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Topeka Sen. Pat Roberts has been a key player in Republican politics at the state and national level for nearly half a century, going back to 1967 when he first joined the staff of then-Sen. Frank Carlson, and later with former Rep. Keith Sebelius.

But now, at 78, Roberts faces the toughest re-election campaign of his career. His long years of experience in Washington have suddenly gone from being his biggest asset to perhaps his greatest liability.

It was an issue that his tea party challenger Milton Wolf hammered on relentlessly during the GOP primary, calling Roberts a Virginia Republican and claiming he spends more time at his home in suburban Washington than in Kansas.

And it's an issue that his main challenger in the general election, independent candidate Greg Orman, has occasionally alluded to without being so direct. After the national Republican Party sent consultants to Kansas to take over the Roberts campaign, for example, Orman commented wryly that he was glad some of Roberts' neighbors could come help him out.

Roberts has taken the criticism as a personal affront, as when he was asked about it during a debate at the Kansas State Fair.

I know more about Kansas than anybody else on this stage, Roberts said. I have walked with families in the rubble of Greensburg, I have stood with the farmers in the fields of dust during the recent drought, I've been in fields under water when the Missouri River flooded, I've been from corner to corner and border to border.

I am a fourth-generation Kansan, he added. I was born here, educated here, done my life's work here. Don't tell me I'm not from Kansas.

Early life and career

Roberts is indeed a fourth-generation Kansan. His great-grandfather, J.W. Roberts, founded the Oskaloosa Independent, which Roberts likes to point out was nearly destroyed during Quantrill's Raid in northeast Kansas in 1863.

Pat Roberts was born April 20, 1936, in Topeka. He grew up in Holton, where he attended high school and later attended Kansas State University, earning a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1958.

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Roberts, a GOP institution, now battling for his political life

BOSTON -- Mark Fisher, the tea-party Republican who was beaten handily by Charlie Baker in last week's gubernatorial primary, hasn't changed his mind much about the Republican nominee whom he has called "Democrat-lite" and "Democrat-heavy."

Fisher said he has vowed to "vote for the Republican" in the general election, but has yet to make up his mind whether to cast a ballot for Baker.

"It's a moving target. I'm going to wait and see if he moves back to the right, which would be a welcome thing, a welcome thing," Fisher told the News Service.

"My fear is that now he's in the general; he doesn't have a primary opponent; he'll move to track Democrat voters in the state, and that will be very troubling for me and all the other conservatives."

A Shrewsbury Republican who owns a metal-manufacturing company, Fisher was a newcomer to electoral politics who butted up against the establishment wing of the party and appeared on the primary ballot only after filing a lawsuit alleging improper vote-counting at the GOP convention in March.

During the primary, Fisher picked up more than 40,000 votes while Baker racked up more than 116,000. Fisher laid out a vision for a much more limited government. Baker, who has made a point of trying to appeal to all voters, avoided directly engaging with Fisher during the forums and debates where they appeared together.

"Charlie thanks Mr. Fisher for his spirited campaign," Baker spokesman Tim Buckley told the News Service in a statement.

"I've voted for candidates like Charlie, Gabriel Gomez, Scott Brown the second time around, having to hold my nose to do so, and other people who are in groups, tea party groups like myself who didn't vote for them and were critical of me voting for them," Fisher told the News Service. "It would be a similar thing with Charlie."

On the Democratic side, both primary challengers have endorsed the party's gubernatorial nominee Martha Coakley, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Steven Grossman has been an outspoken backer of Coakley, in contrast to his outspoken criticism of her in the lead-up to the Sept. 9 vote.

Don Berwick, a champion of the liberal cause to put government in charge of providing all health insurance, has been a more measured Coakley supporter.

See the article here:
Fisher unsure about Baker vote

Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel delivers a concession speech in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in this June 24, 2014 file photo. REUTERS

JACKSON, Miss. -- Defeated Mississippi Senate candidate Chris McDaniel is arguing that a state court judge was wrong to dismiss his lawsuit that sought to overturn his Republican primary loss to Sen. Thad Cochran.

Just hours before a midnight deadline, attorneys for McDaniel, a state senator who was supported by tea party groups, filed legal arguments with the Mississippi Supreme Court late Thursday.

The arguments reiterate what McDaniel's attorneys had said before Judge Hollis McGehee dismissed McDaniel's lawsuit last month - that current state law does not specify a deadline for a candidate to challenge a primary loss.

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The veteran senator from Mississippi was forced into a primary runoff against state Sen. Chris McDaniel, but the six-term Republican narrowly def...

A 1959 judicial decision by the Mississippi Supreme Court imposed a 20-day deadline to file, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, but McDaniel's attorney argued that the decision applies only to local offices, not statewide or legislative offices.

The attorney, Mitch Tyner, also wrote in his brief Thursday that the 1959 Supreme Court ruling became irrelevant when state lawmakers overhauled election laws in 1986.

McGehee had agreed with Cochran's attorneys in saying the court ruling set a timeline for trying to overturn a primary loss, and that McDaniel delayed too long in challenging the results of the Republican primary runoff, which was held on June 24.

McDaniel is asking justices to reverse McGehee's decision and order the judge to hold a full trial on the lawsuit. The suit had asked McGehee to declare McDaniel the GOP primary winner, based on McDaniel's contention that Cochran improperly courted voters who usually support Democrats.

Read the rest here:
Chris McDaniel continues challenging Mississippi Senate primary results

British Tea Party Podcast | The Reunion
So yes, It was about time we all got back together after all this time. However the future of this podcast is in your hands! Would you like to see this as a ...

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British Tea Party Podcast | The Reunion - Video

Play-Doh Princess Belle #39;s Magical Tea Party Set
My latest Toy Video playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK-ZJrQ8akknB6VEPbBCWjjHNWtxD7hqS Click here to Subscribe to me- TheToyMom: http://www.youtube.com/user/thetoymom?sub_con...

By: THE TOY MOM

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Play-Doh Princess Belle's Magical Tea Party Set - Video