Western and Mid-Missouri shut out of Democrats' statewide ticket
Lost in the post-primary shuffle: eastern Missouri candidates swept all statewide offices in the Democratic primary. All but one is from the St. Louis area.
Gubernatorial candidate Claire McCaskill's TV ads tout her connections with everything but St. Louis (notably her stint as Jackson County prosecutor), but she has called toney Ladue home ever since marrying her controversial nursing home owning husband.
The Carnahan name is associated with Rolla, but Robin, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, has lived in St. Louis for some time. Brother Russ and mom Jean also now live in St. Louis city or county.
State law requires the Missouri attorney general to reside in Jefferson City, which Jay Nixon lists as his address, but Nixon hails from suburban Jefferson County. So does state treasurer nominee Mark Powell, the mayor of Arnold. State Treasurer (and U.S. Senate nominee) Nancy Farmer is from the City of St. Louis.
No St. Louis area candidate filed for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, but Bekki Cook of Cape Girardeau beat out Mid-Missouri's Ken Jacob.
This lack of geographic balance might be troublesome for Democrats in most years, especially considering the animosity many outstate voters have for St. Louis. But Republican President George W. Bush's unpopularity will probably power the entire Democratic ticket to victory, in spite of itself. You heard it here first.
Gubernatorial candidate Claire McCaskill's TV ads tout her connections with everything but St. Louis (notably her stint as Jackson County prosecutor), but she has called toney Ladue home ever since marrying her controversial nursing home owning husband.
The Carnahan name is associated with Rolla, but Robin, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, has lived in St. Louis for some time. Brother Russ and mom Jean also now live in St. Louis city or county.
State law requires the Missouri attorney general to reside in Jefferson City, which Jay Nixon lists as his address, but Nixon hails from suburban Jefferson County. So does state treasurer nominee Mark Powell, the mayor of Arnold. State Treasurer (and U.S. Senate nominee) Nancy Farmer is from the City of St. Louis.
No St. Louis area candidate filed for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, but Bekki Cook of Cape Girardeau beat out Mid-Missouri's Ken Jacob.
This lack of geographic balance might be troublesome for Democrats in most years, especially considering the animosity many outstate voters have for St. Louis. But Republican President George W. Bush's unpopularity will probably power the entire Democratic ticket to victory, in spite of itself. You heard it here first.
posted by St. Louis Oracle | 8/14/2004 04:56:00 PM
4 Comments:
whats your take on the Leg?
This is the latest in an ongoing trend. It already happened in the General Assembly, where western and central Missouri reps were especially impacted by term limits and the Republican takeover.
To some extent if probably reflects the reality that St. Louis County has long been the biggest source of both votes and fundraising. However, this is gradually changing as the population shifts. The St. Louis metro population is fairly static, barely keeping even. The KC metro is growing about 1-2% a year, with rapid growthing Lee's Summit and northern KC. And the smaller cities like Columbia and Springfield are growing much faster than KC or St. Louis.
BlogKC.com
St. Louis Oracle - I like your Blog. Your insights are interesting. Please come by and visit www.citydems.org and log in
There has been at least some balancing with Claire McCaskill's new people at the state party leadership, most of whom are from outside of St. Louis. For example, the new communications director is Steve Glorioso - a long time Kansas City political consultant and close associate of KC Mayor Kay Barnes and many other KC-area Dems.
His marketing, company, NorthStar Marketing Group has an amazing track record in political campaigns (http://www.nsmgroup.com/record). He should be a big asset in the November election.
Eric Rogers
http://www.ericrogers.org/weblog
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