growing more Dem-friendly
   
4. National GOP & NRSC will have their hands full elsewhere to give KS any Senate support
   
5. The KS-GOP is in major turmoil

roberts looks hideous - Slats still looks youthful and quite handsome - he could run circles around Roberts and really energize young people in the state who will be coming out to vote for President - which again - helps down ticket too

Remember, though, that 1994 was as bad a year for Democrats as there has been in the last two decades, and 2008 is not shaping up to be such a cycle for the party (perhaps looking more like 1980 for the Republicans).

Bill Graves was a liberal Republican who won a lot of Democratic crossover votes.  He held the entire Republican base, too, even though the wingnuts hated him with a fiery passion.

Pat Roberts won't have those advantages over Slattery.

It's worth noting that right now we have 0 challengers to Roberts.  Like him or not, Slattery is a start in the right direction.  (Having a candidate, that is - Let alone one with legislative experience to branch his campaign off of).  

What offices were the other statewide candidates running for? I know that Sebelius won the post of Insurance Commisioner, but what office did Sally Thompson win?

As for Slattery, I recall reading that he was doing well up until the last few weeks of the campaign, but Graves hit upon Kansan's dislike of Clinton and helped drive Slattery into the ground. Earlier in the campaign, Jim was doing quite well: he won a three-candidate primary with 53% while Graves won 41% in a four-candidate field.

He's got enough money.  I think he hit big in real estate or something?  I didn't readd the whole thing.  I'm assuming he has a home in Kansas.  

All the Constitution requires on that front is that "when elected", he "be an inhabitant of that state."

Hopefully, Slattery will get us better than nowhere.

Slattery served in the House from 1983-1995. So, he was elected in 1982 and then reelected five times. He did not lose the House race in 1994 as he instead ran for Governor that year. (Wikipedia)

Actually winning would be wonderful, of course, but the staying-in-the-real-world goal is simply making Kansas a real two-party state.

Yes!  That's exactly the point.  The money spent defending Roberts is money the Repubs don't have to spend elsewhere.

Of course, we also don't know that Roberts won't have something come up between now and Nov. 2008 that causes him to be damaged goods.

I met Slattery a couple of weeks ago. He talked about "poll numbers" showing that Kansans are against the war, and, how Roberts screwed up intelligence before the war. Slattery is slow to climb aboard any issues that relate to his own convictions. IN fact, we wonder if he has convictions...

However, here's the problem. Jerry Moran (GOP Congressman from KS-01) is actually the person that Slattery will probably run against.

Insiders say that Roberts will announce that he is not seeking re-election in early 2008. Then, Jerry Moran, who has been chomping at the bit, will announce his candidacy for Roberts seat.

The problem for Slattery is that while Jerry Moran has an extremely conservative voting record, he has managed, like Teflon, to not have any of it stick to him - AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY, Jerry Moran travels back to Kansas EVERY weekend and has done this consistently for 10 years.

On the reverse, Slattery has not lived in Kansas for 15 years.

Now, most of us are highly critical of Moran's traveling back to Kansas every weekend because it's costly - and, his lack of presence in Washington has meant that he has not grown close to decision makers. Even after 10 years in Congress, Moran is still not a power player and has minimal influence among his colleagues of any party. So, many of us see Moran's return to Kansas each weekend to campaign as a fault.

However, voters are likely to see this differently. They are likely to see Moran as a home boy and Slattery as a lobbyist (which he is) from Washington. Slattery could lose the race on that alone.

yes...it would help as a dry run for Kathleen (Sebelius).  Although she has already been elected to statewide office four times.

As far as Hillary goes, I think she would hurt all down-ballot races because democratic turnout for her will be low in Kansas and will increase Republican turnout.  You are correct that Slattery on the ballot might help boost democratic turnout- but only if people think he can win.  It will be hard to convince people of that.

I have never heard of anyone in Kansas referring to him as "Slats"- but you learn something new everyday.