THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain is in Kansas praising three-term Sen. Pat Roberts as “a steady hand” and calling Roberts’ independent opponent a Democrat in disguise.

At a rally Wednesday in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee fired up the crowd of Roberts supporters.

Roberts has called Orman, a businessman from Olathe who has run as a Democrat and made contributions to Democratic candidates, a vote for Senate Democrats, should he win.

McCain repeating those criticisms, saying, “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might be a duck!”

Orman’s campaign called the critique “desperate.”

McCain is scheduled to headline a Roberts fundraiser in Olathe on Thursday.