Roberts defeats Milton Wolf in GOP Senate primary

By NICK SLOAN, nick@kansascitykansan.com

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- All eyes were on Kansas tonight as U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts defeated challenger Milton Wolf in Tuesday night's U.S. Senate Republican primary.

Roberts won 48 percent of the vote to Wolf, who won 41 percent. The remaining 11 percent went to candidates D.J. Smith and Alvin Zahnter.

Roberts earned over 125,000 votes.

In an interview with news reporters after his victory speech, Roberts said his new goal is to unite Republicans across the State of Kansas.

“We need the tea party. We need their passion,” Roberts told The Lawrence Journal-World. “They’re very upset with the direction of the country. I’m upset with the direction of the country. And we just have to know that we have to have a Republican victory to get that Senate back so we can stop the Obama agenda.”

While Roberts prevailed state-wide, Milton Wolf actually won the Kansas City metro area.

He won Wyandotte County by a 49-39 percent margin. He earned a slim victory among Johnson County voters and also carried Leavenworth and Miami counties.

Roberts will take on Democrat Chad Taylor and Independent candidate Greg Orman.

POLL: Davis leads Brownback 47-41; Republicans up in other races

By NICK SLOAN, nick@kansascitykansan.com

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- In a new poll taken by KSN News, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is behind likely Democratic Party nominee and Kansas Rep. Paul Davis by six points.

Republicans across the state fare better in their races.

In the gubernatorial race, Davis has an advantage in Kansas City and Wichita. At this time, he's beating Brownback by 15 percent in the Wichita area and leads Brownback by three percent among voters in the Kansas City metro area. Brownback's strength comes from Western Kansas, where he leads Davis by 16 points.

Another factor: The female vote. Davis is leading Brownback by 14 points among women, while Brownback leads by one percent among men.

Davis also has made a sizable dent among Brownback's Republican support, according to the poll. Davis receives 26 percent of support from registered Republican voters. On the other hand, Brownback received six percent of support from Democrats in the poll.

If there's one single issue boosting Davis' chances, it's education. For those who consider education the most important issue, Davis is leading Brownback by 54 points. Brownback has a large lead against Davis among voters who consider taxes the most important issue.

Jennifer Winn, a Republican challenger to Brownback, received 37 percent of the vote against Brownback when Republicans were asked to choose between the two GOP candidates.

Kansas Libertarian Party candidate Keen Umbehr received five percent of the vote. Umbehr registers well for a third party candidate when it comes to the young vote. Umbehr received 13 percent of support from voters 18-34 years old.

In other races:

• U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts has a commanding lead over Milton Wolf in the GOP primary, earning 56 percent of support among Republican voters. Roberts also leads Democratic Party challenger Chad Taylor 43 to 33 percent. Independent candidate Greg Orman receives 8 percent, while Libertarian Party candidate Randall Batson received 5 percent. Roberts also leads another Democratic challenger, Patrick Wiesner, by 45-29 percent. 

• If Milton Wolf were to win the primary, the Republicans would have an uphill battle in a traditionally dark red state. According to the poll, Wolf is behind Taylor by three points in that senate match-up. Wolf would lead Wiesner in that race, if it were to happen.

• Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach leads Democratic challenger Jean Schodorf by five percent. In the primary, Kobach is crushing Scott Morgan 61 to 29 percent

• In all polls, there's a sizable "undecided" count, meaning there's a lot of time left and undecided voters could swing many of the races.

SurveyUSA interviewed 2,200 residents in Kansas.

Of the 1931 registered voters, 508 will vote in the Republican Party's primary, while 252 will likely vote in the Democratic Party's primary.

GOP Senate candidate Wolf says Republicans shouldn't make friends with Democrats

By SCOTT ROTHSCHILD, The Lawrence Journal-World

In his criticism of U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., on Monday, Dr. Milton Wolf indicated Republicans shouldn't make friends with Democrats and that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's recent controversies have been caused by the media.

Wolf, a tea party-backed challenger to Roberts in the GOP primary, was interrupted several times by applause during his 24-minute talk to about 50 people who attended an event put on by the Douglas County Republican Party at Famous Dave's restaurant.

One of Wolf's major criticisms of Roberts is that Roberts voted in the Senate to confirm President Barack Obama's selection of Kathleen Sebelius in 2009 as secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius has been at the forefront of implementing the Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, which is opposed by all Republicans in Congress.

"One of the problems with our party is too often we're the go-along to get-along party," said Wolf. "We try to get people in the media to like us, we try to get the Democrats to like us. It never works. Ask Chris Christie about that. He can walk on the beach every day of the week with Barack Obama, but as soon as he starts looking like a candidate for the presidency, the media is going to stab him in the back," Wolf said.

In 2012, Christie, a Republican, praised the response of President Obama and the federal government to Hurricane Sandy, which battered the Northeast. Christie's appearances with Obama just days before the presidential election was criticized by some Republicans as helping Obama.

Recently, Christie has been embroiled in controversy over an allegation that his aides closed lanes to the George Washington Bridge in political retribution against a New Jersey mayor.

Wolf added, "You cannot make friends with our adversaries, and yet what we have — and this should trouble us all to know — is we have Sen. Roberts who voted to put Kathleen Sebelius in charge of Obamacare," he said.

Sebelius was confirmed as secretary on a 65-31 vote. Nine Republicans voted for her, including Roberts and then-U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Republican who is now governor of Kansas. In recent months, Roberts has called for Sebelius to resign after the troubled roll-out of the ACA's enrollment website.

Tea Party activist Wolf says Roberts too late in calling for Sebelius to resign

By SCOTT ROTHSCHILD, The Lawrence Journal-World

The campaign of Dr. Milton Wolf, the Tea Party activist challenging U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., says Roberts' call for the resignation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was "too little, too late."

Wolf's campaign said Roberts should apologize for voting to confirm Sebelius as President Barack Obama's secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, is implementing the Affordable Care Act.

"With her help, President Obama and the democrats rammed through the most disastrous legislation in recent history. Senator Roberts owes every American an apology," Wolf's campaign said.

Wolf, a radiologist from Leawood, announced his candidacy in the 2014 Republican Party primary last week. Just days later, Roberts issued a news release, saying that Sebelius, a former Kansas governor, should resign for "gross incompetence" because of glitches in the rollout of the federal online health insurance marketplace under the ACA.

The HealthCare.gov federal website for the health insurance marketplaces has been plagued with technical problems that have prevented many from enrolling.

Sebelius has acknowledged problems and said technicians were trying to expand the site's capacity. The website became operational Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, the Roberts campaign issued a statement saying that it ended the quarter Sept. 30 with $1.8 million cash on hand for the campaign, and touted Roberts' ranking as the fifth most conservative senator, according to Heritage Action.

"Kansans know that Pat is the tough, tested and trusted conservative in this race," said Dave Murfin, of Wichita, and Statewide Co-chair of Roberts for Senate.