Helling Profiles Milton Wolfe in Politico March 31, 2014

Politico:
OVERLAND PARK –In a small office in this Kansas City suburb, Milton Wolf–doctor, columnist, distant cousin of Barack Obama–tells two dozen supporters he would make a better U.S. senator than the incumbent, Pat Roberts.

“He’s our senator, and he deserves our respect,” he says, to polite applause. “I hope that we can convince the senator that this should be a campaign about issues, instead of about personal destruction.”

Then: “I’d ask you to stand up for our Constitution. And I would ask you to stand up for the American idea itself, that American idea of individual liberty, of limited government and free market values.

“If you’ll stand for those things, we’ll be standing together, and we’ll be fighting, and we will win.”

Heads nod all around. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Milton, what with those strange Facebook posts, but maybe his Tea Party crusade is getting back on track. Maybe the lamestream media is moving on. Maybe the government can still be saved.

Or, maybe not. It’s possible Kansas is too conservative for Milton Wolf. Too conservative, in fact, for the Tea Party.

***

Kansas seemed primed for a Tea Party insurgency six months ago, when Wolf, who turns 43 on April 8, announced a primary challenge to Roberts, a fixture of the state’s Republican politics since Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural.

By almost any measure, the state was, and is, deeply red, perhaps the most conservative place in America. Every statewide elected official is a Republican, led by Gov. Sam Brownback, a tax-slashing social conservative and one-time presidential candidate. Secretary of State Kris Kobach is nationally known for his work to restrict immigration and voter registration. Koch Industries is headquartered in Wichita. All four of the state’s House members regularly top the lists of the most conservative Republicans in Congress. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, of the sprawling 1st District, fought with his House leadership over spending and the debt limitso publicly he was kicked off the Agriculture Committee – bothering some constituents, but making him a hero to the Sean Hannity crowd.
More: politico.com

Kansas Democrat Launches Senate Campaign Accusing Roberts Has Election Year Shift to Right February 28, 2014

AP)- A northeast Kansas prosecutor on Friday opened his campaign for the U.S. Senate by criticizing three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts as out of touch and “carrying the banner of the far right.”

Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor became the first Democratic candidate in the race.
He described Roberts as a “D.C. insider” who’s been in Washington too long to help solve national problems.

Taylor, 40, was first elected district attorney in the county that includes Topeka in 2008, and he was re-elected without opposition in 2012.

Roberts, 77, started his career in politics as a congressional aide starting in the late 1960s; he served in the U.S. House for 16 years before winning his Senate seat in 1996. He’s seeking re-election this year, but he faces a GOP primary challenge from Dr. Milton Wolf, a 42-year-old Leawood radiologist with tea party backing.

Roberts’ executive campaign manager, Leroy Towns, said Taylor will face questions from voters in Republican-leaning Kansas about why they should bolster the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.

“The contrast in this race is going to be clear,” Towns said.

He said as a Democrat, Taylor must defend President Barack Obama and the federal health care overhaul.

“He’ll run with the party, and he’ll defend it,” he said of Taylor.

In his Friday news conference, Taylor suggested that Roberts’ shift to the right is hurting Kansas and contributing to gridlock in Washington.

“Our present senior senator has abandoned his Midwest Kansas values in favor of carrying the banner of the far right in order to salvage his political career,” Taylor said.

TPX Endorses Wolfe in Kansas Senate Primary February 27, 2014

The California-based Tea Party Express political action group endorsed Republican Senate Challenger Dr. Milton Wolfe Thursday.
Wolfe is trying to unseat three-term incumbent Republican Pat Roberts.
The Tea Party Express endorsed a variety of conservative candidates.
In 2012, it endorsed Sarah Steelman in three-way Missouri Republican Senate primary she lost to Todd Akin.
Amy Kremer of the Tea Party Express came to Kansas to make the endorsement.
She says Wolfe ” is the perfect person to tackle President Obama’s failed healthcare policy. He even has proposed his own alternative to the Obamacare train wreck, Patient Care.”
The primary is in August but the tone of the campaign is one of a campaign well underway.
Wolfe’s campaign is called Roberts ” Virginia’s third Senator’, raising questions about Roberts ties to Kansas after spending decades in Washington.
Roberts has a voting address at the Dodge City home of a political supporter.
He rents out a duplex in Dodge City that he owns.
Roberts has fired back.
This week the Roberts campaign is airing a commercial focusing on Wolfe’s past.
That includes images of X-rays from gunshot victims where Wolfe made jokes about the images.
The commercial questions Wolfe’s judgements about the Facebook posts, which have been removed.
“We were happy to see Milton Wolf stepping forward and apologizing for posting some X-rays on Facebook several years ago. But this story shows what is wrong with politics today. Political consultants dredge up things from years ago and try to make a big deal out of something minor, ” Kremer said in the news release announcing the group’s support of Wolfe.

Doctor Challenging Roberts for Senate Posted Gruesome Pix to Facebook and Joked About Them February 23, 2014

Politico:
A Kansas radiologist running for Senate posted grisly X-rays of patients who had been shot on his Facebook page and engaged in joking online banter about the images.

Milton Wolf, challenging Sen. Pat Roberts in a Republican primary, acknowledged Sunday that he posted “insensitive” comments online, which he described as “mistakes.”

He was responding to a devastating story in the Topeka Capital-Journal, which reported that he wrote that a patient could not complain about the awkward way his head was positioned for an X-ray, published on Facebook, because he was dead. He said a man decapitated by gunfire resembled an alien in the movie “Terminator.” And he posted another image of a man who had been shot in the temple.

Wolf accused Roberts of “character assassination” in a 424-word statement.

“To those I have offended, I am truly sorry and I ask for your forgiveness,” he said.

Accompanying the newspaper’s story is an eight-minute video of a testy interview with the candidate. Wolf notes that he has authored medical textbooks and argues that it is okay to post images as long as names are redacted, something the paper quotes medical ethics professionals disputing.

The reporter asks, “Do you still post images of dead people on the Internet?”

“I’m not going to play these kind of gotcha games with you,” Wolf responded.

Wolf has the backing of conservative outside groups such as the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Madison Project.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports incumbents, quickly attacked what it described as “freakish behavior.” Officials faulted the outside groups, who often antagonize the establishment, for failing to properly vet primary challengers before offering endorsements.

“Wolf is now embroiled in serious ethical and legal questions and challenges, effectively destroying any small hope that he had for a serious campaign,” said NRSC spokesman Brad Dayspring.

The tea party challenger, who often notes that he is a distant cousin of President Barack Obama, said he removed the old posts years ago.

“Senator Pat Roberts wants to attack me as a doctor rather than giving Kansans a reason to vote for him,” Wolf said. “It’s sad.”

Milton Wolfe Campaign Produces Pat Roberts Residency Spot February 17, 2014

Wolf “Home” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BhU8E1w_UM&sns=tw via @youtube