State Sen. David Adkins is Republicans’ best choice for the attorney general’s job.

The race for the Republican nomination for attorney general hasn’t been particularly pretty. The contentious exchanges between the two Johnson County candidates  state Sen. David Adkins and former state Rep. Phill Kline  led their opponent, Charles McAtee, to contend recently that he was the only candidate in the race who didn’t “need adult supervision.”

It’s been a rough-and-tumble campaign marked by the kind of semantic arguments attorneys often engage in. Neither Adkins nor Kline has conducted himself in a manner that reflects credit on his campaign or the office he seeks. Based on campaign deportment, McAtee might seem the best suited for the job, but Adkins, considering his record of government service, his moderate philosophy and his ability to win, appears to be the Republicans’ best choice for the nomination.

The World Company Poll shows this is a close race with Kline having a lead of 4 percentage points over Adkins in a poll with a margin of error of 5 percentage points. With 30 percent support from likely Republican voters for Kline, 26 percent for Adkins and just 6 percent for McAtee, that leaves a whopping 38 percent of voters undecided.

There are many similarities between the two front-runners. Both earned undergraduate degrees in political science and graduated from the Kansas University law school; both have practiced law, but neither has experience as a prosecutor. Both have served in the Kansas Legislature; both would like to use a successful race for attorney general as a stepping stone to the governorship.

What separates Adkins is his record of strong leadership including a stint as student body president at KU. He was elected to the Kansas House in 1992 and chaired a special committee that helped build consensus for the Higher Education Coordination Act, which united the state’s post-secondary schools under the Kansas Board of Regents. After being elected to the Kansas Senate in 2000, he chaired the joint committee on redistricting for the past year. He is an engaging speaker and an well-motivated legislator who listens and knows how to compromise.

Adkins exhibits the intelligence and integrity that Kansans should be seeking in every state officeholder. The support he has from mainstream Kansas Republicans, including Gov. Bill Graves, is well deserved. Adkins would be a strong candidate in November and would serve the state well as attorney general.