"Where is Kansas Treasurer Lynn Jenkins?"

The above question- a really, really good one, was asked last week in a piece in Roll Call (subscription required), as they struggled to explain why it is Jenkins has decided to, well, hide from the public, during her first run for the United States Congress.

In her race for the Jayhawk State’s 2nd district GOP nomination against former Rep. Jim Ryun, who was ousted in 2006, Jenkins has opted for a relatively low profile.

Although Jenkins’ fundraising has been active and fruitful, she has decided to delay airing her first television spot and dropping her first direct-mail piece until next week — just three weeks before the Aug. 5 GOP primary and roughly one week before early and absentee voting begins.

Meanwhile, Ryun has been on broadcast television in more than 70 percent of the district since mid-June, and his second ad, targeting cable television markets in counties with military bases, launched on Tuesday. His second direct-mail piece is scheduled to begin arriving in mailboxes today in the heavily rural, Republican-leaning district now held by freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda (D).

Jim's doing exactly what any sane person would expect any candidate for Congress to do- try as hard as he can to put himself in front of as many of his potential voters as possible, while Lynn, the much lesser known of the two, is focusing on....doing door-to-door herself.

Not exactly how you jump up name recognition, Lynn.

Jenkins campaign spokesman Patrick Leopold said Tuesday that he expects his candidate to make up ground — and then some — once she is “properly introduced” to 2nd district voters.

“I see an extremely tight race that we’re going to win,” Leopold said. “The reality is, everyone knows Jim Ryun, and no one is particularly fond of him.”

No kidding, Patrick. But, and we're just boggled on this point, how on Earth do they expect people to get "properly introduced" to Lynn if she never gets into their living rooms?

As to a "tight race." We don't know what polling you're looking at, kiddo, but every single poll we've seen shows you at very least 14% down- and that was the DCCC poll leaked earlier this summer.

But, go after it, folks- if you think you can close that gab without massive TV spending- go after it. It does appear there are some in your backyard that disagree with you, though.

One Republican operative based in Kansas said Jenkins’ failure to be more active on the campaign trail and in the media earlier on could be what sinks her on Aug. 5. This operative predicted that Jenkins would spend the final three weeks of the campaign attacking Ryun’s Congressional voting record but said the effort would fall short.

“They’ve had no message and no direction, and I still don’t see a direction,” this GOP insider said. “Unless they’ve found something that is going to blow everyone out of the water in the last 25 days, it’s not going to happen.”

Poor Lynn. But don't feel too bad. She is getting read to have some fancy fundraisers with fancy celebrities to help bring in the dough.

Jenkins...is set to raise money in Wichita and New York at an event headlined by former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman[.]

New York City! Well, so much for being so Kansas-focused you didn't even know there were other states, Jenkins. We should mention, of course, this is the second round of fundraisers for Lynn with Frm. Gov. Whitman...the unabashed leader of the very, very small world that is pro-choice Republicans. Good for you, Lynn! Good for you!

The article also contains just a couple of lines from Christian "I'm a Twit" Morgan, talking about how, obviously, the Kansas Republican Party is just amazingly unified and, golly gee, they're just going to rally behind whoever wins the primary and everything! (Sure Christian...just keep saying that to yourself. How many incumbent state senators have conservative primary challengers this year? Hmm?)

Jenkins' first ad buy of the cycle is supposed to start today in the Joplin, MO markets, and while we haven't seen hide nor hair of the commercial as of yet, Mr. Leopold did give us a sneak peek, so to speak:

Leopold signaled that Jenkins intends to hit Ryun for what she will claim was his failure while in Congress to address illegal immigration, high gas prices and excessive government spending.

We love that they used the word "hit." And we certainly do hope they do hit- and hard. The nastier this primary gets, the better it is for Congresswoman Nancy Boyda.

23 days.