Dave Helling and Steve Kraske
The race for the Kansas GOP Senate nomination, to be decided two weeks from today, has reached its scowling, finger-pointing, “yes, you did/no, I didn’t” phase.
In TV commercials now playing across the state, Republican hopefuls U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt and U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran are bitterly accusing the other of misinformation and distortion in the race’s final days.
The ads feature all the familiar traits of televised political pitches: ominous music, grainy photographs, lots of small print and misleading claims.
And to no one’s surprise, each is blaming the other for the nasty turn in a race that will yield the overwhelming favorite to be the state’s next U.S. senator.
“He has a television ad that he’s running right here in the Kansas City market that says I am … slimy,” Tiahrt said Monday. “That’s character assassination.”
Countered Moran: “I certainly think that he is describing my record in a way that is not accurate, that he doesn’t tell the truth.”
Both sides would probably acknowledge that this isn’t the campaign they’d wanted to run, but political experts said there are reasons for the negative turn.
Most polls show Moran, from Hays, with a consistent lead over Wichita’s Tiahrt. In late June, SurveyUSA gave Moran a 20-point lead.
“Tiahrt has not done enough to distinguish himself as something other than being a ‘conservative,’?” said local political consultant Patrick Tuohey, who has worked with conservative campaigns but is not involved in the Kansas race. “Moran is a better known quantity among an active voter base.”
Facing that disadvantage, political observers said Tiahrt has little choice now but to find differences with Moran and try to exploit them.
Tiahrt has accused Moran of raising taxes “on everything in sight,” urging amnesty for undocumented immigrants, voting to “give terrorists constitutional rights” and even saying positive things about Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“Where he saw promise in Pelosi taking over Washington, I saw nothing but trouble and said so,” Tiahrt said in one ad.
But Wichita State University political scientist Ken Ciboski said the sharp tone of the ads could boomerang.
“It can backfire on you,” Ciboski said. “I’ve heard people say they were Todd Tiahrt supporters, but because of his advertising and how he conducted himself at some of these local events, they were turning away from him. They wondered why he didn’t just stick to his record.”
The race also may be more negative than most because the two candidates have been preparing for the clash for a long time and keeping a close eye on each other’s voting record.
“These guys have been fighting this campaign out for the last eight years,” said local political consultant Jeff Roe, who said he’s done limited work for the Moran campaign. “So they’ve had a long time to learn to hate each other.”
Hate may be a strong word, but both candidates have seemed eager to exchange accusations on tough issues — particularly immigration.
A Moran ad, for example, charges that Tiahrt “supported amnesty for illegal immigrants” and “lower in-state college tuition for illegals.”
Both claims are based on Tiahrt’s co-sponsorship in 2002 and 2003 of bills that offered permanent residency to undocumented immigrants under 21 who were in middle or secondary school in the United States for five years and of “good moral character.” The bill also would have allowed in-state tuition under certain circumstances.
Moran said the ad’s claims were fair, even though the bills did not provide blanket amnesty.
“You cannot provide benefits to anyone, including children of people who are here illegally because it simply encourages more illegal behavior,” he said.
Tiahrt acknowledged his support of the Student Adjustment Act, now referred to as the Dream Act.
“But since then, I’ve listened to my constituents,” Tiahrt added. “I’ve studied the cost associated with illegal immigrants, the crime associated with it. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not a good thing to provide incentives for people to be here without legal status. So I’ve changed my view about that, and I’m opposed to it.”
Still, he counters with his own charge that Moran “wants to give illegals amnesty” by pointing to his support of “sanctuary cities,” or safe havens, for those in the country illegally.
Tiahrt and Moran may be arguing a lot over immigration in part because their views and voting records on most other issues are nearly identical. That’s making it harder for some to make up their minds.
That’s particularly true in Republican-laden Johnson County, said county GOP chairman Ronnie Metsker.
“Most people are like, ‘They’re both good guys,’?” he said. “The general voting bloc is saying, ‘I could live with either one no matter who gets elected.’?”
Some 75,000 to 80,000 voters are expected to turn out in the Republican primary in the Kansas 3rd Congressional District, which includes Johnson and Wyandotte counties and part of Douglas. That’s about 30 percent of the expected GOP turnout statewide.
But because both candidates remain somewhat unknown in the 3rd district and because the district may have the most undecided voters, campaigning in and around Kansas City is expected to be fierce in the race’s closing days.
Geography is playing a key part in the battle. That Moran hails from the huge 1st Congressional district in western Kansas is a big boost for him, Ciboski pointed out. The SurveyUSA poll showed Moran leading in western Kansas by 72-15 percent.
That’s significant because with 203,469 registered Republicans, the district by far has more potential primary voters than any of the state’s three other districts.
Tiahrt’s 4th Congressional District base had about 169,000 registered Republicans as of July 1.
The 1st district “is a big factor in (Moran’s) favor,” Ciboski noted. Tiahrt has “an uphill climb.”
Moran spent Sunday evening in the area before campaigning Monday in southeast Kansas. Tiahrt was in the area Monday, appearing on KCUR-FM in the late morning. Both are running ads on local TV stations.
Both also are touting their endorsements. Tiahrt recently picked up former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s backing; Moran has countered with support from U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, well-known conservatives.
Each also hopes to draw support from the tea party wing of the GOP, although Tiahrt is expected to have a small advantage with that group.
And the bickering will continue.
“I don’t intend to do anything other than respond to lies or misinformation about me and my voting record,” Moran said. “My hope is … we can focus on the things we can do to improve Kansas and our country.”
Retorted Tiahrt: “I’m simply putting out my vision of lower taxes, smaller government and more individual freedom and comparing it … with his record. I think that’s fair game. It is uncomfortable.
“Will some people be alienated? It’s a possibility. But people do need to know the truth, one way or the other,” he said.
