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INDEPENDENCE, Kan. As Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) toured this state earlier this week with Robert J. Dole, the former Republican leader waxed nostalgic about the bipartisanship deal-making that marked his days running the Senate.

Dole specifically criticized Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) for his role in last falls government shutdown. An ailing Kansas legend at 91, Dole still has his signature wit. He told one crowd, Some of those guys are so far on the right theyre gonna fall out of the Capitol.

But the message from the Roberts campaign was starkly different here Thursday morning, when Sarah Palin swooped into Independence to bestow her grass-roots tea party credibility on the surprisingly troubled Roberts re-election campaign.

Palin praised Roberts as a rock-ribbed conservative who will fight like our countrys future depends on it. And the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee thanked Roberts for standing alongside Cruz in filibustering funding for President Obamas signature health-care law, a move which resulted in the shutdown.

Hes not wishy-washy on the fence like you know who, the other guy, Palin said, a reference to Robertss opponent, independent candidate Greg Orman. I am so thankful because we need those with that stiff spine, with the principles that are so invicted [sic] within them, that they take a side.

The contrast between Dole and Palin underscores both the troubles for Roberts here at home and the sudden urgency for the national Republican Party in holding a Senate seat in conservative Kansas that is in serious jeopardy.

Surrogates from across the partys ideological spectrum have been in Kansas this week or are due here in coming days to stump with Roberts, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.).

With fewer than six weeks until Election Day, Roberts has yet to consolidate Republican base voters behind his candidacy. Roberts won a bruising Aug. 5 primary with just 48 percent of the vote. The runner-up -- tea party-aligned Milton Wolf, who garnered 41 percent -- has yet to endorse Roberts. Bringing Palin into Kansas for a campaign stop was designed in large part to energize conservative activists about the incumbent.

As Palin and Roberts served pancakes and sausage links to a couple hundred supporters inside an old museum here, The Washington Post asked Palin why she thinks Wolf has not endorsed Roberts.

Roberts tried to bat away the question: Oh, come on, man, he told The Post.

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In Kansas rescue mission, Palin gives Roberts tea party approval