Although some blogs such as
Modern Vertebrate in Chicago and the University of Virginia's
Center for Politics refuse to acknowledge the competitive nature of the race for Jim Talent's Senate seat in Missouri in 2006, poll after poll indicate otherwise.
Join me in the extended body.
Here are two polls, both from Rasmussen reports:
November 9, 2005
Talent (R)45%
McCaskill (D)47%
Undecided 6%
Other 2%
September 1, 2005
Talent (R)46%
McCaskill (D)46%
Other 2%
McCaskill has been gaining momentum, most probably because she has been a voluble critic of McCaskill since announcing her candidacy in late August. Here a few gems for your delectation:
#1
"Despite his position on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, Jim Talent could not deliver for Missouri. Other Republican Senators who have been in office less time than Jim Talent actually stood up to Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and fought successfully to save their state's facilities from the administration's plans to take them away.
"Instead of sounding the alarm months ago, instead of standing up to the administration, instead of using his position on the Senate Armed Services Committee to block this process and save Missouri jobs, Jim Talent invited Dick Cheney to fly into the very place where some of those cuts are going to take place in order to host a campaign fund-raiser for himself with the powerful special interests that really have become our senator's top priority.
These are the words of a fighter, a fighter of the caliber and the strength of a Feingold and a Boxer.
#2
Republicans, she said, always point to Democrats as lavish spenders of public money. Work by the Bush administration and GOP-controlled Congress shatters that myth, said the candidate.
"These guys have spent money at a rate, they make drunken sailors look sober," she said.
Can she be more direct? Can her metaphors be more potent? This is a candidate who will lay bare the contradictions of the Republican party at the feet of Missouri's voters.
#3
"Washington has lost it .... They've lost good, old-fashioned Missouri common sense," McCaskill said.
The state Republican party already has attacked McCaskill as a politician who lacks Washington experience and is running simply because she narrowly lost her bid for governor last fall to Republican Matt Blunt.
Responded McCaskill: "I think it is a very good thing that I don't have experience in Washington.... I will come with independence and a fresh perspective."
She said Talent had failed to use his experience of more than a decade in Congress to aid Missouri. She contended that he has stood silently by while tens of thousands of Missourians face Medicaid cuts imposed by state Republicans. But she noted that the result is sending hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds "back to Washington to be used in other states."
She also said Talent had done little to block the base-closing commission's decision last week to move 3,000 military-related jobs out of the state, most of them from the St. Louis area.
McCaskill said she would be more aggressive. " I think we've had all the Washington experience we can handle," she said.
Not only does McCaskill pulverize any talking point Talent's team may throw in her direction; she takes the dust, inserts it into a different bullet, and shoots each and every single one of her critics directly between the eyes. McCaskill is a pugilist, but she is a pugilist with tact, grace, wisdom and flair. If she does not drag Talent by the feet from St. Louis to KC, she will have him swimming across the Mississippi in a vain attempt to seek refuge in Illinois. McCaskill smells blood, and she is hungry for his seat.
I write these comments on McCaskill, as Talent has far outraised our next woman Senator by a ratio of almost 7 to 1. I quote:
In the third quarter, the senator raised more than $1 million, bringing his cash on hand to more than $4 million. In the same period, McCaskill raised $681,000; as of Sept. 30, she had $645,000 in the bank.
Although McCaskill raised these funds in one month, she has had to cancel campaigning due to the tragic death of her ex-husband, David Exposito, who was shot in KC on 13 DEC. Her filing for the last quarter of 2005 may not be as strong as anticipated. In fact, I received a letter from her campaign today exhorting me to donate to her campaign. Yes, I contributed, but I fear my contribution is simply not enough.
Bob Brigham exhorts readers of MyDD to donate to McCaskill, Klobuchar and Wetterling. His diary is a response to the endorsement of John Kerry and Keeping America's Promise of Sens. Cantwell and Stabenow, who according to many polls are not vulnerable incumbents. Talent is a vulnerable incumbent, and McCaskill has the campaign skills and experience to win this seat. Please donate to McCaskill's winning campaign. Even if it is only $7, any contribution will be appreciated.
Visit her at her website, and donate whatever you can. It is time to reclaim Missouri.