Maddow reveals big lie at heart of Kansas Republican's campaign 'reboot'

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow pointed out on Tuesday that Sen. Pat Roberts' (R-KS) campaign "reboot" is built on an apparent misrepresentation of his stance on a federal building that was supposed to be built in his state.

Roberts' campaign debuted an ad on Tuesday portraying the longtime incumbent as a staunch opponent of President Barack Obama's "failed policies." Roberts, the ad claimed, led the push for the establishment of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility on the campus of Kansas State University.

But Maddow noted that the two headlines touting Roberts' efforts dated back to 2007 and 2008.

"That was even before Barack Obama was elected president," she said. "That was before this term for Kansas Senator Pat Roberts in the Senate."

In fact, Roberts voted against a bill this past January that would have provided $404 million in funding for the project, which has now stalled.

"You know, that's fine, folks change their minds," Maddow said. "But that's also the kind of thing the local press is gonna notice."

Reports around the time of that vote speculated that Roberts voted against the bill as part of his efforts to hold off Tea Party challenger Milton Wolf in the state GOP primary. But Maddow explained that Roberts' hope of retaining his seat are now so vulnerable that the national party dispatched "seasoned Washington pros" to Kansas to take over his campaign.

The latest polls, Maddow said, show Roberts trailing independent candidate Greg Orman by 10 points in a one-on-one race, and still losing to Orman by 7 points in a three-way contest against Orman and Democrat Chad Taylor. The Kansas Supreme Court is currently deciding whether Taylor should be allowed to drop out of the race.

"Whatever the Kansas Supreme Court decides, this is not what Republicans expected to find themselves doing seven weeks from the election," Maddow said.

Watch Maddow's commentary, as aired on Tuesday, below.