Dr. Bill Roy asks who'll retire Pat Roberts

Dr. Bill Roy, who almost defeated Bob Dole in the 1974 Senate race, has a column in the July 3 Wichita Eagle taking a look at who will retire Pat Roberts.

He writes

his most potent opponents have other things to do. Jim Slattery or Dan Glickman or Kathleen Sebelius would be not just good senators but, nearly certainly, great ones

After a nice survey of those three, Roy concludes

All I'm suggesting is we help [Roberts] graciously retire in a timely manner.

Because, let's face it, Roberts has been running around with a bad crowd -- which he probably recognizes, judging by his early, near-frantic political activity.

So if the big three have reasons not to make a race, who might make a race?

The second tier might be Representatives Dennis Moore, Nancy Boyda, Attorney General Paul Morrison, and Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson. Boyda is in a tough re-election fight and is only a freshman. Moore's seat, once very marginal, now looks safe for Dennis, but maybe not for another Dem. I've heard Morrison make some Jim Webb-like populist sounds, but he's a career prosecutor, not a career politician and probably wants to stay where he is. Parkinson hasn't been a Democrat for long and is probably planning to run to replace Sebelius.

An effective challenger to Roberts doesn't have to come from one of these tiers. Think of Paul Wellstone, a college professor elected to the Senate in Minnesota, or John Testor, a State Senator elected to the Senate from Minnesota.

Dr. Roy is right there is a need for a credible challenger to Roberts. Finding and recruiting such a challenger is one of the three big tests for Kansas Democratic party leaders in 2008. The other two being re-electing Nancy Boyda and increasing the still depleted ranks of Democrats in the Kansas House and Senate.