A panel of seven political analysts said Sunday they think Democrat Paul Davis is the odds-on favorite to win the Kansas gubernatorial election Nov. 4. But they think the U.S. Senate race is still too close to call.

Insight Kansas, a group of political science professors in Kansas who write columns and blog about state politics, shared their observations Sunday during a forum at the Dole Institute of Politics on the Kansas University campus. They were joined by Ann Gardner, editorial page editor of the Journal-World.

Like TV sports analysts being interviewed Sunday morning just before the NFL football games, the panelists were asked to handicap the top two races on the Kansas ballot.

“I think the odds are with Davis right now,” said Michael Smith, who teaches at Emporia State University.

Washburn University’s Bob Beatty agreed, conditionally. “If Democrats will vote, over what their registration is, Davis should win,” he said.

Chapman Rackaway of Fort Hays State University was the lone panelist to give a slight edge to Brownback.

The top two races in Kansas have drawn an unusual amount of national, and even international attention this year, mainly because the state seems to be bucking the national trend. In a year when Republicans are widely expected to gain seats in both chambers of Congress, polls show the top two Republicans in Kansas — Sen. Pat Roberts and Gov. Sam Brownback — are both vulnerable this year.

Kansas University’s Burdett Loomis said the issues are different in those two races. He said that while Roberts is feeling the effect of a general anti-incumbent sentiment in the country, the governor’s race is a referendum on Brownback’s policies over the past four years.

“The Brownback agenda was really quite straightforward,” he said. “He’s done more or less what he set out to do.”

Gardner said the races have been difficult for news organizations to cover because of the way campaign styles have changed in just the past few years.

“The candidates aren’t really seeing that much of a need to address the public as a whole because they’re just trying to talk to the segment of the voters they’re trying to get out,” she said. “And so what happens a lot is the advertising kind of takes over the message. I know that some people have been critical of how the news media has jumped on some of the advertising stories, but it’s like, what else is there?”

While most of the panel members said they think the U.S. Senate race is extremely close, a few gave a slight edge to Roberts.

“I think Republicans come home by a hair for Pat Roberts,” Loomis said.

But Wichita State University’s Ed Flentje was less certain.

“I think it’s a toss-up,” he said. “I think it’s much closer than Davis-Brownback.”