After the fourth attorney general debate in a 24-hour period recently, Republican candidate Phill Kline joked that he and the Democratic candidate Chris Biggs should car pool.

That would be an interesting ride  probably ending in a rollover as the two fought over who got to steer.

Both candidates and their campaigns are in full attack mode as the Nov. 5 election nears. But despite all the differences between Kline and Biggs  and there are many  there are some strong similarities. Each is headstrong, driven, hard-working and somewhat scrappy.

Biggs, 43, of Junction City has been the chief prosecutor for the past 14 years of Geary County, one of the most diverse areas in Kansas. The county is home to Fort Riley. It has a massive transient population and more than its share of crime.

On the campaign stump, Biggs brags he has helped put 800 people in prison, prosecuted thousands of cases, and efficiently managed a staff of attorneys while also spending an average of four hours a day in the courtroom.

His legal credentials are impressive. He has successfully prosecuted cases that have gained national recognition and was named Kansas prosecutor of the year in 1998.

“I think it’s time you have a prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office. I feel like I have the total package,” Biggs said.

When talking about the law, Biggs is careful and precise. He exudes professionalism and determination, though he sometimes appears uneasy in the spotlight of campaigning, saying that politics “is a little bit distasteful at times.”

As a sideline, however, he is a first-rate banjo player accustomed to playing music before crowds.

Kline, 42, of Shawnee produces radio programs on Kansas history and is host of a radio talk show.

He is also a lawyer, but his claim to fame is his stint as a state representative in the Legislature, from 1992 to 2000, where he was a leader of the conservative Republicans, heading the charge on record tax cuts, anti-abortion legislation and other conservative causes.

Kline says that his legislative experience would help him, if elected, to be a more effective attorney general.

“I have written many of the laws I will be enforcing,” he said.

Kline is an accomplished public speaker and campaigner who obviously enjoys working a room. He seems equally at ease talking to three or 300 people. But his socially conservative beliefs and his allegiance to them have made him a political lightning rod, especially in the wars between conservative and moderate Republicans. People in Kansas politics tend to strongly like or dislike him. There is not much in between.

Both Biggs and Kline grew up in middle-class homes.

Kline was one of five children of a single mother, who ran a small business in the Kansas City area. Kline said a dinner of Salisbury steak was “high falutin.'”

Kline was athletic, running track and wrestling through school, and became interested in law as a teenager to help his mother deal with some legal issues.

He lives in the same house he was raised in and said he wanted to keep the state safe, as it was when he was a child, for his 10-year-old daughter, Hillary.

Biggs was the youngest of five children, and grew up in Manhattan. Both parents worked and Biggs remembers a childhood within a warm, loving family where people talked about making the world a better place. He went to Kansas State University and graduated with honors with a degree in social work before going to law school. He recently married and has an infant son.

Abortion and education

One of the major issues in the attorney general’s race is abortion. In Kansas, a woman can get a late-term abortion if her mental health would be in danger, according to an interpretation of state law by Gov. Bill Graves and the current attorney general, Carla Stovall, both of whom are pro-choice Republicans who have often fought with Kline.

Graves and Stovall have said that federal law requires a mental health exception for the late-term law to be constitutional. Stovall is not seeking re-election.

Biggs has said he is personally opposed to abortion but agrees with that interpretation of Kansas law.

Kline does not agree with that interpretation and says that the mental health exception has been used by Dr. George Tiller of Wichita to perform illegal abortions.

Abortion rights advocates have said they fear that if Kline is attorney general he will actively pursue legal action against Tiller .

Kline has said, “I will enforce the law and make sure the law is complied with.” He has said Tiller has made “a mockery” of Kansas abortion law.

On another abortion-related issue, the Kansas House has passed a resolution requiring the next attorney general to start legal action that declares that abortion is unconstitutional because life starts at conception.

Biggs has expressed doubts about whether lawmakers can direct the attorney general to initiate such legal action, while Kline has been receptive to the idea.

Schools

On school finance, Kline has defended as constitutional a recent decision by Johnson County voters to increase the local sales tax for schools and has criticized Biggs for not saying whether he believes so, too. Biggs has said the critical issue in school finance is the constitutional requirement that directs the Legislature to support public schools.

Biggs says that Kline is being an opportunist on the education issue, trying to tap into pro-education sentiment despite Kline’s “atrocious” record in supporting public schools as a legislator.

“He’s trying to be captain of a ship he has been trying to sink,” Biggs said.

Biggs has been endorsed by Kansas Families United for Public Education, a Johnson County group that is working to increase school funding.

Cows on the road

Both are supportive of tougher penalties for certain crimes, complaining that fiscal considerations are often at the root of sentencing guidelines. Kline won a hard-hitting Republican Primary by pounding his opponent, state Sen. David Adkins of Leawood, over sentencing changes supported by Adkins that Kline said led to the release of violent criminals.

Biggs has called for more consistency in the criminal sentencing laws, noting that a person could be caught stealing cars 10 times and get probation while a first-time offense for joyriding carries a 30-day jail sentence.

Biggs also has emphasized the need for more drug and alcohol treatment and programs requiring victim restitution. This is needed to make people more responsible for their actions, he said.

“We’re spending all our time getting cows off the road. It’s time to mend the fence,” Biggs said.

Kline says his experience in the Legislature would help him form coalitions among lawmakers that would be needed to rewrite some of the state’s criminal laws.

But Biggs has said Kline was a divisive legislator who is generally disliked and distrusted by moderate Republicans. Biggs said his hands-on experience with the criminal justice system makes him better qualified to help rewrite criminal laws.

The baggage

And Biggs points to the fact that Kline has allowed his law license to lapse three times.

“If you take driving seriously, you keep your driver’s license. If you take lawyering seriously, you keep your law license,” he said.

Kline has downplayed the lapses, saying they occurred because he was busy pursuing business or legislative duties.

Biggs has also said that Kline simply wants to become attorney general as a stepping stone for higher office.

“I don’t have a political agenda. I’m a prosecutor, not a politician,” Biggs said.

In 1986, Kline ran for Congress and lost. Kline was elected to the Legislature in 1992 and later went to work for Biocore Inc., a Topeka medical products company. In 1997, allegations surfaced that Kline, then-House Speaker Tim Shallenburger, who is now running for governor, and state Rep. Greg Packer, R-Topeka, acted improperly by helping Biocore obtain state economic development funds. Atty. Gen. Stovall investigated and later announced there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Kline retired from the Legislature in 2000 to run against U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat, and lost. He was later fined $8,100 for failing to report campaign contributions in the closing days of that campaign.

Last year, Kline was nominated to be U.S. attorney but dropped out amid reports that the White House had questioned his qualifications. Later the Bush administration said through a spokesman, “We were pleased Phill Kline’s name was one of three names. We respect his decision to withdraw his name to run for attorney general.”

Biggs has said Kline should release the FBI background check on him that was done while he was a nominee for the U.S. attorney job. But Kline has said, “I can’t get it. I don’t have it.”

Kline has said that speculation about what is in the report are smear tactics.

In recent days, Kline has criticized Biggs for testifying last year on behalf of a convicted sex offender. Biggs has said he testified in the case because the man was a friend. The case involved a man who was 20-years-old having sexual relations with a girl between 14- and 16-years-old, according to authorities. Biggs said he testified that the man was socially and emotionally immature, which can be considered during the sentencing phase in such cases. The man was sentenced to three years in prison in the case.