As Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt prepares to announce his candidacy for U. S. Senate today, the political experts are continuing to repeat what has become of the enduring myths of the 2008 election...that the GOP primary race between Kenny Hulshof and Sarah Steelman weakened the party and enabled Jay Nixon to cruise to the governor's mansion.
Jay Nixon was going to win anyway, and it was not because of anything Sarah Steelman did.
I am sure many Republicans bigwigs will want to try to do the same thing they tried last year, to convince Mrs. Steelman that she should stay out of the U. S. Senate race, so as not to damage Roy Blunt's chances of beating the Democratic candidate, presumably Robin Carnahan in November 2010.
Some might even look back 17 years when Roy Blunt himself waged a primary campaign for governor, even though the anointed candidate was Attorney General Bill Webster. It has always been said that Blunt torpedoed Webster's candidacy with negative advertising that pointed out the attorney general's ethical lapses. These things were already being thorougly investigated by the media, primarily the Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and don't tell me Mel Carnahan would not have mentioned them if Blunt hadn't brought them up first.
Had the primary been a few days later, Blunt, at the time unstained by associations with a laundry list of lobbyists, including Jack Abramoff, would have undoubtedly overcome Webster's lead and would have faced Carnahan in the general election. And Roy Blunt probably would have been elected governor.
Instead, primarily because of this backward thinking that the party elders should anoint one person (and it goes on the Democratic side, also), weaker candidates often end up on the general election ballot, and the voters are deprived of a choice.
Hopefully, Sarah Steelman or any other Republican who thinks he or she has something to offer to Missouri will not be discouraged by a failed system that should have been pushed out the door long ago.
11 comments:
Randy, nice to know you are now advising the Republican Party as well as your own....I'm sure they are waiting with baited breathe for your counsel.
Somebody needs to tell them what to do.
Perhaps - but it ought to be someone that knows something. That leaves you out.
Does the Democratic Party's selection of Barack Obama upset you? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote of the people. Party insiders selected Obama.
First, while you might not like what Randy has to say, at least he has the courage to say it and not hide behind anonymous.
Personally, I'd like to see some fresh faces in state wide races.....many of us have had enough of the Blunt and Carnahan families who have made careers out of Missouri politics. Too often...and the Blunts & Carnahans are not the only ones in the 'family business' they are not the best person for the job.....but due to our lack of a truly open primary system and pressures from party bigwigs, it's who we are stuck with to choose from.
Perhaps it is time to do away with Political Parties in State Elected Offices. Then we can follow the Nebraska Model and go to a Unicameral system and save the Lobby folks a ton of money.
Why should anybody new run? You get people like Turner who present their opinion as fact and don't care what the real truth or complete truth is.
No wonder "new names" doen't want to get involved. "Old" yellow jouranlist operating in the new media discourage it.
Ted
Roy Blunt has no chance of winning this race for the following reasons:
1. He doesn't live in Missouri and his new wife won't step foot in it. Won't even allow their son to attend school here.
2. Roy Blunt is Washington DC. Warts and all.
3. He lost to Bill Webster in a primary the last time he ran statewide. People know Blunt and they don't like him.
And it's "bated breath," Anon.
I hope Blunt and Steelman both run in a Primary, and we have a bloody one. Blunty boy, aka Howdy Doody, will come out bruised and battered. He may be little jesus in SW Missouri, but statewide a mere tooth pick in the forest.
This one will be fun to watch.
Randy,
A friend and I were discussing the same thoughts the other day.
With much the same conclusions.
Good post.
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