Who woulda thunk it? In deep-red Kansas, we’ve got three red-hot statewide races, featuring three nationally prominent Republicans — Sam Brownback, Pat Roberts and Kris Kobach.

This oddity has sent reporters scurrying here from New York, D.C., L.A. and even London. No question, it’s bigger than the world’s largest ball of twine.

Overall, the national reporting hasn’t been that bad, but there is a kind of sameness: How did such competition break out in Kansas, of all places, home to GOP dominance over 50 years of presidential elections and 80 years of U.S. Senate contests?

Not all, but many of these reporters want to craft a national story about Kansas in 2014, with implications for the entire country. Maybe there are some, but, 45 days from the election, these races are mostly about holding office-holders accountable.

Arguably, these three Kansas incumbents have over-reached, and elections are society’s most powerful way of rendering verdicts on public officials. But their performances are not all of a piece; indeed, Kansas voters must contend with three distinct red-state records.

First, and most obviously, Gov. Sam Brownback has established clear baselines for judging his performance on economic growth, job creation, educational achievements, and levels of poverty, among other issues. By and large, the judgments here have been harsh, even as he and his allies argue that his self-proclaimed Kansas economic “experiment” is succeeding. Plunging tax revenues and a series of bond downgrades do not inspire confidence, nor do most objective analyses of the Kansas economy.

It may not be fair to hold a governor responsible for the state’s economy, given the great impact of national conditions, but more than any chief executive in memory, Sam Brownback has asked to be judged on his economic record.

Lesson: Be careful what you wish for.

Judging Senator Pat Roberts’ accountability is far different. Senators do compile long voting histories, of course, but these records are far less concrete than those of governors. A senator can end up on many sides of the same policy, as Senator Roberts has on two critical issues for Kansans: funding for the recent farm bill and for the National Bio-and Agro-Defense Facilit. Moreover, senators can vote for policies they know will never pass or introduce legislation that will be dead on arrival, claiming credit for their actions all the while.

So, in the end, the senator’s record does not define his accountability. Rather, it’s Roberts himself, who – fairly or not – is increasingly seen as detached and out of touch. The genuinely funny Pat Roberts of the 1980s and 1990s, with his biting, contextual humor, has been replaced by a grumpy old man. The former Roberts could have dispatched a Greg Orman with a few strokes of his stiletto wit. The current version grumbles and keeps yelling “Harry Reid.”

With recent polling demonstrating real strength for Orman, Pat Roberts must successfully woo the Tea Party right that he so vigorously disparaged a few weeks ago. This is no mean feat.

Finally, there’s the fascinating case of Kris Kobach, who must be kicking himself for not opposing the unexpectedly weak Roberts in the GOP senate primary.

With his crusade against non-existent voter fraud inside the state and his anti-immigrant crusade outside it, Kobach has come to resemble the anti-abortion zealot Phill Kline, ousted in 2006 after a single term as attorney general. Kobach’s intense politicization of an essentially non-political office prompted more than a third of GOP primary voters to reject his bid for re-nomination. And virtually none of those will support him in November.

There is no single “Kansas” story this fall. Rather, voters in this certifiably red state will decide whether these three Republican incumbents have over-reached to the point that they should be defeated.

Maybe, after all, there is a trend. It’s called democracy.

Burdett Loomis is a political science professor at the University of Kansas.