Topeka ? Last week, Boeing Co. won a second chance to bid on a $35 billion Air Force refueling tanker contract, but Democrat Jim Slattery is hoping U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., doesn’t get a second chance on the issue.

The Air Force originally awarded the contract to a team that included Boeing’s rival Airbus, based in France. That initial award would have meant Kansas wouldn’t have gotten thousands of high-paying jobs at the Boeing plant in Wichita for the final assembly and testing of the planes.

But federal officials determined that there were problems with the award process, and have ordered a rebid.

Slattery, who wants to face Roberts in the November general election, blames Roberts for the fact that the Air Force initially awarded the project to a team that included a foreign competitor of Boeing’s.

In 2005, the House approved a so-called “Buy American” provision in a Defense Department authorization bill.

But President Bush and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce didn’t want that provision in there, claiming it was “protectionist” and would decrease competition and possibly increase costs, according to reports.

Roberts, who served on committees that considered the legislation, did nothing to defend the provision, Slattery said.

“Roberts had two chances to fight for Boeing and Kansas,” Slattery said. “First as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and then as a member of the conference committee. On both occasions, Roberts failed to fight for the inclusion of the ‘Buy American’ provisions.”

Roberts has a television ad claiming support for Boeing, but Slattery says the Republican is trying to whitewash his political miscalculations.

“Election-year advertisements will not cover up the fact that when Pat Roberts had the chance to ensure the contract was awarded to an American company, he did not act,” he said.

Roberts’ spokeswoman Sarah Little said the “Buy American” provision was stripped in conference because Bush threatened to veto the entire bill over the language. She added that then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., also opposed it.

But Roberts’ campaign refused to respond to specific questions about Roberts’ handling of the “Buy American” provision when it was removed on his watch.

Instead, the campaign pointed toward recent editorials praising Roberts for his criticism of the Air Force bidding process after Airbus was selected.

Meanwhile, the reopened bidding will mean the new generation of air refueling planes will fail to be put into service by the original planned date of 2013, military officials say. Military planners say the sooner the present fleet of aging tankers is replaced the better, because the refuelers are critical to allow bombers and fighters to operate over great distances.

The contract is to replace 179 refueling planes, but eventually, the deal could be worth $100 billion to replace nearly 600 tankers over 30 years.