News-Leader election analysis falls short

While reporter Tracy Swartz' analysis of Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt's reelection correctly notes that his vote margin dipped slightly from his previous two elections, it failed to note some items that make the smaller vote total even less impressive.

Two years ago, Blunt recorded a higher vote margin against a respected lawyer, James Newberry, who was running on the Democratic ticket. This year, Blunt's Democratic opponent was an out-of-district candidate with virtually no name recognition (unless you count his change of last name to Truman and the hope it would be associated with that great Missourian), his leadership in a fringe church, and his movie directing career which includes "Phone Sex Grandma" and the upcoming "Son of a Stripper."
The "Phone Sex Grandma" director polled better than Newberry did during the 2004 election.

The opposition also included, as Swartz' article notes, racist Frazier Glenn Miller as a write-in candidate, and though unfairly, almost lost in the shuffle, Libertarian Kevin Craig.

The only reason Roy Blunt's victory total was not smaller than it was is the lack of organization by the Democratic party in southwest Missouri.
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That being said, Blunt's victory margin might have been even bigger had the media done its job. As I have noted numerous times, this blog was the only southwest Missouri media outlet that examined Truman's background as a candidate. As far as I can recall, the Joplin Globe and Springfield News-Leader never touched upon Truman's history. Though Truman never had much of a chance for victory, voters still had the right to know the background of anyone for whom they might consider voting.