Remember Richard Clarke?He’s the former Bush Administration official who earlier this year released a book saying the White House had neglected the War on Terror to focus on Iraq. Clarke came under heavy criticism from Republicans at the time — some of whome accused him of telling a completely different story in secret testimony to Congress while still in government.”In July 2002, in front of the congressional joint inquiry on the Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Clarke testified under oath that the administration actively sought to address the threat posed by al Qaeda during its first seven months in office,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said at the time. “It is one thing for Mr. Clarke to dissemble in front of the media, but if he lied under oath to the United States Congress, that’s a far more serious matter.” That secret testimony has never been made public. The Hill today reports that U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts is the reason why.Alexander Bolton writes: “For nearly four months, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has refused to release declassified testimony that former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke presented to a congressional inquiry on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “Roberts has sat on the information even though he and other Republicans have called for Clarke’s testimony to be made public. … “The testimony is politically sensitive because it is likely to resurrect political disputes, triggered by Clarke’s testimony in March to the Sept. 11 commission, about whether the Bush administration ignored key signs before the attacks.”Bolton writes that the testimony, if released, could prove embarassing to Frist — and that the Bush Administration might prefer not to resurrect the issue on the eve of the presidential election.”It’s not that he said one thing in one place and said another thing in another place,” Roberts said of Clarke’s testimony in an interview with The Hill. “It’s just that the subject never came up during the investigation by the House and Senate.” “When asked if Clarke had contradicted himself, Roberts said he had not, adding that he wished that Frist had consulted with him prior to making his floor statement.”So why is Roberts sitting on the testimony? Bolton writes: “Roberts now has an apparent incentive to shield Frist from criticism, if he wants to bolster the chances that he will remain chairman of the Senate intelligence committee.”A Roberts spokesperson said Roberts will release the testimony after he’s had a chance to review it.The Kobach campaignIn fact, it’s a Kansas kind of day at The Hill, which describes Republican Kris Kobach’s campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore.“Kobach’s novel approach in the 3rd Congressional District has been to expand the conservative base and turnout instead of moving to attract centrist Republicans, which has proved a winning formula for Moore,” writes Jonathan E. Kaplan.”Audrey Langworthy, a former Republican state senator, said, ‘Moore should be concerned that Kobach worked to register new voters. It was a wakeup call that Kobach would follow the Rev. Jerry] Falwell around. That shocked some people. And he’s not tried to move to the middle. I don’t agree with Kris on some issues.”‘”Moore’s pitch is a syrupy blend of moderation and common-sense good government. Moore’s stump speech consists of highlighting a problem, finding a solution on which some Republicans will agree and showing that the problem gets solved. He emphasizes how the Defense Department made soldiers pay their way home from Iraq for two-week rest-and-relaxation breaks and how he “filed a bill” to remedy the unfairness. How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation [here.