Last week Rasmussen Reports released polling out of the Kansas Senate race showing former Democratic Congressman Jim Slattery, who has only been running for fewer than three months, well within striking distance of incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts, who led 52 percent to 40 percent. Today Daily Kos released its own polling on the race commissioned from nonpartisan pollster Research 2000 and, lo and behold, the numbers show Slattery down by that same 12-point margin.

Pat Roberts (R): 50 percent
Jim Slattery (D): 38 percent

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this poll is how high Slattery's name recognition remains in Kansas -- 85 percent of likely voters know enough about him to rate him favorably or unfavorably without so much as a title or even party affiliation from the pollster to go on -- and that his favorable ratings are pretty darn good (48 percent positive, 37 percent negative) considering that he has been out of office for 14 years and the state hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932. Roberts' numbers aren't bad either (56 percent favorable, 40 percent unfavorable). But hits like this timely one from the Slattery campaign could help bring those numbers down.

After a nearly four-year investigation, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today released their final phase II report on prewar Iraq intelligence.

[...]

[Said Slattery:] "Why didn't Roberts' [who was the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2002-2003, during the lead-up to the war in Iraq] tell the American people there were serious doubts about the reliability of the intelligence and that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11? Why didn't he raise objections when Administration officials portrayed an open-and-shut case that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons and working with al Qaeda?

"As the top Republican on the committee he certainly should have known the intelligence didn't support these claims."

For three years Roberts repeatedly delayed the publication of the report in an attempt to protect the Bush Administration.

"As a citizen and political outsider, I find it completely unacceptable that our government failed us on so many counts during the lead up to the war in Iraq," Slattery said. "Ultimately, Chairman Roberts and the Senate Intelligence Committee failed in their oversight responsibility, both going into the war and in getting to the bottom of what happened in a timely manner."

This could be a fun one, particularly with a Kansan (Barack Obama) topping the Democratic ticket and another Kansan (Governor Kathleen Sebelius) potentially being the number two on the ticket, as well. If you want to help Slattery make the most of this opportunity to go after Roberts, head over to Act Blue today.