Kansas court to rule on Senate ballot by Wednesday

A Kansas court is promising to rule on whether Democrats must name a Senate candidate to the state’s ballot by Wednesday, after failing to come to a decision on Monday due to the man who filed the lawsuit’s refusal to appear in court.

{mosads}According to The Topeka Capital-Journal, the court on Monday also ruled that Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach could not get involved in the lawsuit, brought by registered Democratic voter David Orel last week, who is also the father of a campaign staffer for Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Orel is demanding the court force Kansas Democrats to replace District Attorney Chad Taylor, who successfully removed himself from the ballot after a brief court battle with Kobach. But judges in the district court hearing arguments on the case said Monday they couldn’t make a final ruling without hearing testimony from Orel. His attorney suggested the intense press attention to the case had discouraged his presence.

Wednesday is the last possible day Kansas election officials can send in the final list of candidate names to be printed. If the court decides against Orel’s request, it will be a final blow to Republican hopes of setting up a small but potentially consequential stumbling block to independent Greg Orman’s challenge to GOP Sen. Pat Roberts.

Polling has shown without another candidate on the ballot — aside from a libertarian, who’s drawing single-digit support — Orman consolidates the anti-Roberts vote and defeats him by solid margins.

But Roberts’s campaign is pledging to wage a fierce fight to keep the seat, launching a series of attacks labeling the independent a closet Democrat and hitting him on various hot-button issues.

In a new ad released Tuesday, the Roberts campaign charges “politician Greg Orman would make things worse” in Washington and alleges he’d “vote with Obama for amnesty,” pointing to the thousands of dollars Orman contributed to the president and other Democrats.