SlatterySlattery   Jim Slattery, the former six-term congressman and a golden boy of the Kansas Democratic Party in the 1970s, is considering a run for U.S. Senate next year against incumbent Republican Pat Roberts.

   "I'm taking a look at it," Slattery told Prime Buzz this morning. "A number of people have called to urge me to do that, so I'm doing that."

   Slattery, 59, said he has no timetable for making a decision.

   "You can't let these kind of things drag on indefinitely," he said. "There's plenty of time and plenty of things that need to unfold. I'm going to take my time and give some thought to it and make a decision."

   Roberts' long Washington career has benefitted from his standing as a conservative in one of the most Republican states in the country, so he would be the favorite. He was first elected to Congress in 1980 and leaped to the Senate in 1996 with a relatively easy 62-34 percent victory over then-state Treasurer Sally Thompson.

   But Roberts' work as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 2003 runup to the war in Iraq could make for some robust debate, as would Roberts' chairmanship in 1999 of the new Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee.

   Also, his role in crafting the 1996 farm bill, which resulted in the biggest change in agriculture policy in this country since the 1930s, continues to stoke controversy.

   Slattery's last run for office was a disaster. As the Democratic nominee for governor in 1994, he suffered a 64-36 percent blowout to Republican Bill Graves in what became a historic landslide year for the GOP.

   A Slattery decision to enter the race would be a huge achievement for the ongoing revival of the state Democratic Party. The party, with its growing roster of statewide officials, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, failed to provide a first-tier challenger to Roberts in 2002 or to his fellow senator, Sam Brownback, in 2004.

   "There's a part of me that thinks it's important that the people of Kansas have a choice in this upcoming election," Slattery said.

   Slattery, a Washington lawyer and lobbyist, said he has known Roberts about 30 years and considers him a friend.

   But he said he is weighing the race because of his deep concerns about the country's future.

   "When I talk to friends all over Kansas, there's this deep sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction," Slattery said. "It's not just Iraq. It's health care, immigration policy, the failure to deal with China properly, global and environmental issues.

   "There's just a sense that we have a dysfunctional federal government."

   More in tomorrow's Star.