Missouri - Not as red as you might think

Granted, Missouri went for Bush and went early. Roy Blunt and Tit Bond got re-elected, and Blunt's teenage son Matt the Wonderboy is going to be our next governor.

But we still have some bright blue spots in our apparently deep red state: Robin Carnahan, Claire McCaskill, Joe Maxwell, and Bekki Cook.

I can't really say I know much about Russ Carnahan other than he is Mel and Jean's son, and Robin's brother. But I'm pleased he was elected to the State House. I did, however, see Robin Carnahan in action this fall, and I am delighted to see that she was elected Secretary of State in her first try at elected office. I am positively ecstatic that she beat out the former speaker of the house, a jerk by the name of Catherine Hanaway. With any luck, Hanaway is finished on the state level.

Mad props, too, to Claire McCaskill, Bekki Cook, and Nancy Farmer for putting on such a brave fight and coming as close as they did. It took guts for McCaskill to run in the primaries against the incumbent Boob Holden, who would have gotten slaughtered by Son-O-Blunt. I'd like to see her give it another shot, this time without Boob Holden hanging albatross-like around her neck. And I doubt that we have heard the last from our outgoing Lieutenant Governor, Joe Maxwell. Maxwell declined to run for a second term due to concerns about his wife's health, but he is young, hard working, and charismatic and he will be back.

Make no mistake about it. We Missouri Democrats feel horrible about four more years of the Shrub. We're genuinely sorry for sending Roy Blunt and Tit Bond back to Congress. But Missouri isn't as red as you might think, and with strong, electable Democrats like the ones I have mentioned in this diary, we're going back to work on turning it blue.