{"id":13613,"date":"2014-09-05T00:24:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=13613"},"modified":"2014-09-05T00:24:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T07:24:23","slug":"turnabout-in-kansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2014\/09\/05\/turnabout-in-kansas\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnabout in Kansas"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m the guy who says that a vote for an Independent candidate is a vote for the Republican in the race.  I\u2019ve been careful to add the caveat that national treasure, Bernie Sanders, is the exception to that (and virtually every other) rule.  In a highly unusual development in Kansas, we have another exception.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\"KansasThe breadcrumbs were there, but it’s fair to say that Democrat Chad Taylor stunned the political world when he announced<\/a> Wednesday that he was dropping out of the Kansas Senate race. That leaves independent Greg Orman, who was once a Democrat<\/strong>, to challenge incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) in November’s general election.<\/p>\n

It bewildered outsiders in part because Taylor was performing admirably for a Democrat in the state with the longest gap since it lasted elected one to the Senate. TPM’s PollTracker average<\/a> had Taylor trailing by less than 6 percentage points. <\/p>\n

But did Democrats really think the best shot of knocking of Roberts was to clear the field for Orman, even if that meant getting their own nominee out of the race? Or was something else going on, too?<\/p>\n

Political observers in Kansas suggest looking at the state’s gubernatorial election contest. State Sen. Paul Davis (D) seems to have a real shot at knocking off Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, a conservative stalwart; Davis leads by 6 percentage points, per TPM’s PollTracker average<\/a>\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <TPM<\/a>><\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow covered this story in two segments. In the first she explains the background and tells the story.<\/font><\/p>\n