This years gubernatorial race stacks up to be a humdinger.
Two principal candidates are in place, Laura Kelly, Democrat, and Greg Orman, who plopped down petitions containing 10,000 signatures Monday to claim a spot on the ballot as an independent. Also, there a couple of candidates carrying minor party banners, whose greatest roles, safe to say, may be as spoilers.
The one space yet to have a name attached is the slot reserved for a Republican, and that may not be known until late this month.
Kris Kobach, the firebrand who occasionally may be found behind the secretary of states desk, and Jeff Colyer, incumbent by appointment with Sam Brownbacks retirement, are in a virtual tie with the lions share of results in, just 191 votes apart to Kobachs favor.
Soon, ballots will be reviewed by county commissioners, an election obligation of theirs, and provisional ballots will either be counted or rejected.
A provisional ballot is one with which election workers have questions, often when addresses in registration books vary from where the potential voter lives. Many, perhaps most, of those votes end up being tabulated.
The case of the GOP gubernatorial decision may total upward of 5,000 or 6,000 provisional ballots statewide. Thus, a margin so slim may hold, increase or evaporate. No way of knowing until decisions are made on those ballots.
The race is yet to be defined, but it already has elements of intrigue.
Among those is the fact that Orman came reasonably close to unseating Pat Roberts four years ago in a U.S. Senate race that otherwise would have been rather mundane. At some points Orman led several polls, and when votes were cast he came close surely to putting a scare in a Kansan with a long-time presence in Washington.
In most years we would be looking at a red-and-blue race, but Orman adds a color seldom seen in such high-profile political contests, shades of Michael Bloomberg and Ross Perot, whatever those might be.
THE REGISTERS editor endorsed Kelly prior to the primary and there is no reason to think the election doesnt remain firmly in her corner.
Colyer flashed some moderation when he came from the shadows, where lieutenant governors reside, by signing legislation that increased school funding, albeit not as comprehensive as proponents would have preferred. To no ones surprise, Kobach decried Colyers support, and called the bill a disaster.
Both have conservative roots, though Kobachs run deeper, having to do with voting rights, immigration, and his disdain for those moderate Republicans who led the way toward disposing of Brownbacks 2012 income tax cuts.
If Kobach were to be elected, we likely would be faced with a gridlock in Topeka he runs counter to many in his own party and Democrats that hasnt been seen in Kansas since before the Civil War.
For those who dwell on politics and elections, the week leading up to Election Day on Nov. 6 will be most interesting, and diminished only a tad if Colyer claims the GOP nomination.
Bob Johnson
