Kassebaum Baker speaks of ‘disappointment’ with Roberts

The living legends of Kansas Republican politics are Bob Dole and Nancy Kassebaum Baker, who were a productive and influential duo in the U.S. Senate from the 1980s through 1996. So it’s news that Kassebaum Baker declined to tape a TV commercial for Roberts, the longtime friend who holds her old Senate seat. “There’s just disappointment around the state. They feel they don’t know him now,” she told the Kansas City Star. Reflecting on the day in 2012 that Roberts rebuffed Dole’s plea to vote for the United Nations treaty protecting rights of people with disabilities, Kassebaum Baker also recently told the Washington Post: “People thought, ‘Gosh, why couldn’t he have done that for Bob?’” She observed that among some prominent Kansas Republicans, “that just triggered an emotional disappointment with Pat. I think that carried on and has not been changed.” Of course, that vote didn’t keep Dole from campaigning for Roberts last week. – Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Kassebaum Baker speaks of ‘disappointment’ with Roberts."