Kansas state Rep. Kevin Yoder is hoping for a triumph of novelty over experience in the GOP primary in his state’s 3rd Congressional District.
Yoder is one of eight Republicans vying for his party’s nomination in the district currently represented by retiring Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore. Two of Yoder’s chief rivals in the race – former state Sen. Nick Jordan and former state Rep. Patricia Lightner – have already run for Moore’s seat, but Yoder doesn’t think that’s an asset this year.
Yoder is one of eight Republicans vying for his party’s nomination in the district currently represented by retiring Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore. Two of Yoder’s chief rivals in the race – former state Sen. Nick Jordan and former state Rep. Patricia Lightner – have already run for Moore’s seat, but Yoder doesn’t think that’s an asset this year.
Pointing to Jordan’s 16-point loss to Moore in 2008, Yoder said several of the former state legislator’s backers have switched to the Yoder camp this year, in search of a fresh candidate for the GOP.
“That’s played heavily in many people coming over to our camp. They’re looking for a new candidate, for someone who has momentum, has got inertia, which our campaign does and continues to have,” said Yoder.
Yoder claims the trend line of the race is good for his campaign. He brought in more than $270,000 in the first quarter of 2010, and he says his internal polling shows the electorate is receptive to his message – assuming he has the resources to get it out.
“Our race is just a matter of raising more money and being in a position where we can get more exposure so that we can exceed the name identification issue,” Yoder said.
Yoder has represented Overland Park in the Kansas House since 2002 – long enough to see Kansas Republicans let several key races, including the 2002 governor’s race, slip away due to internal divisions.
“My hope is that this isn’t this type of primary,” said Yoder. “They don’t want to turn it into a battle where we shoot ourselves in the foot again.”
Whoever emerges as the GOP’s candidate will face a serious foe in the presumptive Democratic nominee, Stephene Moore, who is a nurse and the wife of the outgoing congressman.
Yoder said he expects Moore to raise enough money to be “very competitive,” but sees vulnerabilities in her issue profile.
“She wants to run as her own individual, yet her belief system, her voting would be very similar to her husband’s,” said Yoder. “She has the negative voting record of her husband but not the positives of being the incumbent.”
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0410/35673.html
“That’s played heavily in many people coming over to our camp. They’re looking for a new candidate, for someone who has momentum, has got inertia, which our campaign does and continues to have,” said Yoder.
Yoder claims the trend line of the race is good for his campaign. He brought in more than $270,000 in the first quarter of 2010, and he says his internal polling shows the electorate is receptive to his message – assuming he has the resources to get it out.
“Our race is just a matter of raising more money and being in a position where we can get more exposure so that we can exceed the name identification issue,” Yoder said.
Yoder has represented Overland Park in the Kansas House since 2002 – long enough to see Kansas Republicans let several key races, including the 2002 governor’s race, slip away due to internal divisions.
“My hope is that this isn’t this type of primary,” said Yoder. “They don’t want to turn it into a battle where we shoot ourselves in the foot again.”
Whoever emerges as the GOP’s candidate will face a serious foe in the presumptive Democratic nominee, Stephene Moore, who is a nurse and the wife of the outgoing congressman.
Yoder said he expects Moore to raise enough money to be “very competitive,” but sees vulnerabilities in her issue profile.
“She wants to run as her own individual, yet her belief system, her voting would be very similar to her husband’s,” said Yoder. “She has the negative voting record of her husband but not the positives of being the incumbent.”
http://www.politico.com//news/stories/0410/35673.html