Topeka ? At least a few Republicans are trying to put a good face on a tight attorney general’s race that GOP nominee Phill Kline once seemed likely to win handily.

They suggested that Democrats bungled, blowing a race they should have won by putting too many resources into Kathleen Sebelius’ successful gubernatorial campaign, leaving attorney general candidate Chris Biggs short of crucial help. That analysis contains some truth, bolstered, of course, by hindsight.

However, it also ignores the real sense that the race was Kline’s to lose and, with final unofficial results in, he led by fewer than 3,500 votes out of more than 809,000 cast. In September, and even mid-October, he seemed like a sure bet.

A more likely explanation for the narrowness is that Kline almost couldn’t overcome the questions about his legal qualifications raised by opponents during a year’s worth of campaigning.

Kline also nearly failed to overcome the heavy political baggage he’d accumulated in his years as a member of the Kansas House, having alienated some of his fellow Republicans who disagreed with him on tax, budget and social policy issues.

“Mr. Kline’s credentials were not the strongest that a candidate could put forward,” said James Sheffield, chairman of Wichita State University’s political science department. “He also had a reputation from his legislative service to deal with.”

Surprisingly close

Few political scientists or party activists had counted on the attorney general’s race being so close, even though Biggs seemed to be gaining ground in the final days.

The final media poll, published by the Lawrence Journal-World, had Kline ahead of Biggs, 44 percent to 37 percent. But the survey of 625 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, also showed 19 percent of the respondents undecided.

“Still, that should have been a cake walk,” said Joe Aistrup, chairman of the political science department at Kansas State University.

Kline began the race with the GOP’s advantage in voter registration and was able to raise more money from late July through late October, $335,000 to Biggs’ $138,000.

Kline noted that Biggs appeared to have substantial resources after the last campaign finance reports were filed, enough to buy large amounts of radio and television advertising.

¢ More election stories and results

License to criticize

That advertising continued what had been Biggs’ chief line of attack on Kline, that the Republican didn’t have strong enough legal credentials to be attorney general.

The Bush administration considered Kline last year for U.S. attorney for Kansas, but Kline withdrew his name to run for attorney general.

During the primary race, Kline’s critics suggested he was forced to withdraw over some undisclosed problem. Biggs didn’t give up on that line despite a late-July statement from the White House that it had been pleased to receive Kline’s name in nomination.

Biggs, the Geary County prosecutor since 1988, made lapses in Kline’s law license even a bigger issue.

Kline has said he let his law license lapse briefly in 1994 by mistake; it lapsed again for eight months in 1996-97 and 17 months in 1999-2001 when Kline pursued other ventures, including an unsuccessful 2000 run in the 3rd congressional District.

No disciplinary action was involved, but Biggs and other Democrats said it showed Kline wasn’t much interested in having an active license until the possibility of an appointment as a federal prosecutor arose.

Kline disputes their criticism. He noted that Kansas laws fill 14 books and added, “My experience is in every one of those volumes.”

Yet it seems likely that other Republicans who shared Kline’s passion for lower taxes and smaller government and his strong opposition to abortion would have had stronger credentials. One who comes to mind immediately is state Rep. Tony Powell of Wichita, who won a district judgeship in Sedgwick County this year.

Aistrup said “it’s very much questions about Kline’s qualifications” that helped keep the margin so narrow.

Republican split

There was, of course, another factor, the infighting within the Republican Party.

Kline served in the House in 1993-2000. During the mid-1990s, when the state was flush with money and legislators were eager to cut taxes, Kline was chairman of the House Taxation Committee and pushed for larger cuts than GOP Gov. Bill Graves.

Later, in five months in 1999 as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Kline criticized Graves’ proposed budget, then worked with Democrats, over the objection of some GOP leaders, to fashion alternatives. He lost the chairmanship as a result.

He and Atty. Gen. Carla Stovall also were political enemies within the same party.

Late in his primary race, she criticized him, and a letter to U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft opposing Kline’s appointment as U.S. attorney for Kansas became the basis for a Biggs newspaper ad the weekend before the general election.

Kline critics within the Republican Party sometimes portray him as a right-wing zealot and demagogue; his supporters sometimes describe GOP critics as part of a fat and corrupt country club set.

The important point is the conflict was real and sometimes intense.

“Boy, did he pay a price for that,” Aistrup said of Kline. “The Republicans are their own worst enemies, frankly.”