McCaskill makes stop in Jasper County

State Auditor Claire McCaskill's senatorial campaign returned to Jasper County today with a stop in Carl Junction, where according to wire reports she addressed such issues as support of local health ordinances, monitoring factory farms, increasing the national minimum wage and reforming a livestock market pricing structure she said favors large producers.
Ms. McCaskill's appearances in southwest Missouri are already far later than those she scheduled during her unsuccessful run for governor in 2004. During that campaign, she followed the traditional Democratic strategy of trying to pile up as many votes as possible in Kansas City and St. Louis and hoping a few Democrats would turn out in the rest of the state.
That strategy combined with John Kerry's foolish decision to write off the state early combined to hand Matt Blunt the governor's office by a narrow margin.
The strategy has worked in the past. I recall during the 1992 governor's race, Mel Carnahan spoke to a Democratic gathering at the Ranch House in Carthage on March 29 or 30, and I can't remember him returning to the area during the remainder of the campaign.
Of course, his general election opponent that year was Carthage native Attorney General Bill Webster, so Carnahan likely figured he would receive few votes in this area.
Governor Carnahan's pattern has continued to be the pattern used by the Democrats ever since then and it has kept the party from ever establishing any kind of foothold in this area.
I am not expecting miracles to come from Ms. McCaskill's visits to the area, but it would be nice if it ever reached the point where southwest Missourians actually had solid candidates from both parties (sometimes we don't have any good candidates from either party to choose from).