Roberts may have a challenger!!

[proud2BlibKansan]

Greg Orman just confirmed that yes, indeedy, he's contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate next year against two-term incumbent Sen. Pat Roberts.

"I'm actually doing a lot of listening right now and talking to the people of Kansas and have come to the conclusion that a lot of them are very unsatisfied with what's happening in Washington and specifically with the performance of Senator Roberts," Orman said.

"I'm in the process of thinking this through" and will make a decision "in the very near future," he said.

Orman steered clear of a specific target entry date.

Meanwhile, Kansas Democrats continued to yak today about Orman and his prospects.

One big question: Who is he?

Well, he's 39 and lives in Olathe.

He's also a managing director of Denali Partners LLC. That Web site has a bio of Orman, in which he's described as a private investor in both businesses and real estate.

Orman also is a past CEO and president of KLT Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, Inc., which is an energy holding company headquartered in Kansas City.

An announcement from Orman is expected next week. With word leaking by the minute, here's guessing that the timetable will be quickly advanced.

This news, of course, comes in the wake of Jim Slattery's decision not to run.

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/8548

[SheilaT]

1. He needs to come to the next

second Saturday.

I spoke with Lee Jones recently. Lee ran for the senate in 2004, after Joan Ruff pulled out. Lee told me that he got absolutely no support from the Democratic Party, could not even get Kathleen Sebelius to show up with him at any events, nor would her office write him a letter he needed to get half a million dollars of funding. I am beyond furious about the lack of support for Jones and others who want to run for office.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Yes that is most discouraging

There definitely seems to be a disconnect between some candidates and the local party. For example, where is Hillary's campaign? Have you noticed that the other presidential campaigns have been sending reps or info to our meetings, but Hillary is a no-show? Does she have a presence in Johnson County?

No one from her campaign has contacted our DFA group either. And yes, we have not only heard from the other campaigns, but most have reps who attend our meetings regularly - for a couple months now.

[hfojvt]

3. the DFA straw poll showed only 5% support for Hillary

She knows that's not where her supporters are. Are you both in JoCo? How many are in your group? Our group is unfortunately very small and not growing.

It's nice to have a candidate, but I kinda do not like the sound of this guy. A rich investor type? I guess that was true of Lamont though too.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Yes we are both in Jo Co

and we have a good sized group. We have around 50 at our monthly meetings and another 25 are active in the women's group that also meets monthly.

There is also a very active group in Wyandotte County.

[hfojvt]

4. I was hoping he would run again

I heard good things about him in 2004, and I think there is a good boost from name recognition the second time around. It seemed very unlikely that he would win, so I can understand the party not wanting to throw money into a race they would likely loose. I am not sure how campaign appearances would have hurt though. Perhaps he could have worked with State Senate campaigns or state house. Lord knows we could use some help in the State Legislature.

[SheilaT]

6. Lee Jones told me when I saw

him recently that he has just now finished paying off his bills from the 2004 campaign.

I feel that there's more than just the party not wanting to throw money into a losing race. There is an outright discouragement of those who try to run in a race (such as for the U.S. senate) that they don't seem to want anyone to run in. Such as Lee Jones.

Let me tell you my Larry Gates story. I ran for the Kansas State House in 2004, against a popular, moderate, incumbent Republican. Larry Gates's law office is in my district, and is in fact located on Quivira Road just north of College Boulevard. I asked him at some point if I could put one of my signs in front of his office and he said no, because he wasn't the only person in the firm (there are two other names after his in the name of the firm) and other tenants in the office building, and he'd rather keep partisan politics away from the work place. I understood. But as we got close to the election various signs for other Democratic candidates appeared in front of his office, and finally about a week before the election I put one of my signs there. Inside of 30 minutes all of the signs came down. Coincidence? Maybe. But the other signs had been there for several weeks.

For what it's worth, although I did lose my race I did well enough that my district was targeted in 2006 by the state Democratic party and the man who ran was given a lot of help and he won the election. So I know I did some good.

But back to the Senate race. The state Democratic party ought to be willing, in my opinion, to encourage someone to run, if for no other reason than a race like that should NEVER have only one candidate. They can be honest with a candidate, tell him or her openly that there will be no financial support, but they could make supportive noises, and there's no reason why the governor couldn't show up at a fund raiser or two.

But heck, what do I know? I'm just a voter.