Pat Roberts

Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the Republican nomination for his fourth term, beating Tea Party challenger Milton Wolf, 48-41.

The protracted battle over the Republican nomination for the Senate in Mississippi distracted activist conservatives and boosted the chances of third-term Sen Pat Roberts in Kansas, says Roll Call. Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has a Tea Party challenger, Milton Wolf. "Outside spending in Kansas has been on a much smaller scale compared to the Mississippi race.

With the Aug 5 Republican primary on the horizon, Kansas Sen Pat Roberts, a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, "is still the favorite to win renomination," says Sabato's Crystal Ball. " Roberts has been gaffe-happy and vulnerable to the same kind of residency attacks that hampered former Sen. Richard Lugar," it says, but opponent Milton Wolf, a physician, "is decidedly second tier" as a challenger.

A bill proposed by Sens Pat Roberts of Kansas and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota would give futures customers more time to provide the funds to cover their margin requirements following a trade. A CFTC rule says the money must be deposited by the morning following a trade. Roberts and Heitkamp say the deadline should be the close of business on the day after a trade - easier for end users to satisfy.

Six-term incumbent Thad Cochran, the Republican leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee, won the GOP run-off in Mississippi by 2 percentage points over state Sen Chris McDaniel, a Tea Party favorite.

Democrat Mark Pryor, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, leads Republican challenger Tom Cotton, 51-40, in an NBC/Marist telephone poll of 1,174 registered voters in Arkansas, with 7 percent undecided and 2 percent backing someone else. Margin of error +/-2.9 percent, says Pollster.