Palin tries to burnish Roberts’s Tea Party bona fides

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hit the stump in Kansas on Thursday to help rally the party’s base behind Sen. Pat Roberts, one of nation’s most vulnerable GOP Senate incumbents. 

In an unusual move for Palin, she cast Roberts, who has drawn Tea Party ire in the state, as a staunch conservative and compared him to Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).

{mosads}“A lot of the country’s eyes are on you today, and in the next 41 days, making sure you make the right decision,” she told the crowd during a pancake breakfast at the Independence Historical Museum and Art Center. “Only united, this country will stand. He will help do that.”

Palin compared Roberts to the Tea Party darlings as the longtime senator has tacked right in recent days. Roberts warned that America “is headed for national socialism” during an event Tuesday.

Once expected to cruise to victory, Roberts’s campaign was dealt a significant blow when a state court allowed Democrat Chad Taylor to withdraw from the ballot. That cleared the field for independent Greg Orman, who leads in the polls, standing to gain most of Taylor’s supporters. While the Kansas secretary of State is pushing for Democrats to name Taylor’s replacement, many Democrats see Orman as their best chance to knock off the sitting senator and beat back a potential GOP takeover of the Senate.  

The former vice presidential nominee slammed Orman’s supposed bipartisan credentials though, saying he was trying to “snooker” voters at the ballot box. 

Palin is the latest GOP reinforcement dispatched to Kansas to help hold the seat and keep control of both houses of Congress within reach. Her former running mate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole have stumped with Roberts. The Associated Press reported that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul also plan to join Roberts on the trail. 

After a bruising primary fight, residency questions have dogged Roberts on the campaign trail. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported Thursday that Roberts had listed his Virginia home as his “principal residence” in mortgage documents.