Does Rep. Jerry Moran, the Republican from Hays, Kan., who appears to have a slight edge in the 2010 GOP primary for U.S. Senate, suffer from indecisiveness?</p><p>Given his history, the issue was bound to come up. Last week, former U.S. House speaker Dennis Hastert, who wrote a much talked about passage in his memoir seemingly about Moran, was in town to stump for Moran&rsquo;s opponent, Rep. Todd Tiahrt.</p><p> Hastert has never admitted that Moran was the target of his book&rsquo;s criticism. But as he said last week: &ldquo;You could put the pieces together.&rdquo; Moran himself hasn&rsquo;t denied that he was the guy.</p><p> In the book, Hastert took on an unnamed Republican for not voting for the Medicare prescription drug bill.</p><p>&ldquo;Some members had assured me that they would be with us, but when the crunch came, they weren&rsquo;t,&rdquo; Hastert wrote. &ldquo;One prairie state member &hellip; voted no, then ran and hid.&rdquo;</p><p> Moran has said he neither ran nor hid, but opposed the bill because it was poor law.</p><p> I can&rsquo;t shake the experience I had covering Moran both in 2002 and 2006 when the congressman was eyeing a race for governor.</p><p> Both times, Moran staged the most tortured, twisted, prolonged political dance I&rsquo;ve ever experienced in 30 years of covering politicians. Moran was in the race, then out, then back in, then out.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything like it,&rdquo; K-State political scientist Joe Aistrup burst out at one point in 2005. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like the runaway groom. He gets close. But he just can&rsquo;t say &lsquo;I do.&rsquo;&ensp;&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;Moran Undecided About Where to Eat Lunch: Will Consult His Advisers, Family Before Making Final Decision, Which Is Expected Shortly,&rdquo; read one cyberspace entry.</p><p> Running for governor is a big deal. But what made Moran&rsquo;s struggle so maddening was the widespread belief that he could have sleepwalked into the office in 2002. Though not well known on this side of the state, Moran regularly wins re-election out west with 80 percent support.</p><p>His 1st District is loaded with Republicans who are regular voters. That gives him a big edge in any party primary and in the general election.</p><p> Prior to entering Congress in 1997, Moran spent eight years in the Kansas Senate, including two years as majority leader. In that chamber, the book on Moran was the same: He sometimes couldn&rsquo;t make up his mind.</p><p>&ldquo;It was indeterminate to determine what his opinion was,&rdquo; former state senator Gus Bogina quipped.</p><p>Another senator, Republican Mike Harris, who roomed with Tiahrt, recalled Moran disappearing when controversial bills arose. Harris termed it &ldquo;lapses of indecisiveness.&rdquo;</p><p> Other senators, even those close to him, have joked about his struggles.</p><p> In endorsing Tiahrt this year, former congressman Jim Ryun described Moran as a politician &ldquo;who fades into the background out of fear that he will offend someone and not win 80 percent of the vote in his next election against token opposition.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s an unusually tough shot. It&rsquo;s only fair to point out that even Moran&rsquo;s detractors describe him as smart, a man of character and a good guy.</p><p>A spokesman said last week that Moran has cast hundreds of votes over the years and is rarely absent.</p><p>&ldquo;Before key votes, Jerry educates himself, listens to Kansans, asks for advice and then decides how to vote,&rdquo; the spokesman said. &ldquo;Perhaps some party leaders don&rsquo;t like that, but Kansans sure do. They&rsquo;ve elected Jerry by wide margins.&rdquo;</p><p>Still, we are talking about the U.S. Senate here. So is this an issue &mdash; or not? I can&rsquo;t tell.</p><p>(Yes, that&rsquo;s a joke.)</p><p>&bull;&bull;&bull; </p><p>Bon voyage to research librarian Liz Safly, who spent 47 years at the Truman Library and is the staff&rsquo;s last member who worked under the former president while he was alive.</p><p>Safly retired in mid-July, but she will be feted Thursday. She aided high schoolers, journalists like me and professional biographers, including David McCullough, who put Truman on the map for a new generation with his 1993 book &ldquo;Truman.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;If the Guinness book of world records has a category for most frequently acknowledged reference archivist, Liz would hold the record,&rdquo; library director Mike Devine said.</p><p>All the best, Liz. Thanks for your help.