Huelskamp wins

The AP has called the first district race for Tim Huelskamp early this morning. With nearly all precincts reporting Huelskamp had gained 35% of the vote compared to second place finisher Jim Barnett at 25%. Nearly 10,000 votes distanced Huelskamp from Barnett, according to the Secretary of State's website as of 12:39am Wednesday morning.

Considering the polls in this race we're literally tied up in a three way race just two days ago, this is a landslide victory for Huelskamp.

The campaign has been hard fought. Some conservatives we're afraid that some of the vote may have been split at the last few days between Huelskamp and Wasinger, but it looks as if the Huelskamp campaign had quite a few tricks up their sleeve to come out nearly 10,000 votes on top in a race that some thought would be separated by just a few hundred votes.

The race was also plagued with rumors the last few days, some true, others not. It's still up in the air if the last minute money drop by two of the candidates in the race actually hurt them more than it helped.

The winner of the primary is considered a lock for the general election. Alan Jilka of Salina is the only Democrat running and is plagued by his own problems, most recently his settlement of a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former Salina city employee.

Former Barnett running mate Susan Wagle endorses Huelskamp on election eve

Susan Wagle, Jim Barnett's running mate during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, endorsed Tim Huelskamp for Congress today.

"If Republicans in the First District want to be a part of the National revolution against Obama and his liberal policies, I ask them to join me in supporting Senator Tim Huelskamp for Congress. They should reject the last minute deceitful attacks that have been flooding the First District and distort the Huelskamp record. They should send Kansas State Senator Tim Huelskamp, a strong conservative, to Congress. I am confident Senator Huelskamp will dedicate his energy and his political expertise to taking back our Country."

Barnett's choice of Wagle was one of the primary reasons he was able to win a crowded GOP field. Barnett didn't have the conservative credentials needed to win the primary, so his choice of Wagle, and her stamp of approval, was instrumental in his win. Much like McCain's loss would have been much worse without Sarah Palin, Jim Barnett doesn't win a primary with Susan Wagle. But now the tables have turned on a candidate that has yet to break out of his polling numbers from over five months ago.

On election eve I'm feeling optimistic for the Huelskamp campaign. He's now riding a significant endorsement, just one more on top of so many he's received so far. Barnett's last minute attack on Mann and Huelskamp seems to have backfired to a certain extent. The fact that Barnett has been unable to pick up any additional support over a five month period doesn't bode well for his chances where 6-10% of voters are still making up their minds.

The fact is there were more undecided voters polled in February than those who supported Jim Barnett. And in the last poll virtually the same number of people support Jim Barnett while nearly a third of voters have made up their minds, and clearly haven't decided to vote for Barnett.

Tracey Mann has billed himself a conservative but was clearly splitting some of the moderate vote with Barnett. His ill received remarks over Obama's birth certificate cause him to drop several points in the polls, most obviously because those moderate voters are now having second thoughts about their guy. That leaves undecided voters with several names to pick from, and even if they split between Mann and Huelskamp, Huelskamp comes out on top.

In addition, while Rob Wasinger has had ads up for a little over a week now they seem to have been too little too late. The number of undecided voters splitting to Wasinger over the other candidates are not significant. Further hurting Wasinger is the simple fact that his ads just aren't that good. The patronizing tone that he's taken isn't going over well, and running as the "outside" candidate but then promoting his "experience" is a contradiction anyone can get.

In what seems to be a bit of irony, with Barnett stagnant and Mann falling, it seems Huelskamp has become the default "go to" candidate. And any vote that he loses to a Wasinger, Boldra or Cobb is simply helping him and not Barnett or Mann. Either way, I think Huelskamp comes out a winner.

It will certainly be a close election and even tonight, things could change, but Huelskamp has the edge and position to pull out a win.

Jimmy, you got some splanin' to do!!

It's as if Ricky Ricardo himself was shaking his finger at Jim Barnett for the way he's portrayed himself as a supporter of the Second Amendment.

Today the Tim Huelskamp campaign released it's second issue of "Jim Barnett vs. Jim Barnett" challenging Barnett's claim to support the 2nd amendment.

As I've noted before, Barnett has consistently voted against conceal carry legislation in Kansas, that is up until his run for Governor in 2006, where he changed his modus operandi to be a conservative. This is also the same year Barnett went from a dismal rating with the Kansas Taxpayer's Network to a 100% seal of approval. It's a political makeover to be in awe of. Well, except for the fact that the voters don't seem to be buying it this year.

Huelskamp Campaign Manager David Ray had this to say:

“Supporters of the 2nd Amendment should know that Jim Barnett is no friend of gun owners. It’s clear that he cannot be trusted on the 2nd Amendment. That’s why Tim Huelskamp has been endorsed by the NRA and every other 2nd Amendment organization in this race.”

Sadly, not only did Barnett oppose conceal and carry legislation in 2004, but he also copped out of important amendment votes during his tenure in the Kansas Statehouse, including:

• Voting “present and passing” on several key amendments during the conceal carry debate, including an amendment to impose waiting periods for handgun purchases.
• Voting “present and passing” on an amendment that sought to reinstitute a Clinton-style gun ban on semiautomatic “assault weapons.”

Gun owners know a friend from a foe, and they all agree Tim Huelskamp is the friend they need in Congress.

New poll shows Huelskamp on the rise

It's almost as if Channel 12 read my mind from yesterday's posting of Jim Barnett's dismal poll numbers. A new poll released today by KWCH Channel 12 in Wichita and conducted by SurveyUSA shows Sen. Tim Huelskamp as the only major candidate that continues to gain in the polls while the other two continue to slump.

You can see a great graphic of SurveyUSA polls since February at Wichita Liberty.

The poll shows that Tim Huelskamp continues to build momentum while Barnett polls at just one point higher than he was in February. That has to be disheartening to the Barnett campaign as he just poured in a quarter of a million dollars of his own money to try and buy a congressional seat.

Tracey Mann fell back several points, undoubtedly because of his recent stumble regarding Pres. Obama's citizenship status. I've sat back on that a little bit, mostly because it's left me somewhat confused how a candidate that just two years ago gave to liberal Democrat Jim Slattery at the same time the country was sweeping Obama to the Presidency would now question his citizenship status. This simply didn't jive with the Tracey Mann that liberal Democrats in the blogosphere were cheerleading.

But I've now come to the conclusion that he's just not familiar with being a conservative and, quite frankly, just went too far in how he thought a conservative would answer.

With a week until election day, Huelskamp has positioned himself nicely to bolt to the finish line a winner!

Jim Barnett vs. Jim Barnett: The facts exposed

Jim Barnett doesn't like the "negative" tone the Huelskamp campaign has "taken on." It's the wimper of the exposed politician, angry and confused over a campaign willing to tell the voters the truth about his flip-flop ways.

Today in a press release the Huelskamp campaign announced their "Jim Barnett vs. Jim Barnett" campaign. First up is his support of Kathleen Sebelius before he was against her.

From the press release:

While Jim Barnett brags in his mail flyers that he opposed Kathleen Sebelius, he actually endorsed her as Secretary of Health and Human Services a little over a week before she accepted President Barack Obama’s nomination. Barnett told Congressional Quarterly’s Drew Armstrong on February 19 of last year that “I view the potential of her being secretary of Health and Human Services as a positive for Kansas and the nation.”

In a move reminiscent of Senator John Kerry’s famous flip-flop in 2004, Senator Jim Barnett flip-flopped his position on Sebelius’ nomination during an interview on June 25th of this year with the Kiowa County Signal, telling editor Mark Anderson “I would not vote for that nomination.”

I also detailed Jim Barnett's problem with his record earlier today.

Jim Barnett: Does the ad match the record?

With just over a week until election day, more and more voters are beginning to pay attention to the candidates in the first district and compare their rhetoric to their past actions. So I thought it was prudent to do a small recap of the major candidates as they stand today, and point out some lesser known facts about them. Let's start with Jim Barnett.

As I noted last week, Jim Barnett has a habit of going which ever way the political winds happen to be blowing. This chart is an excellent illustration of Barnett's political career and how his votes have changed depending on the type of office he's seeking.

It's also a lesser known fact that as a member and President of the Emporia school board in the 1990's, Jim Barnett voted to join the original Schools for Fair Funding lawsuit that eventually cost the taxpayers a billion dollars and helped put our state in its current financial troubles.

Barnett has asked to be excused for this vote, but the fact is when someone doesn't have a moral, or at least some kind of philosophical compass, it's easy to be pulled into this kind of special interest scheme. Barnett talks a good talk on the campaign trail this year, but what about in two or four years when the political winds have changed? What other kind of scheme will he join in Washington at our expense?

Barnett's tone has gone south with his latest ad, telling the voters Tim Huelskamp has gone negative when he hasn't. I'll address that later, but first let's take a look though at his first ad and see how it ads up to his record.

Here's the highlights:

• "Conservative" Count = 4. The word "Conservative" was plastered on your screen for 14 seconds of the 30 second spot. I guess the thought is if you repeat a lie often enough it'll stick.
  
• Throwing money at a problem doesn't make sense to you Jim? What about when you voted to sue the state for more money, did it make sense to you then?
• Jim cut spending to balance the state budget? Last time I checked the state just passed the largest sales tax increase in state history to fund new spending. And back in 2002 when Jim was new on the political scene in Topeka, he voted for what was then the largest tax increase in state history to fund more state spending. That's when he scored a dismal 8.3% with the Kansas Taxpayers Network.
• Barnett proposed the largest tax cut in state history? Well, isn't that interesting considering just four years prior he voted for the largest tax increase in state history. Who says you can't please all of the people all of the time? I'm sure the fact he proposed this cut when running as a conservative for governor has no connection what-so-ever.
  
• NRA "A" Rating Jim? What about during your first senate term when you opposed conceal and carry? What about the NRA's endorsement of Tim Huelskamp? Nothing like telling half truths, huh?

It's interesting to note how stagnant Barnett's poll numbers have been. The first public poll February 23rd had Barnett at 23%. Since then he's gained a whopping 2% to make it to 25%. Now with his political future hanging in the balance, Barnett has dumped a quarter of a million dollars into the race in an attempt to buy a vote, any vote, that he's been unable to secure so far.

It's also interesting to note Barnett's political consultant, Jeff Roe with Axiom Strategies, is also the consultant for Wink Hartman in the fourth district. Hartman's campaign also seems to be in a freefall, with him polling at numbers below what he had in February. This is also in spite of him dumping more than a million dollars of his own money into the race. It seems no matter how much Roe may spend, he just can't get any traction for his guys. I can't speak to the fourth, but in the first it's likely due to Barnett's poor performance in the Governor's race and his back and forth stances on the issues.

Later we'll take a look at Barnett's latest ad and also Tracey. He's a Mann with a Plan, but does it match his Johnson County tan?

The political metamorphosis of Jim Barnett

Bob Weeks at the Voice for Liberty in Wichita posted an interesting article a few days ago where he took the legislative vote ratings for both Sens. Tim Huelskamp and Jim Barnett and graphed them over time. It was so interesting to me that I went back to the vote ratings and created my own graph, but with a few events highlighted in Jim Barnett's political career. The result showed a politician who clearly has no moral or philosophical compass by which he governs.

As you can see below, Barnett's fiscal track record improves and declines dramatically depending on the year and what kind of election he's likely to face. In 2004 for example, he faced his first re-election to the Senate and improved his score with the Kansas Taxpayer's Network from 11% to 50% accordingly. Then in 2006, he scored a 100% rating for the first time. This, of course, coincided with his campaign against several other candidates for the Republican governor's nomination.

But in 2008, facing little opposition for his Senate seat and coming off a good amount of name recognition, the old Jim comes back with his liberal ways.

And now that election day 2010 is upon us, we once again see an upswing in his scores.

When put this way, the say anything, do anything Barnett that I know shines through. Anything to get elected, anything for more power.

And Tim Huelskamp? A record to run to, not from.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Huelskamp "in the driver's seat" with almost $400K

The Huelskamp campaign is "in the driver's seat" when it comes to cash on hand, according to the campaign and recently released FEC campaign finance reports.

With just a few weeks left until the primary, Huelskamp reported nearly $400,000 in cash on hand, over 80% more than second place finisher Jim Barnett and more than twice as much as Tracey Mann and Rob Wasinger.

What this means is clear; Huelskamp is able to write his own story for the remaining days of a the campaign. A recent KWCH/Survey USA poll showed a statistical tie among the top three candidates, but the advantage clearly lies with the Huelskamp campaign now that the cash on hand picture is clear.

“This cash on hand total puts Tim Huelskamp in a commanding position to win this race over the last 18 days,” said Huelskamp spokesman David Ray. “Cash to spend on voter contact is the number that matters in these final days, and Huelskamp is running away with it.”

Further bolstering his position is a rock solid record to run to, not from.

More on that later...

Southwest Times: Huelskamp dominates fundraising

The Southwest Times has an article up on the domination of Sen. Huelskamp in fundraising. Click on over and take a look.

I found the graphic pretty interesting because it really makes Wasinger's spending stand out.

I also thought Barnett stonewalling the newspaper was interesting, especially after they went to the trouble to email the questions. Looks like Roe is scared to let his candidate speak off the cuff. Then again, if I had Barnett's record I'd be scared to speak without my teleprompter too.

Perry and Tea Parties and Morgan, oh my!

Yesterday Texas Governor Rick Perry endorsed Sen. Tim Huelskamp for Congress.

“There is only one candidate in this race that will keep the state of Kansas and our nation moving forward in the right direction, and that’s Tim Huelskamp…I do not make this endorsement lightly and only offer my support when I am certain of a candidate’s strong conviction…Tim is without a doubt one of those candidates and I am proud to offer my endorsement of his campaign.”

The endorsement comes after many others from leading conservatives like Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Concerned Women of America, Kansans for Life, the Club for Growth and others.

Huelskamp also participated in many Tea Parties across the first district, including Goodland, according to the Hays Daily News.

"I'm running for Congress," Huelskamp said, "and I urge you to look at our record." Huelskamp presented a conservative agenda, telling the group that it was a pleasure to sing the Star Spangled Banner and to say an opening prayer. "I keep telling school kids, at least in the state Senate, we can have an opening prayer," he said.

Shifting gears quickly, Huelskamp asked if people thought they were taxed enough already. Once, twice and finally three times, he asked the question, getting a resounding "yes" from the group.

In another little twist, Christian Morgan, former campaign manager for Jim Barnett's failed bid for Governor, posted a deliciously interesting item on Facebook a few days ago, not once, but twice. Morgan now works for the same firm that is running the Barnett for Congress campaign, although up to this point there was no evidence that he had any interaction with the Barnett account. I personally thought Morgan's boss would keep him as far away from Barnett as possible, due to that nasty little divorce the two had at the end of Barnett's failed campaign.

How odd is it that Barnett would hire his former campaign manager's firm when he essentially sued Morgan to keep from paying out unemployment benefits that he demanded? But it's just plain bizarre that Morgan is actually involved in Barnett's congressional campaign. Of course, Morgan's track record with Barnett isn't so hot, so I guess maybe it's a good thing?! My favorite part though is going to be Morgan tearing through all of his political friends on Facebook and trying to figure out who ratted him out. :)

And finally, as near as I can tell, Operation Rescue has become the first organization to call for Rob Wasinger to drop out. In a press release published on christiannewswire.com, OR stated its case rather bluntly.

The latest polling data shows Republican primary candidate Rob Wasinger trailing so badly that he cannot win the hotly contested Kansas 1st Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Jerry Moran.

Even though Wasinger has spent over $200,000 in advertising, every poll puts him in the single digit range with his best polling data at 8 percentage points.

Wasinger is struggling because he is considered by many Kansans to be a Washington insider since he spent the majority of the last two decades living in Washington, D.C. where he has been out of touch with the issues facing the people of Western Kansas.

The release makes no mention of other candidates, and I don't see them endorsing any specific candidate in the Big First. It'll be interesting to see if other pro-life groups follow suit.

Huelskamp on top again in fundraising, cash on hand

UPDATED BELOW

Sen. Tim Huelskamp topped the field in fundraising in the first district once again, new FEC reports show.

With almost $129,000 in contributions in the first quarter of 2010, Huelskamp ended with over half a million dollars in the bank. Of his nearly $130K raised, nearly $20K was from unitemized contributions.

Jim Barnett was second at $107,000 raised but with almost $100,000 spent, he was only able to bank $382,000 at the end of the quarter. The bigger surprise here is that I only saw one "Requested" in his contributors employment information. That's be good and bad for the Barnett campaign. Good in that they have apparently figured out that you have to ask folks giving to your campaign lawfully required information. Bad in that they've now demonstrated they can competently file a campaign finance report and so now the public is left wondering what happened during all of the previous quarters.

Barnett's large expenditures include one for over $16,000 to Axiom Strategies (a la Jeff Roe) and $23,000 to Wilson Research in Oklahoma for, "Campaign Research and Strategies." Well, I guess Barnett never promised to be the economic engine of the Big First.

Speaking of which, no report yet from the Wasinger campaign.

Tracey Mann tanked, and that's putting it lightly. With just over $65,000 raised and almost $45,000 spent, he ended the quarter with just over $261,000 in the bank. Shadwick came in a very distant fourth (so far) at $22,800 raised, $18,600 spent and $23,400 in the bank. Sue Boldra almost raised $15,000 and has $17,200 cash on hand.

All in all, looks like a great quarter for the Huelskamp campaign. I'll update later with more information about interesting contributors and expenditures, and I'll let you know how the Wasinger campaign made out when they get around to filing.

UPDATE:

Wasinger looks like he just filed, and not too many surprises here. $111K in contributions, $102K in expenditures means only $213K in the bank. Lots of Virginia, lots of Massachusetts, lots of out of state contributors. And despite assurances that his campaign would be the economic powerhouse the Big First, he seems to be quite enthralled with spending large sums on media in Virginia. So Wasinger squeaks into a second place in contributions raised, but fourth in cash on hand.

Huelskamp moves to the airwaves with first TV ad

The Huelskamp campaign launched the first TV ad in the first district with a reminder of Sen. Huelskamp's record on taxes and fiscal responsibility. The ad, titled “Tax Day,” runs 30 seconds in length and is a positive, issue-oriented profile of Senator Huelskamp and his record of fighting for lower taxes.

"Other candidates talk about opposing taxes, but Tim Huelskamp has a proven track record of fighting tax increases to prove it,” said Huelskamp spokesman David Ray. “That's why he won numerous awards for keeping taxes low and why the Club for growth has endorsed him.

Huelskamp has been building a war chest for some time now and it's refreshing to see him spending his campaign resources so wisely. Huelskamp is correct to size up this contest as a clash of records, mainly that he has a record of fighting for the taxpayer while Barnett has a record of fighting for more government control.

This ad nails the sentiment of so many voters in the first. There's a lot of politicians that talk the talk, but there's only one candidate in this race with a record of walking the walk.

See also:

• Congressional candidate launches TV ad
• Huelskamp launches new TV ad today
• Huelskamp Goes On TV in Kansas' 1st District
• Huelskamp first on the air
• Huelskamp launches television ad
• Air war begins in Kansas first district GOP primary
• Huelskamp Launches First TV Ad
  

Barnett lies while Palmer pulls off his conservative disguise

Jim Barnett is ducking right this week in an attempt to convince First District voters that he's really against Obamacare and had nothing to do with that oh so similar plan he proposed in 2007.

As a gubernatorial candidate, Barnett advocated for "healthcare exchanges" which are eerily familiar to the Democrats plan to remake the American healthcare system. But after the election, Barnett went further, introducing a bill that would have mandated coverage for all Kansas citizens, regardless of their choice not to have coverage. Similar to the fines imposed by Washington Democrats, Barnett's plan would have authorized the state to garnish wages and tax refunds of those that refused to comply with the mandate. All of this coincided with a new, close friendship with his former opponent, Kathleen Sebelius. Barnett promoted and supported a plan with Sebelius that also would have also expanded state entitlement programs and imposed new mandates.

Surprisingly, Barnett denied he had anything to do with the 2007 bill, saying instead that the bill was introduced for "discussion" by the committee. Unfortunately for him, former State Senator Peggy Palmer, a member of the committee with Barnett and Huelskamp, recalls a different story. In a press release from the Huelskamp campaign today, Palmer stated, "I was there when Jim Barnett introduced SB 309 to mandate government approved health insurance on Kansans. His proposal would have created a quasi-state entity and added layer upon layer of massive new government mandates and bureaucracy."

During the state's last fiscal crisis, Jim Barnett voted in favor of the largest tax increase in the state's history. That was shortly after serving as President of the Emporia school board and not only voting in favor of, but crafting the strategy to sue the state of Kansas for more school funding. That was in the 1990's and the case would eventually become known as the Montoy case, resulting in over a billion dollars in court mandated state spending. And after having a conversion in 2006 to run for governor, Barnett quickly switched back to his liberal ways, patched things up with former opponent Kathleen Sebelius to advocate for his own little form of state run healthcare, and then stab his former running mate in the back to hand liberal leadership another four years in the state Senate.

Jim Barnett advocating for Obama style healthcare in Kansas is just the tip of the iceberg.

Hutch News - '07 health bill is campaign fodder
Kansas Liberty - First District candidate accuses fellow GOP candidate of aligning with ObamaCare

Huelskamp comes up big in fundraising

On the back of gaining donations from every county in the big First District, Tim Huelskamp announced today that he had outraised all other candidates and had more than $100K in cash on hand than his nearest challenger.

Huelskamp reported raising over $136,000 during the fourth quarter. That was followed by $123,000 by Jim Barnett and barely over $100,000 by Rob Wasinger. Tracey Mann raised nearly $72,000 with Monte Shadwick and Sue Boldra both raising less than $20,000.

So far no other candidate has had the ability to gain contributions from every county in the district. It's really easy to talk a talk. Send out some emails, roll into town and spend 15 minutes for a quick photo op.

It's an entirely different game to get a contribution when there. The fact is so far the people of the first district have been voting; voting with their hard earned money. And clearly the winner of those votes has been Tim Huelskamp.

And while Huelskamp continues to shine in funds raised, he's also leading the pack in cash on hand. Huelskamp is way out front with nearly half a million on hand, followed distantly by Barnett with $374,000 on hand. Of course that includes a $100,000 loan Barnett made to himself.

Barnett has once again turned in a year end report with spotty information. "Requested" and "undisclosed" appear less than in previous reports, but are still there. When will Jim Barnett hire competent staff that can track down basic, required FEC information? When will Jim Barnett finally show some respect for the people of Kansas and their right to know?

Recent filings suggest not anytime soon. Barnett choose to wait until two days before a filing deadline to fix employer and occupation information in his third quarter report. That's of course more than two months after filing an amendment to show they had more cash on hand than reported earlier. It looks like when it might make him look bad, they can act quickly. When it comes to the public's right to know... well... that can take a back seat to getting elected, right Jim???

Now, want to know the sad part? It took me only a few pages before I found "undisclosed" on his amended third quarter report. And who didn't disclose the name of their employer? Uh, an ophthalmologist in Emporia. You know, a doctor that Barnett has worked with for years. It's so ridiculous it's unbelievable.

And that's the amended report.

So, I'm sure you'll be hearing about another request for information from the FEC. I personally wonder when the FEC will stop asking the Barnett campaign to please obey the law and start slapping on some fines. They're clearly asking for it.

Then again, this thumbing his nose at the law doesn't seem to be helping. Huelskamp is still the front runner in funds raised, cash on hand, and clearly with the wallets of First District voters.

With three days to go, Barnett still a no show on amended report

With three days left until an FEC imposed deadline, Jim Barnett is still snubbing his nose at the people of Kansas.

The FEC recently sent the Barnett campaign a letter questioning several items in their third quarter finance report. Previously Barnett was able to file an amended report within several weeks fixing mistakes that gave the appearance the campaign had much less cash on hand than in reality. The error and subsequent fix displayed the campaign's stellar ability to recognize a mistake and fix it quickly.

The Barnett campaign has had no such desire to quickly answer an FEC request to provide the occupations and employers of donors. This is the second report Barnett has filed where donor information has been missing, in direct violation of FEC guidelines.

When does Jim Barnett plan to take the citizens of Kansas seriously?

Wasinger uses not-so-anonymous surrogates for attacks

The Wasinger campaign once again is using their not-so-anonymous KSNBC-01 blog to attack Sen. Tim Huelskamp.

Entitled Huelskamp visits KS-01, touts experience in New Mexico, the Wasinger Ohio team selectively quotes a Great Bend Tribune article to meet the needs of their twisted view that Rob Wasinger is somehow not an DC insider and Tim Huelskamp is just a liberal in conservative clothing.

Unfortunately the Ohio team misunderstands that, by definition, it's impossible for Huelskamp to "visit" the first district; he lives there. Wasinger on the other hand, having moved to the first district with the explicit purpose of running for office, truly is "just visiting." It's sad the only line of attack the Wasinger camp has is to distract from the glaring truth that their candidate has moved back to Kansas for the sole purpose of regaining a paid trip back to DC. In the end all this really does is once again, highlight that Rob Wasinger is more a Virginian than he is a Kansan.

After all, when the election is over and Rob has lost, he'll return to Virginia or somewhere on the east coast. If that wasn't the plan, why still own a nearly three quarter of a million dollar home in Virginia?

The Wasinger campaign continues to point to county tours since Rob arrived in Kansas before the last election. This is a line we've all heard before. Remember that according to team Wasinger, he was the first to sign a no tax pledge. This of course, ignored the fact that Huelskamp took the same pledge when first elected in 1996.

When Rob constantly asserts that he's the first to visit with voters and the first to complete a tour of the district, he ignores two key facts. First, Huelskamp has been visiting with voters since, oh, 1996. So you might want to rethink using that "first" claim when, in fact, you were a distant second by more than a decade.

Further, while it's admirable the Rob made no bones about his desire to return to DC as soon as possible, constantly espousing that he is "visiting with voters" simply highlights the fact that he doesn't know any voters. After all, how else do you explain six months of absolutely no contributions from the district he wants to represent?

The fact of the matter is Rob Wasinger is a DC insider who can not win election in the first district. As many have said on other blogs, given any other year and no other qualified candidates, Rob would be someone that would warrant being considered. But with proven leadership like that of Tim Huelskamp in the race, there's little point entertaining a longtime DC insider with no voting record.

With all of that in mind, what really concerns me is the apparent apathy the Wasinger campaign is displaying towards Jim Barnett's candidacy. Everything coming out of the KSNBC-01 blog is critical of Huelskamp and raves of Wasinger but completely ignores the candidacy of liberal Jim Barnett. This combined with Wasinger's new push for "moderate" voters and his endorsement by John McCain makes me wonder just what is going on.

The fact is Wasinger can't win, but he can possibly split the vote enough to allow Barnett to win. And so far his campaign and Ohio surrogates seem either oblivious to this reality or in fact, are well aware of it, and would rather have Barnett in Congress than Huelskamp. Knowing Barnett's record, that is truly disturbing.

Wasinger needs to put aside his ego and recognize who the real threat is.

Barnett files amended 3rd quarter report within weeks but waits to last day to fully disclose donors employers, occupations

Jim Barnett continues to thumb his nose at the FEC and the public's right to know.

A review of documents submitted by the Barnett campaign to the FEC reveals that they waited until the last day to respond to an FEC request for additional information that the campaign refused to include in a second quarter report. The campaign again refused to include the same type of information in their third quarter report, and again the FEC has requested additional clarification.

However when the campaign mistakenly began with a zero balance on their third quarter report, which essentially caused the Barnett campaign to appear as though they had much less cash on hand than was actually there, the mistake was corrected in just over two weeks. Why is the Barnett campaign able to respond so quickly when it might make the campaign look bad but drags its feet to the very last second when it involves complying with federal law?

Because of the third quarter goof, Barnett has shown that he and his staff are fully capable of recognizing a mistake and correcting it quickly. Apparently the only difference between these two problems is Barnett's desire to make himself look good versus doing what's lawful and in the public's best interests.

The inability to submit a full and complete report is baffling. Barnett's November 2nd amended report includes a $1,000 contribution from the mod squad's favorite Steve Cloud. Yet his employer is listed as "undisclosed." Are we to believe that the Barnett campaign was unable to find out the employer for former Republican National Committeeman Stephen Cloud?

Barnett's lack of respect for the law and the public should be questioned at length, especially in light of his continued disregard for the law as evidenced by this December 10, 2009 request for information from the FEC, and his now proven ability to respond in a timely manner to reporting mistakes.

The real Jim Barnett is beginning to emerge; one that cares about his public image but little about the public itself.

Taxpayer advocates call Huelskamp's record "perfect"

New but not at all surprising, Americans for Prosperity-Kansas gave Sen. Tim Huelskamp's record this past session in the Senate as 100% perfect. Huelskamp was one of only seven Senators to receive a perfect score from AFP. Until the Kansas Taxpayers Network merged with AFP-Kansas, Huelskamp also had the highest lifetime rating of any sitting State Senator as well.

Clearly when it comes to advocating for the taxpayer, Sen. Huelskamp has the record to back up the rhetoric.

"It's always an honor to be recognized by AFP as one of the conservative leaders in the state senate," Huelskamp said. "As a state senator, I have always been willing to take up the cause of fighting for lower taxes and limited government, and that is something I will continue as Congressman for the Big First."

Jim Barnett didn't even come close to scoring 100% in the key limited government test. As of 2007, Barnett had a lifetime taxpayer rating of 44.7% from the Kansas Taxpayer's Network. That's lower than Democrat David Haley.

Barnett's voting record and thus his numbers, have improved as his aspirations for higher office has been made more clear.

"Conservatives would be hard-pressed to find a stronger and more consistent voice in the Kansas Senate than Sen. Tim Huelskamp," Derrick Sontag, the state director for AFP-Kansas, said. "We want to thank Tim for his hard work on behalf of limited government, lower taxes and less wasteful spending."

Congratulations Senator! It's certainly no surprise to anyone familiar with Kansas politics, but we thank you for your efforts just the same.

And then there were two...

Last week's Hutchinson News article nicely defined where the first district race is to this point with first, second and third tier candidates. Now, I don't believe a campaign can be judged solely on fundraising as there are a lot of factors that play into a successful campaign. (And you know I really mean that since my guy is pretty much mopping the floor in that area.) But I do think in an off election year (yes, this is an off election year, despite what you've heard in the news), fundraising is the only tangible measurement of a candidates potential success.

As the Hutch News article points out, the race is quickly becoming a two man battle between moderate backed Jim Barnett and conservative Tim Huelskamp. This shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone since they are the only two in the race with a voting record to back up their rhetoric (or lack thereof in Barnett's case), and the local connections needed to compete. What has been surprising is the failure of the second and third tier candidates.

Tracey Mann looked somewhat promising as a new moderate contender. This is looking less and less likely with Jim Barnett in the picture, backed by Morris, Vratil and Schmidt. I think originally Tim Barker was the mods guy, but with him out and Barnett in, there just isn't much room for Mann campaign. It also appears this past quarter that his fundraising is beginning to suffer after tapping out his family connections. Further, I'm sure endorsing Jim Slattery over Pat Roberts will certainly be noted by the Barnett campaign if the situation should warrant it.

Rob Wasinger continues to sputter in first district support. After two consecutive quarterly reports without a single itemized contribution from the first district, (a stretch that has to be unprecedented, although I know of no way to verify this), his October finance report showed he actually took in less in first district and Kansas contributions than last quarter. Only 5.9% of his total contributions have come from the district he wants to represent.

As What's Right With Kansas pointed out, Dennis Moore seems to be having local support problems, relying heavily on D.C. PAC contributions and receiving less and less individual contributions from everyday Kansans. Wasinger doesn't seem able to shake this problem either. I wholeheartedly agree with RWKS that voters seem to be following the DC insider money and voting with their pocketbook. And of course, a $2,500 contribution from John McCain's PAC certainly doesn't help the conservative cred, so it looks as though this will keep the first district in a two man race.

Huelskamp continues to build support. Most notable to is the endorsement by Club for Growth, one of the nation's premiere fiscal conservative organizations. Interestingly, Club for Growth has been a major force in New York's 23rd congressional district's special election, supporting the Conservative Party's nominee over the liberal GOP nominee. More on the similarities between NY-23 and KS-01 later.

Now, there's certainly still time for another candidate to get into the race, although by this time any Republican who announces is just looking for a meal ticket. With the mod squad behind Barnett, I'm sure the other mods in the race will be spoken with and quietly asked to exit stage left. There will be more than two names on the ballot come August, but for all intensive purposes, this has become a two man race.

Hutch News: Huelskamp leads the pack

An article published Monday in the Hutchinson News highlights Sen. Tim Huelskamp's success in fundraising this quarter.

When quarterly campaign finance reports appeared last week on the U.S. Federal Election Commission's Web site, state Sen. Tim Huelskamp, Fowler, led the pack in the six-candidate Republican race in the 1st District's August 2010 primary.

Also noted is the difficult environment candidates find themselves in trying to raise funds with several major congressional races occurring across the state.

Complicating fundraising for the six Republicans jockeying to succeed U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, is Moran's own race for the U.S. Senate. He and U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, are locked in a contest and also seeking funds from Kansas Republicans. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., is running for governor in 2010, and he's competing for donations, too, as well as other Republicans running for statewide offices.

And of course the Barnett campaign notes that they just can't seem to get that finance report right.

By the weekend, representatives for state Sen. Jim Barnett, Emporia, were pointing out that a glitch in the electronic filing had created the wrong impression about Barnett's fundraising efforts.

You know, it's funny you would mention that and yet ignore the horde of "undisclosed" employers and occupations you listed after getting your hand slapped by the FEC for doing the exact same thing last quarter. Or was that an FEC "glitch" too?

Really, how hard is it to get that information? How much longer is Jim Barnett going to break the law?

I personally have no interest in a Congressman wanna be who thinks he's above the law.