Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) wasn’t on the ballot, but Tuesday’s elections suggested that even the state’s Republicans believe his Kansas experiment has been a failure.
The GOP primary was a bloodbath for Brownback’s buddies in the state legislature. Five far-right conservatives in Kansas’ House and six state senators lost their seats to Republican challengers. The losing incumbents included Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, an oft-ally of the governor. The hardliners were defeated by a wave of moderate Republicans, who were also victorious in a number of open elections Tuesday. The purge of Tea Party state lawmakers -- by Republican primary voters no less -- is being viewed in the state as a referendum on Brownback’s agenda on cutting taxes and shrinking government to minuscule levels.


“This is the first time ever that quote-unquote ‘conservatives’ have controlled the governorship, controlled both chambers of the state legislature, but now instead of challenging the system, they were responsible for running it,” said Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas. “Clearly, at least so far in the Republican electorate, there was a lot of discontent with how they ran it.”




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"The reality of the state’s fiscal mess has finally sunk in and incumbents were running for cover in every way they could," Flentje said.


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“The underlying, core issue was instability in the budget,” said Stephanie Sharp, a Kansas political consultant who was involved in a number of the campaigns that succeeded in overthrowing Tea Party incumbents.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/kans...mary-brownback