Missouri has a bunch of great contests this year, and the Lieutenant Governor's race is one where we stand a strong chance of replacing a Republican incumbent with a great Democrat.
Peter Kinder, the incumbent, got caught up in a sex scandal when his Chief of Staff was arrested for having pornographic conversations with a cop he thought was a thirteen year-old girl. The police report is nauseating. Kinder drew himself into the fray by declaring, 3 hours after the arrest, that an investigation had determined state computers weren't used, and the criminal conversations took place during "comp time".
Apparently, Brock Olivo did not do well in social studies class. And presumably, he was even worse in history.
Asked to name his favorite of the Founding Fathers, our favorite former football star turned heinously awkward political candidate has a terrific answer:
"Abraham Lincoln".
In his defense, another candidate said "Ronald Reagan", an answer in which I am really trying to see the funny side. Even Brock himself didn't name Reagan as his fave founder (although to be fair, he almost did).
The Repubs actually have two serious candidates, Bob Onder and Blaine Luetkemeyer, and they better be praying with all their might that they don't split the vote and enable one of these two maroons to win the primary.
This story caught by Mark Nickolas over at Political Base deserves a lot more attention than it has received. It turns out that not only is McCain getting killed by the traditional media, his advertising campaigns just aren't working, either. Voters seem to be immune to the appeals of an angry, befuddled septuagenarian looking to preside over Bush's 3rd term.
Gov. Matt Blunt, who is leaving office as one of the least popular governors in memory, has given the Democrats (and Obama) a wide-open door in the Show Me State. Proof below the fold.
Belgian beverage-maker InBev has just purchased Anheuser-Busch, the American beer giant and manufacturer of Budweiser. I'm reminded of one of A-B's advertising campaigns: August Busch IV, proudly talking about his family's heritage with the company, and the American tradition that it represents.
Well, they're just the latest in a string of American companies being purchased by competitors from overseas. While the Belgians may improve the quality of the beer (sorry, Americans, but admit this much is true: Europe does it better), this will undoubtedly affect some Americans in the long-term, especially those working at the many distribution plants across the country:
“I don’t think any substantial effect anytime in the near term, meaning the next 6 to 18 months,” Thompson said. “I think beyond that all distributors will be affected, just depending on whether this helps sales or not. Suspicions are it’s not going to help a lot.”
And who stands to profit from this? The McCains, of course. Beer drinkers unite!
"Hispanic and African-American communities are being deprived of the opportunity to register to vote at a higher rate than anybody else," Kettenring said. "So this is a fairness issue, but it's also a civil rights issue."
New Research 2000 Missouri poll shows that Obama is up by 5 in this crucial swing state: Obama - 48, McCain - 43.
Most of Obama's edge comes from Missouri voters' opinion that he will be better handling the economy (McSame has a significant edge in "handling terrorism" perception)
Missouri has been carried by the winner of every presidential election since 1904, with the exception of 1956. Nevada has only missed once (1976) since 1912. Ohio has only missed twice (1944 and 1960) since 1896.
Tennessee has supposedly been a bellwether since 1928, with one miss in 1960, but in reality the state is Red and seems likely that an Obama victory will probably give Tennessee it's second "miss". Kentucky has missed twice since 1924, but really it's in the same boat as Tennessee. Delaware has "missed" twice since 1952 (2000 and 2004), but we all know that that's because it's now a loyal Blue State, regardless of what fate ultimately befalls the Democratic nominees it votes for. And I guess that means everywhere else has been wrong three or more times and is proud of it.
A recent poll by Voter Roll Call, commissioned by the Richard Monroe campaign, spells bad news for incumbent Republican Roy Blunt. The curent minority whip for the House of Representatives is not polling well with the voters in his district. The News Release from the campaign is below.
"A Discussion with Missouri Women and Michelle Obama".
We attempted to live blog the event - Michelle Obama in Kansas City - the audience gathers, but we were like a bad clown act trying to juggle one too many things, sometimes it just ain't pretty. The photos turned out quite a bit better.
The television trucks started showing up after 7:00 a.m.
Laugh if you will, but someday, when my films are as famous as John Huston's, you'll eat crow. When or if.
I attended the AME Conference in St. Louis Saturday afternoon to hear Barack Obama speak--with my new camcorder that I had not yet learned to use. I figured, oh well, what the hell, might as well give it a whirl. Oh, 'scuse my language. It was a religious gathering.
And Obama spoke--as you will hear--about giving his life to Christ. In fact everything he had to say was couched in terms of what Christians owe it to their God and their country to do.
The 2008 gubernatorial races were never meant to be the cycle's most suspenseful contests, but my March ratings found that the top four races had gotten unexpectedly more competitive, with three making their way to the toss-up rating. Yet, things have quieted down over the past few months. For one, heated Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina were resolved and it will take some time before the general election in these states reaches full speed. Meanwhile, Missouri's Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon is expanding his lead over his two potential opponents in what is looking like it could be a runaway race.
