Not a bad get for the Kansas Democratic Party:
Former Rep. Jim Slattery has reconsidered his political future and will challenge Sen. Pat Roberts this fall, a state Democrat official said Wednesday.
Slattery will make a public statement next week that he will enter the race, said Mike Gaughan, executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party.
“He intends to make the race. He’s been talking to Kansans disappointed with the way Pat Roberts has been inattentive to Kansans’ needs in Washington,” Gaughan said. “He was somebody that we talked to last year about the importance of running against Pat Roberts.” […]
Slattery, of Topeka, represented the 2nd District of eastern Kansas from 1983-94 and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994. He had been mentioned as a potential Senate candidate but said in November he wouldn’t challenge Roberts. Asked earlier this month in Kansas about rumors he was interested again, he said: “I’m interested in many things.”
Expect the Kansas GOP to focus heavily on Slattery’s current job title: a Washington lobbyist.
Still, considering how quiet the Democratic recruitment efforts have been here (self-financing candidate Greg Orman dropped out earlier this year), someone with Slattery’s political experience is a pretty decent score here.
Obama is surprisingly strong in Kansas and while I’m not willing to bet he will take the state, he could help Slattery become competitive. Worst case scenario: It forces the GOP to spend their resources a little thinner.