During the 2000 election, my brother Paul had heard about Al
Gore, the man that was running against George Bush. In his
not-yet-five-years-old mind, Paul imagined Gore, who was obviously a bad guy,
in his world, since he ran against the good guys, as having horns. He was very,
very surprised then, to see a picture of Gore in a suit, and without horns! In
his words, his respect and image of Gore went up “a lot.”
Being seen is, in politics, really important. At least, if
you want to seem like you’re not out of touch. Because if it looks to people
like you are out it, you will be very soon out of office. And you may just have
to remind the people every now and again that you do not, in fact, have horns.
As the Republicans try to regain the senate here in the
midterm elections, (they already hold
the House of Representatives) they know that not only must they pick up at
least six seats, they must also hold the ones they already have, which, in
Kansas, a traditionally deeply Red State, may be a problem.
Besides the facts that he has served for seventeen years, he
is now nearly eighty himself, there are other reasons why some young Kansans,
(and even older ones) may feel that Orman, the Independent, who is Robert’s
only competition in the race since the Democrats pulled their candidate due to
lack of interest, is a better fit. The reason is that Robert’s doesn’t own a
house in Kansas. He doesn’t even always go back there on his vacations.
He was once voted the funniest senator. But then, he stopped
visiting his state. People said his rallies were more like wakes for the dead.
He seemed, according to some, to really have no clue that all of a sudden, he
was dropping in the polls, and dropping fast. And he wasn’t there, and he
wasn’t visible.
Greg Orman was though. The man who will now say with which
party he will caucus with in Washington if he wins. He began chasing Robert’s
up in the polls, as “everything came up Orman.”
But the other part of the story of the importance of being
visible is that now, that’s what Roberts is. He is back in Kansas, at last,
with a new team, a new message, and new money. Quite a bit of it, in fact. The
Republican National Committee is not risking losing this seat, and even Sara
Palin showed up to show support.
It has helped. A lot. The race is competitive again. But the
story is one of a man who was out of sight, and quickly went on the road to
being out of it. He is in sight now, and once again in sight of reelection. He
was once ten points ahead in the polls. Then he was below Orman. Now he is once
again even. But that was a turnaround that never needed to be necessary.
It may very well be Pat Robert’s last election night, on
November 4, whether he wins of not. He is getting old, and another six years in
Washington may very well finish to the old senator’s long race. Until then he
has to finish out one more campaign, while writing the textbook on what not to
do.
Andrew C. Abbott
Whether in Kansas or not, Senator Roberts' voting record speaks for itself. He votes like a conservative Kansan--pro-life, pro-self defense (gun owner) and pro-Kansas. He works for us as our public servant. It's just that Orman initially blindsided Kansans. Now we know he's obviously a liberal Obamahite Democrat in Independent clothing. But Kansans are smarter than to be fooled by Orman's disguised costume and the fat liberal cats (like Soros) supporting him with their millions from NYC. We can no longer call that a Kansas contest.
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