Because a large percentage of Republicans believe Obama is not eligible to hold public office (see Opinion surveys section), candidates running in Republican primaries in 2010 had "to walk the fine line of humoring conspiracy-minded supporters without explicitly questioning Obama's legitimacy himself." In one case, Ken Buck, the Republican candidate for Colorado's U.S. Senate seat, attempted to run as a Tea Party candidate, but he was recorded telling a campaign staffer to "tell those dumbasses at the Tea Party to stop asking questions about birth certificates while I'm on the camera".In another case, Tracey Mann, a candidate running for Congress from Kansas, stated at a candidate forum that Obama "should show his birth certificate to really resolve this thing one way or another." In a radio interview he answered a question as "I think the president of the United States needs to come forth with his papers and show everyone that he's an American citizen and put this issue to bed once and for all." In response, on July 21, 2010, The Hutchinson News, a local paper in Hutchinson, Kansas, withdrew their endorsement of Tracey Mann. In withdrawing their endorsement, the newspaper said that Mann "questions the citizenship of President Barack Obama despite evidence that is irrefutable to most objective, rational people – including a birth certificate released by the Hawaii secretary of state and birth announcements printed in Honolulu's two major newspapers." Mann responded that he was "disappointed and mystified by the Hutchinson News' decision to withdraw their endorsement over a misunderstanding of [his] position", as he is not "interested in pursuing this issue in Congress", and he has "never had any interest in spending any time on the matter". Mann was subsequently defeated in the Republican primary by state senator Tim Huelskamp.In Georgia, however, Representative Nathan Deal won the Republican primary for state governor despite being the first congressman to officially request to see Obama's birth certificate. In November 2009, Deal replied to a question about whether he believed that Obama "is a native-born American citizen who is eligible to serve as president" with a statement that "I am joining several of my colleagues in the House in writing a letter to the President asking that he release a copy of his birth certificate so we can have an answer to this question." Contrasting the differing fates of Deal and former Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney, who lost her primary after endorsing 9/11 conspiracy theories, David Weigel of Slate noted: "Dipping a toe into the birtherism fever swamp didn't stop Deal from winning a statewide primary."On September 11, 2010, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stated that Obama could only be understood by people who "understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior". While Gingrich did not define what constitutes "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior", White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs accused Gingrich of "trying to appeal to the fringe of people who don't think the president was born in this country." Gibbs then went on to say "You would normally expect better of somebody who held the position of Speaker of the House but look it is political season and most people will say anything and Newt Gingrich does that on a genuinely, on a regular basis."