Attorney General Derek Schmidt sought permission Thursday to file a friend of the court brief in the ongoing litigation over naming a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kansas in a race that could determine which party controls the upper chamber of Congress next year.

In a motion filed in Shawnee County District Court, Schmidt says the court should direct the Kansas Democratic Party to name another candidate, although he concedes the law is not entirely clear on that point.

That’s just the latest chapter of a bizarre political drama in which Democrats are trying desperately not to have a candidate on the ballot, even though one was nominated in a competitive primary, and Republicans are pulling out all the stops to make sure Democrats do have a candidate.

What’s prompting all of that counter-intuitive behavior is the surprisingly strong candidacy of Greg Orman, a wealthy Johnson County businessman who, according to recent polls, has a slim lead over three-term incumbent Republican Pat Roberts, who is 78.

Republicans need a net gain of at least six seats to take control of the Senate, and many analysts gave the GOP favorable odds of pulling that off. But if Roberts loses in Kansas, long considered a GOP stronghold, that task would become much more difficult.

On Sept. 18, the Kansas Supreme Court ordered that Democrat Chad Taylor, who had won the Democratic primary, must be allowed to withdraw his name on the ballot, saying he fulfilled the requirements of the statute for doing so. It is widely believed, although not acknowledged, that the national Democratic Party had urged Taylor to withdraw, believing Orman has a better chance of defeating Roberts on his own.

But the court did not address the question of whether the Kansas Democratic Party must name a new candidate.

Minutes after the Supreme Court decision was announced, David Orel, a registered Democrat whose son reportedly works on Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s campaign, filed a petition seeking an order for the party to name a new candidate. But the Supreme Court declined to hear that petition, saying there were facts at issue that must be heard at the trial court level.

At issue is K.S.A. 25-3905(a) which says, “When a vacancy occurs after a primary election in a party candidacy, such vacancy shall be filled by the party committee of the congressional district, county or state, as the case may be …” (emphasis added).

The operative word there being “shall,” which sounds like something that is mandatory. But in his brief, Schmidt acknowledges that sometimes it’s mandatory, and sometimes it’s merely “directory.” In either case, he also acknowledges that the law provides no penalty for disobeying the law.

Still, Schmidt argues that in this case it seems clear that when the law was written in 1908, the Legislature meant for it to be mandatory.

The case was referred to the Shawnee County District Court, where a three-judge panel has scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. Monday.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, also a Republican, has also filed a motion to intervene in the case in support of Orel’s motion.