The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir, Jeff Singer, Stephen Wolf, and Carolyn Fiddler, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, James Lambert, David Beard, and Arjun Jaikumar.
Leading Off
●KS-Gov: If this unusual new spot from Gov. Jeff Colyer is any indication, the incumbent thinks he's the underdog against Secretary of State Kris Kobach in next week's GOP primary.
Colyer's commercial argues that the race has come down to a two-person contest, but the narrator reminds the audience that other hopefuls are still on the ballot. As pictures of 2006 nominee Jim Barnett, state Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, and little-known businessman Patrick Kucera appear, the narrator argues that "a vote for any of these candidates is essentially a vote for Kris Kobach, increasing his chances of victory." The voice-over goes on to say that Colyer is the only one who can beat Kobach "for our schools" and "for our economy," imploring voters, "Don't go backwards."
It's pretty odd to see someone running an ad encouraging other candidates' supporters to vote for him instead. The spot also doesn’t even make much of a case for why Colyer would be so much better than Kobach. Instead, it just mostly hopes that Barnett, Selzer, and Kucera voters already agree that he would be.
The motivation it is clear, though. Just the other day, Kobach released an internal poll showing him leading Colyer 34-25, with Barnett and Selzer taking 11 and 8 percent, respectively, while Kucera at just 1. Colyer has yet to respond with a survey of his own, but you don’t run an ad like this from a place of strength.