What with all of the recent distractions, it has been easy to lose sight of the upcoming midterms – especially those that may not be local. But as it is likely to be important nationally, I am going to revisit the Kansas Senate race and break it down by the issues.

Since the dropout of Democrat Chad Taylor was confirmed and made official by the Kansas State Supreme Court last week, the race became a head to head match up between incumbent Senator Pat Roberts (R) and challenger Greg Orman (I). But what Kansas needs to know – and what we who are concerned with control of the Senate should want to know as well – is where each of them stands on the issues.

Life/Reproductive Rights:

Senator Pat Roberts has a lifetime 100% rating from National Right to Life.

Greg Orman states that, as a man, he defers to women to make those decisions that would affect their healthcare.
In other words, Senator Roberts will defend life at every opportunity (and has a proven record of doing so), and Greg Orman apparently believes that possession of testicles absolves him from the responsibility to understand when life begins and whether or not it is worth defending.

Education:

Senator Pat Roberts is the author of legislation to stop Common Core in Kansas and to keep the federal government out of an education system that belongs under local and state control.

Greg Orman says that there is room for federal standards in education. Loosely translated: he will not be standing up to defend Kansas schools against federal legislative encroachment in the form of Common Core standards.

Obamacare:

Senator Pat Roberts has supported every effort to repeal and defund Obamacare that has been presented.

Greg Orman talks about a broken healthcare system, and while he admits that Obamacare likely made the situation worse, he will not go so far as to say that it needs to be junked.

Military:

Senator Pat Roberts has always been a strong supporter of the American military, and served as a Marine himself.

Greg Orman says that he believes in a strong military and in helping veterans when they return home, but also says that the people best equipped to handle groups like ISIS (who threaten United States citizens and, ultimately, our sovereignty) are the Iraqis. Even though ISIS has made gains and executed hundreds of Iraqis and Syrians in the last month alone. The only thing the local population seems to be able to “handle” without coalition assistance is being executed en masse.

Greg Orman also intends to work for the repeal of Citizens United, and believes that the Hobby Lobby decision was wrong because “no business should be allowed to deprive its employees of healthcare.” (Nevermind the fact that Hobby Lobby *did* offer birth control to employees, and that failure to subsidize certain healthcare options is not the same as denying access.)

People have asked Greg Orman which party with whom he intends to caucus, and he has said that he will caucus based on issue rather than party. But when you look at these issues combined with his stance on both the Hobby Lobby case and Citizens United, the writing is on the wall.

When you include the fact that Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill is doing her level best to prop him up, the writing on that wall appears to be in permanent marker.