Harry Reid Was All-In for “Independent” Orman in Kansas

Well, it looks like one thing Republicans strongly suspected all along was true: Democrats were working hard behind the scenes to help elect “independent” Kansas U.S. Senate candidate Greg Orman. Even Harry Reid, in his desperate attempt to avoid becoming Minority Leader-in-waiting chipped in a not-insubstantial amount of cash considering Kansas’ affordable media market. Bloomberg reports:

Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic super-PAC run by former political advisers to Majority Leader Harry Reid, sent about $1.5 million to two super-PACs that promoted businessman Greg Orman, who was running as an independent and refused to identify with which party he would caucus. Orman was ultimately unsuccessful in his campaign to unseat Republican incumbent Pat Roberts.

Senate Majority PAC sent $1.31 million to Committee to Elect an Independent Senate in five installments beginning on (you guessed it) Oct. 16, the start of the veiled disclosure period. The Reid-aligned PAC also sent $151,000 on Nov. 3-4 to Kansans Support Problem Solvers, which also backed Orman.

Ironically, Michael Bloomberg himself also kicked in $1 million to one of the Orman Super PACs.

Pre-election, there was some actual debate among pundits on what party Orman would caucus with if he beat Senator Roberts. The trail of money leaves little doubt in that regard. Ultimately, Roberts won by 10%. For such an expected close race, perhaps Kansans ultimately knew they would be getting a liberal gun-controlling Democrat masquerading as an independent had they went with Orman.