As he faces a strong independent challenger, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) is shuffling to his right. He has been deploying more heated rhetoric, invoking the specter of “national socialism” at a campaign event. He has been making calls to tea party leaders to galvanize support, after he nearly lost to one of their own, Milton Wolf, in his primary this year. Sarah Palin has appeared on the stump.
But will it be enough?
As further proof of Roberts’s precarious standing, rumors were circulating last week that Wolf might actually endorse independent candidate Greg Orman. Wolf quashed those rumors on Twitter — but he didn’t turn around and endorse the Republican candidate either. For now, he said that he has no plans to make an endorsement.
Sorry to disappoint the media, there’s no meeting with Greg Orman and I don’t have any plans to make an endorsement.
— Dr. Milton Wolf (@miltonwolfmd) September 26, 2014
Wolf’s endorsement would have been a big boon for Roberts after he narrowly beat the tea party challenger, who is also a distant cousin of President Barack Obama and compared the president to Adolf Hitler, 48 percent to 41 percent in the August primary.
Wolf has a penchant for outlandish rhetoric; he once tweeted: “Other than killing Jews, what domestic policy of the Nazis do today’s American liberals oppose?” Now, with Orman holding a 1-point advantage in the race, according to the TPM PollTracker average, Roberts is upping the ante in his own statements.
“We have to change course because our country is heading for national socialism,” Roberts said at a campaign event last week. “That’s not right. It’s changing our culture. It’s changing what we’re all about.”
And Roberts is seeking out those disaffected Wolf voters, according to the Wichita Eagle. He has been making personal calls to some of the tea party groups that backed his primary challenger. But the effect of that outreach, as Wolf’s refusal to endorse him shows, remains to be seen.
