Candidates, political party officials and legions of volunteers campaigned frantically Monday in the final moments of an election featuring close races up and down the ballot.

“We’re coming down to the wire,” said Kari Austin, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party. “We’re getting our vote out.”

Democrats also were rousing the party faithful.

“We’re making phone calls to Democrats, asking them if they need a ride to the polls,” said Tom Sawyer, chairman of the Kansas Democratic Party. “This is still a very Republican state, but this could be a good year for us.”

Kansas voters will choose a U.S. senator, four U.S. House members, a governor, attorney general, insurance commissioner, treasurer and secretary of state. In addition, all 125 state House seats are up for grabs. So are three regional state school board positions.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., faces third-party opposition, while the races for governor, attorney general, insurance commissioner and treasurer are for open seats. And representatives of the 2nd and 3rd U.S. House districts, which both run through Lawrence, are being decided.

With control of the levers of political power at stake, Republicans and Democrats have been focused on collecting thousands of advance voter ballots and working phone banks to remind voters of the election.

Record advance vote

“All across the state, people are working hard to get those ballots in,” said Nicole Corcoran-Basso, a spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Sebelius.

No final tally had been made on the number of advance ballots sent, but officials said it appeared to be a record number.

“Everything we’ve heard is that advance voting is heavier than usual,” said Brad Bryant, deputy assistant secretary of state.

From Left, Lauri Smith, Lecompton, Sheri Lee, Topeka, and Aprill Smith, 11, Lecompton, get in some last-minute campaigning. They waved signs for GOP congressional candidate Adam Taff on Monday at 23rd and Iowa streets.

In 2000, there were 182,000 advance ballots cast. Overall, state officials predicted about half of the state’s 1.6 million registered voters would vote in the 2002 general election.

To persuade voters to visit the polls, candidates Monday hit the road for one final full day of campaigning.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Shallenburger traveled through western Kansas before returning to Topeka for Election Day.

Sebelius shook hands with workers at the General Motors Fairfax Plant in Kansas City, Kan., and went door-to-door in Johnson and Wyandotte county neighborhoods.

Recent polls showed Sebelius’ large summertime lead had evaporated to single digits with momentum swinging to Shallenburger.

“It will be a big upset if Tim wins from a lot of people’s perspective. But we feel good about the way it is turning,” the GOP’s Austin said.

Abortion issue

The Shallenburger camp received a boost from first lady Laura Bush, who recorded a telephone message on behalf of his campaign that reached 200,000 households. A recorded message by President Bush also was being relayed to Republican households across the state.

Most of the governor’s race had been a debate about the budget, public schools and economic development. But in the finals days of the campaign, anti-abortion groups issued a flurry of anti-Sebelius campaign literature and ads. Sebelius is in favor of a woman’s right to an abortion, while Shallenburger supports further restrictions on abortion.

Officials with Kansans for Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion group, mailed 120,000 newsletters in support of Shallenburger. The group also is running commercials for the Republican candidate on Christian radio stations across Kansas.

Similar anti-Sebelius campaigns are being waged by the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women of America and Traditional Values Coalition. Also, the state’s four Catholic dioceses’ newspapers recently sent their 100,000 readers copies of a voters guide compiled by the Kansas Catholic Conference.

Shallenburger responded to the conference’s 19-question survey; Sebelius did not.

Sebelius, who is Catholic, recently sent letters to voters, noting “I am not pro-abortion. I will not, and never have, promoted abortion. I feel about abortion just like you do, and I have worked all my adult life to make sure that there are viable alternatives to abortion.”

She said the only difference between herself and Shallenburger on whether a woman should be able to get an abortion was that “I will not make that decision for all women in Kansas.

“I am concerned that Tim Shallenburger is using that one difference between you and me to separate us on everything else. I beg you not to let that happen,” she wrote.

Mary Kay Culp, state executive director of Kansans for Life, said the letter infuriated the group’s members.

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“That letter really set things off,” Culp said.

Culp said her office had been flooded with calls from church groups wanting information on the candidates.

“Even with all the information that has already gone out, we were getting calls from people who on their own were going to send letters to everybody on their church roster, and a lot of people pooled their money and took out ads in their local papers,” she said.

Abortion also could be a deciding factor in a close attorney general’s race, according to recent polls. In those tallies, Republican Phill Kline held a small edge over Democrat Chris Biggs. Kline opposes abortion, while Biggs is pro-choice.

Lawrence also is the focus of one of the most closely watched congressional races in the nation. U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat, faces a strong challenge from Republican Adam Taff, a former Navy pilot and political newcomer, for the district that includes east Lawrence.

Fieldhouse campaigning

On Monday, Taff and Moore shook hands with prospective voters before the basketball game between Kansas University and EA Sports All-Stars at Allen Fieldhouse.

Taff campaign spokesman Scott Holeman said Taff likely would spend much of today encouraging voters to go to the polls.

“He’ll try to be visible,” Holeman said. “He’ll participate in some of the ‘sign waves’ that’ll be going on around the district, and then he’ll be on the phone calling key supporters.”

Holeman said the campaign’s final two weeks had gone “really well. The energy is high and we had a really great weekend.”

Also, U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert’s chief of staff and two of Hastert’s aides spent most of Monday making fund-raising calls on Taff’s behalf.

Moore, too, will be calling supporters and making personal appearances today.

“We’ll be doing a variety of things to encourage people to be sure to vote,” said Moore spokesman Jack Martin.

Martin said Moore’s camp planned to remind Democrats who had not yet turned in advance ballots to take them to their county’s election office before 7 p.m. today. In Douglas County the county clerk’s office is in the courthouse at 11th and Massachusetts streets.

Moore plans to visit several restaurants in the downtown Kansas City, Kan., area today.

“This campaign is about Dennis’ record,” Martin said. “The people of the 3rd District know him, and they know what he’s done for them in Congress. He’s not relying on big names from Washington.”

Other races

In other races, state Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, faces state House Democratic Leader Jim Garner of Coffeyville in the run for Kansas insurance commissioner.

Garner had criticized Praeger for taking thousands of dollars from insurance companies that she will regulate, but Praeger insisted the donations wouldn’t affect her decisions as a commissioner. The current commissioner is Sebelius, who had refused insurance industry contributions during her eight years in charge of the insurance department.

In the treasurer’s race, state Sen. Lynn Jenkins, R-Topeka, faces Democrat Sally Finney, who is executive director of a health advocacy group and daughter of former Democratic governor Joan Finney. The current treasurer is Shallenburger.

Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh, a Republican, is seeking re-election to a third term against state Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City.