Roberts raking in last-minute donations as money for Wolf dries up

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts has continued to receive big contributions from political action committees and individuals in the final days leading up to the Aug. 5 primary, while contributions to Tea Party challenger Milton Wolf appear to be drying up.

The Federal Election Commission requires candidates for federal offices to file reports within 48 hours of receiving a donation of $1,000 or more in the final 20 days leading up to a primary or general election. Federal candidates in Kansas had to begin filing those July 17.

Since then, those reports show Roberts has taken in $154,156.96 for his re-election bid, compared with only $7,200 for Wolf.

Most of Roberts’ late contributions came from PACs including the National Republican Senate Committee, a leadership PAC that is chaired this year by fellow Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran. That committee gave Roberts $45,400 on July 24, the maximum allowed from such a committee under federal contribution limits.

Of the remaining contributions, more than $66,000 came from PACs representing various business interests, including health care, financial services, aviation, agribusiness and other industries.

Wolf’s 48-hour reports show contributions from five individuals, four of whom live outside Kansas.

Despite the fundraising disadvantage, Wolf has continued his aggressive campaign to unseat the three-term incumbent, staging public events aimed at getting publicity through the news media.

Wolf has been on a statewide bus tour, holding rallies like the one in Lawrence Tuesday night that drew about 50 supporters, including members of his campaign staff. And on Wednesday, he rearranged his schedule to interrupt a Roberts campaign event in an unsuccessful attempt to corner Roberts into a debate.

Within hours, the Wolf campaign turned the audio of that confrontation into a new radio ad, with the sound of Roberts saying, “Milton, this is not the time,” repeated several times throughout the 59-second spot.

Roberts said Wednesday he’s confident of winning the primary.