Social Conservatives Shift Republican Party in Kansas Onto Rightward Tack

We’re not in Bob Dole’s Kansas anymore--at least when it comes to the Republican Party.

This prairie state with a reputation for populism took a hard right turn at the polls this week, as a raft of socially conservative candidates with the backing of the religious right swept away their more moderate GOP primary opponents as part of a political drama playing out across the country.

At the same time that the Republican platform committee was embarrassing Dole in San Diego by ignoring his proposal for an expression of “tolerance” on the abortion issue, the state party that he represented in Congress for 35 years turned away from the presumptive presidential candidate.

“The party of Bob Dole is moving right from underneath him on the national level, and it’s doing the same thing in Kansas,” says Burdett Loomis, a political scientist at the University of Kansas. “This is not Bob Dole’s Republican Party.”

While closely watched Republican Senate primaries in Michigan and Georgia also were won Tuesday by the most conservative candidates, perhaps the strongest evidence of the change sweeping the GOP occurred here in the Sunflower State in the race to fill the seat that Dole himself vacated on June 11 when he resigned from the Senate to devote his energies to his flagging presidential bid.

One-term Rep. Sam Brownback, who touted the “basic values [of] work, family and the recognition of a higher moral authority,” handily beat former Lt. Gov. Sheila Frahm, an abortion rights supporter who had been appointed to fill the Dole vacancy pending an election. Dole steered clear of making an endorsement, but Frahm was backed by the state’s other moderate Republican senator, Nancy Landon Kassebaum.

Polls had shown the race neck-and-neck; a survey released late last week gave Brownback only a 2-percentage-point lead over Frahm. But the poll, conducted for the Kansas City Star, showed a dramatic split in their backing.

Those surveyed who said they support the Christian Coalition overwhelmingly favored Brownback--67% to 22%. Those who did not consider themselves backers of the powerful grass-roots organization leaned to Frahm, 51% to 31%.

Apparently, the religious right turned out while others did not--Brownback beat Frahm, 55% to 42%.

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Brownback’s victory--combined with primary wins by social conservatives in other races for Kansas state offices--stands as “an unalloyed gain” for the religious right, Loomis said. “But we have to see the follow-up in the fall.”

Brownback’s win--as well as the victories by Ronna Romney in Michigan and Guy Milner in Georgia--all raised the hopes of Democrats that their respective candidates in the states can triumph in November, in part by attracting moderate Republicans.

In Michigan, incumbent Democratic Sen. Carl Levin already was viewed a favorite for reelection. But in Georgia, the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn is considered a tossup. And in Kansas, some analysts believe Brownback may have a tougher time holding on to Dole’s seat than Frahm would have in the general election.

From the evening newscasts--”Conservatives swept the primaries”--to the headlines--”Conservatives and moderates battle for soul of Kansas GOP”--to the political cartoons here, the state’s political sea change is the topic of the hour, even as native son Dole grapples with much the same tensions at the national level.

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The Kansas results demonstrate that the GOP is “slipping further and further to its religious right cohorts in terms of primary voting,” said Republican political analyst Kevin Phillips. Many Republican moderates are participating less, and elections like Kansas’ “are a leading indicator for their future disaffection.”

All that is a bad sign for Dole, Phillips added. “But Bob Dole has so many bad signs today that he looks like a wall on a Pennsylvania Dutch hex barn,” he said.

Since his primary win, Brownback has spent his time trying to patch up what he likes to call a “family spat” in his party. When asked how important the support of the religious right was to his primary victory, he sidestepped the question by saying: “We have received support from a lot of different grass-roots groups.”