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Obama’s Cousin Hopes to Stop President From ‘Destroying America’ (Video)

By Kyle Trygstad and JM Rieger
Posted January 31, 2014 at 12:03pm

The candidate: Physician Milton Wolf
The member: Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
The state: Roberts ran unopposed in his 2008 primary and won the general with 60 percent. Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.
The candidate’s team: Jason Miller of Jamestown Associates is the general and media consultant.

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Milton Wolf, a physician challenging Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts in a Republican primary, may be a distant relative of Barack Obama, but he is no fan of the second-term president.  

In an interview with CQ Roll Call this week, Wolf said Obama’s policies “are destroying America” and called him “maybe the worst president of our history.”  

“Indeed we are cousins, but I am quick to remind that you cannot choose your family,”  Wolf said. “What you can do is choose to rise up and stop your family from destroying America.” Wolf said his mother and Obama’s grandmother are first cousins, though he and the president didn’t meet until 2010. He is running as an outspoken opponent of the president’s health care law — the “archenemy of Obamacare” — and said he has shared his thoughts on the law with Obama.  

The challenger also said Roberts, who spent 16 years in the House and is now seeking a fourth term in the Senate, has simply been on Capitol Hill too long. Wolf has set a two-term limit for himself.  

The Republicans will face off in the Aug. 5 primary. Wolf, who is backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund, starts at a severe name identification disadvantage. A Tarrance Group poll of 501 likely primary voters conducted this month on behalf of the Roberts campaign found the incumbent ahead by 54 points.  

The race is rated Safe Republican by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.  

This video interview series questions the scores of congressional hopefuls who visit the CQ Roll Call offices each cycle. Responses and questions have been edited and condensed. Have a question for a candidate? Follow us at @RollCallPols to learn about upcoming interviews.
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