Kansas GOP Senate primary election is Tuesday (Updated)

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Republicans will begin casting their votes in the Kansas Republican primary for U.S. Senate in less than 12 hours. The polls will open at 7 AM in the Jayhawk State and will close at 7 PM. Two U.S. Congressmen have been battling to be the GOP nominee, a candidate who will be all but assured of victory in the November general election in Republican Kansas. The Senate seat is being vacated by Sam Brownback, who is the front-runner to be the state's next governor.

Todd Tiahrt and Jerry Moran have been waging a contest to convince voters that each is the true conservative in the race. Moran has the larger campaign war chest and has led the lead in the polls, but Tiahrt has been narrowing the gap in the most recent polling. Although a Survey USA poll released on the eve of the primary election showed Moran with a 10-point lead, the race could actually be closer than that:

The pollster says that compared to two weeks ago, Moran is down one percentage point, and Tiahrt is up three. Tiahrt’s strategy to paint himself as the true conservative appears to be working, at least among conservative voters. Today he leads among conservatives by five percentage points, where two months ago Moran led by 21 percentage points in this group.

The poll notes potential trouble for Moran: “Most ominous for Moran: Among the 17 percent of voters who report they have already cast their ballots, Tiahrt is nominally ahead, 46 percent to 43 percent. Among those who tell SurveyUSA they are likely to vote, but have not yet done so, Moran leads by 13.”

If these potential Moran voters don't turn out tomorrow, it could be good news for Tiahrt.

Moran has been endorsed by Senators Jim Demint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). Tiahrt has the backing of 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former White House chief of staff Karl Rove and political activist Phyllis Schlafly.

Updates...

Gov. Palin wrote tonight on her wall at Facebook:

Sarah Palin I want to remind the good people of Kansas to vote on Tuesday for Todd Tiahrt for U.S. Senate. He is a strong commonsense conservative who will serve Kansans with honor and help put our country on the right fiscal track.
About Todd
www.toddtiahrt.com
Kansans for Tiahrt

And from NRO's The Corner, "(Mostly) Good News from Kansas"

- JP