Washington ? Kansas gave rise to such GOP heavyweights as Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebaum Baker. Kansas voters chose President George W. Bush, 58 percent to Al Gore’s 37 percent. The Kansas delegation to Congress has five Republicans and only one Democrat.

National party leaders rarely worry about such a reliably Republican state. But lately, they’ve been getting involved in a Kansas U.S. House race and making suggestions about the redrawing of Kansas congressional boundaries.

“As close as the margin in both the U.S. House and the Senate are, both parties have their eyes on every state, and Kansas is no exception,” said Kansas Republican Party spokeswoman Kari Austin. “Every single seat is important.”

Not always appreciated

Still, the national GOP presence is not entirely welcome.

The national GOP campaign committee chairman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., was traveling to Overland Park, Kan., this weekend to attend a fund-raiser for Jeff Colyer one of three Republican candidates in the suburban Kansas City, Kan.-area 3rd District. Colyer and two others are seeking to challenge two-term Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore.

Generally, party committees at both national and state levels stay out of primary races, then give money and other support to the nominee. Thus Davis’ visit irked the Kansas Republican Party.

“The concern is that we have a lot of competitive primaries, and we work pretty hard to make sure there’s an even playing field,” Austin said. “We have confidence people will mobilize behind the winner; it’s just something that creates hard feelings.”

One of the other primary candidates, Sprint Corp. executive Bill Grassie, called Davis’ visit “a mistake.”

“I don’t think it will do irreparable harm, but it’s certainly not doing any favors to the district,” Grassie said. “But I certainly understand and appreciate the fact that people in Washington are trying to help us win this race out here.”

The campaign for Colyer, an Overland Park plastic surgeon who ran and lost in the 2000 primary, pointed out in a news release that Davis’ visit comes on the heels of reports that Colyer had raised the most money as of Dec. 31; Colyer had $205,738, which includes a $100,000 bank loan.

Grassie, who has not yet announced his candidacy, had $8,816 cash on hand; pilot Adam Taff announced his candidacy after the filing deadline and had no report on file with the Federal Election Commission.

Moore reported $580,640.

Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Colyer was the only declared candidate when he invited Davis two months ago, and Davis was not going to back out.

“It seemed like it was OK to do at the time,” Forti said. “Ultimately, we’re going to be behind whoever wins the primary.”

It’s not the first time Davis has riled Kansas Republicans. Two years ago, he commented to The Associated Press that then-GOP primary candidate Greg Musil was the best contender. Trouble was, two others were in the race, and one, Republican Phill Kline, became the nominee. Later, the NRCC backed Kline, but Moore defeated him, 50 percent to 47 percent.

In 1998, Moore broke a decades-old grip on the heavily GOP 3rd District, helped in part by bitter Republican Party infighting and the incumbent’s lackluster fund raising.

Eye on restricting

The national Republican committee is also closely watching the redistricting process apparently the White House is too, as legislators have received calls from President Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove. But Kansas Republicans don’t seem to mind involvement in that arena.

“I think they’re interested in every state redistricting process,” Austin said. “It’s important from our perspective so that President Bush has a Congress he can work with.”

With redistricting, too, the 3rd District is at the center of the debate. The job of evening out the population distribution of the four U.S. House districts means that the 3rd, which encompasses the counties of Johnson, Wyandotte, Miami and parts of Douglas, must shed some residents, and Republicans would like to see some Democratic voters moved to other, even more Republican districts.

“Redistricting is a state-driven process,” Forti said. “We can offer advice and suggestions, but ultimately, it’s up to state legislatures to decide. In this case, it’s perfectly plausible to make Dennis Moore’s district slightly more Republican and not have an adverse effect on any of the other congressmen in the state.”