Any hints that Greg Orman, independent from Kansas City, would stop his ill-fated gubernatorial campaign were seemingly put to rest Tuesday when campaign finance reports showed the multi-millionaire has recently written personal checks for $180,000 to his campaign. Altogether, hes put more than $1.23 million into its coffers.
Even so, the news Tuesday afternoon that Tim Owens, Ormans campaign treasurer, announced his departure to switch his allegiance to Democrat Laura Kelly is a stunner.
Owens served in the Kansas Legislature first as a Republican representative from 2002-2008, and then as a senator up until 2013, when he was ousted in the ultra-conservative purge orchestrated by former Gov. Sam Brownback.
In a press release issued by Kellys campaign, Owens referred to the years of working under Brownback as dark and predicted that if Kris Kobach were our next governor, those days would return.
Though polls predict Orman will receive, at most, 9 percent of the vote, he remains undeterred. Thats the definition of money to burn. And an unbounded ego.
KOBACHS sugar daddy is his running mate, Wichita oilman Wink Hartman, who has funneled more than $2 million into their Republican campaign.
Back in December of 2017, Democrat Laura Kelly wrote her campaign a check for $100. And her running mate, Sen. Lynn Rogers, has contributed $15.
Kelly has outraised her opponents by a comfortable margin since July, $900,000 ahead of Kobach and $1.5 million ahead of Orman.
More telling of Kellys widespread support is that she has received double the number of campaign pledges compared to Kobach, an estimated 12,000 to 6,000, while Orman has received less than 2,000.
Even so, Kobach is the better known.
Like his mentor President Donald Trump, Kobach is a household name. Its to Kellys disadvantage (now) that her tenure as a state senator has been spent working behind the scenes instead of grabbing headlines and TV footage.
In terms of donors, Kobach is backed by big guns, literally. Weapons manufacturers Tristar Ams, Inc., Minuteman Defense LLC, and Centerfire Shooting Sports are all big backers.
Kellys supporters are comparative softies, including the Humane Society Legislative Fund of Kansas, Kansans for Quality Mental Health Services and teachers unions.
Ormans primarily self-funded campaign puts him pretty much in his own orbit.
ORMAN is the spoiler in the race. With Kelly and Kobach tied at 41 percent, any vote for Orman is seen as taking one away from Kelly, the two are so philosophically aligned.
