Slattery promises competitive race for U.S. Senate against Roberts / LJWorld.com

Archive for Monday, June 9, 2008

June 9, 2008

In his bid to upset U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Democrat Jim Slattery is promising Kansans the kind of competitive Senate race they haven't seen in more than three decades.

"This is going to be a great year for change," Slattery said last week as he filed to run.

A former six-term congressman from Topeka, who left the state after a failed bid for governor in 1994, Slattery returns to a political scene in Kansas that has improved for Democrats but remains a Republican Party stronghold.

No Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Kansas since 1932, and Roberts has spent more than 40 years in Washington, first as a congressional aide, then a U.S. House member from 1980 to 1996, and since then a senator. He has routinely won re-election by wide margins.

But Kansas State University political science professor Joe Aistrup says Slattery may have a chance. Slattery faces a lessor known candidate, Lee Jones of Overland Park, in the Democratic Party primary in August.

"He (Slattery) is a quality challenger because of his experience in Congress, and the fact that he's run a statewide campaign," Aistrup said.

Washington lobbyist

Slattery, however, is unknown to many voters, Aistrup said. After losing to Bill Graves in the 1994 race for governor, Slattery went to work for the Washington law and lobbying firm of Wiley Rein.

Roberts and the Kansas Republican Party have focused on Slattery's time outside Kansas. The day Slattery announced for office, Roberts released a radio ad that hammered Slattery for being a lobbyist "Gucci loafers and all" and forgetting about Kansas issues.

Aistrup said that was a sound strategy for Roberts. "I anticipate that Roberts will pursue that as long as it works. It's up to Slattery to develop an effective response to that and turn the spotlight back on Roberts," he said.

Slattery says he's proud of the work he did for Wiley Rein. He recently released a list of his clients, which included companies and groups involved in trade disputes.

"I'm happy to take responsibility for the work I've done outside of government. It's time Pat Roberts takes responsibility for his votes the last six years that have brought us record gas prices, a slumping economy, and an unnecessary war," he said.

Intelligence Committee

Slattery has blasted Roberts' allegiance with President Bush on the war in Iraq, especially Roberts' tenure as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee during a period when intelligence that led up to the war was found to be wrong or greatly exaggerated.

"It's just incredible that in 2003 we went into this war based on inaccurate intelligence information and based on assumptions that just defy Kansas common sense," Slattery said.

The charges of intelligence incompetence got another round of airing last week when the now Democratic-controlled Intelligence Committee released a report that stated Bush and other top administration officials frequently made unsubstantiated assertions about Iraq's ties to al-Qaida.

Slattery said Roberts was partly to blame. "Ultimately, Chairman Roberts and the Senate Intelligence Committee failed in their oversight responsibility, both going into the war and in getting to the bottom of what happened in a timely manner."

But Roberts criticized the report and defended his chairmanship of the committee.

The report, he said, "has done nothing to improve our intelligence capabilities, nor has it produced any reforms that may prevent intelligence failures in the future."

While he was chairman, Roberts said, he helped lead bi-partisan efforts to reform the intelligence community.

Aistrup said it's difficult to determine how voters in Kansas will react to Roberts' performance as the chair of the Intelligence Committee.

"The question is whether or not the activities of the Intelligence Committee can be framed in an easy way for voters to understand. That will be Slattery's job," he said.

Economy and gas prices

But Slattery says there are other issues that make Roberts vulnerable, such as the economy and gas prices.

A Rasmussen poll in May showed Roberts ahead 52 percent to 40 percent, which Slattery interpreted as good news for him this early in the campaign.

Aistrup said for Slattery to win, he must win in Johnson County, and by large majorities in Douglas and Wyandotte counties. He must stay close in Sedgwick County and "do well" in the mid-size counties.

Then Kansans may see the kind of race they saw in 1974 when Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and Democrat Bill Roy went after it. Dole won that election by only a few thousand votes in a race that is described by many as a watershed moment in Kansas politics.

Discussion

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9 June 2008
at 10:31 a.m.

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63BC (Anonymous) says…

Roberts is all Kansas–effective, reasonable, in-touch.Putting a lobbyist in the Senate would not constitute change.
9 June 2008
at 10:35 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“Roberts is all Kansaseffective, reasonable, in-touch.”Is that why he helped BushCo lie to the American people about the war?
9 June 2008
at 10:39 a.m.

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zzgoeb (Anonymous) says…

Pat “asleep at the wheel” Roberts…yeah, I'm sure he's never met a lobbyist. “But Roberts criticized the report and defended his chairmanship of the committee. The report, he said, “has done nothing to improve our intelligence capabilities, nor has it produced any reforms that may prevent intelligence failures in the future.”Yeah, that really deals with his malfeasance and non-feasance while “asleep at the wheel”…Let's hope someday can knock this goofball out of the box! Jim has my vote!
9 June 2008
at 1:28 p.m.

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situveux1 (Anonymous) says…

Well, I'm just glad that Slattery released all of his lobbying records…all information that I could have gotten publicly anyway.I'm sure he does have a chance with stories like this being run without any reason what-so-ever. I'd have a chance at public office too if I had the JW and other Kansas media outlets at my back.
9 June 2008
at 1:41 p.m.

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cait48 (Anonymous) says…

If Roberts loses this race it will be because like so many other Republicans he was a lockstep Bush Republican who followed Bush like a lemming off the cliff. While his malfeasance while head of the Intelligence Committee may not have been deliberate it was still malfeasance. He did nothing to stop the Bush/Cheney/Rove juggernaut as it lied its way into the Iraq War and the loss of almost 4000 US troops and untold millions of Iraqi's. Instead of “wiping Al Qaeda” from Iraq, the war opened the door to them. And Pat Roberts is partially at fault for this even if it was by the sin of omission and not commission. Slattery would do well to hammer at this issue.
9 June 2008
at 2:24 p.m.

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BigDog (Anonymous) says…

Slattery in no way released all of his lobbying information. The information he released was quite vague and incomplete. Only partial list of clients and didn't list what activities his lobbying firm performed for each client. You must remember it was not just him …. he was one of the partners in this large Washington lobbying firm.
9 June 2008
at 4:11 p.m.

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jimincountry (Anonymous) says…

Slattery, yes! Obama, no! I wish i could make that happen………..better Slattery for president than Obama!

9 June 2008
at 8:11 p.m.

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jayharchitect (Anonymous) says…

All I know is Slattery is a good ol' boy from rural Kansas. My father knew him well. He says he will vote for him, and he is a republican.
9 June 2008
at 9 p.m.

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doubledogleg (Anonymous) says…

my father knew Slattery very well too, and I always remember him talking about Jim's inflated view of himself. It all makes sense now….