END OF THE ROAD FOR SAM GRAVES?

Republican rubber stamp Sam Graves was first elected to Congress from northwest Missouri's 6th CD in 2000, succeeding a retiring Democrat, Pat Danner, by beating her son. Graves won that race with a bare 51%. But the district trended red and he's managed to improve on that margin considerably-- up to the 64% in 2004-- although he fell back to 61% last year. Bush beat Gore and Kerry convincingly (with 53% and 57% victories, respectively). Sounds like taking Graves out would be a real longshot, right?

Maybe. Claire McCaskill beat incumbent Jim Talent, whose voting record was almost identical to Graves, in the district. Like Talent, Graves is a rubber stamp imbecile and a bright red reactionary with a voting record way, way too extreme hard right for this moderate district. On Iraq he could just as well have handed Bush or Cheney a proxy on October 10, 2002 saying "Please cast my vote for me."

The traditionally Democratic half of the district, in the metro Kansas City area, is the mass media center for almost the entire district. That's a mighty attractive proposition for popular K.C. Mayor Kay Barnes, who would start out at least as well-known as Graves, who's from a small, backward town, Tarkio, in the remote northwest. The DCCC is courting Barnes, who will leave the mayoralty in May after 2 successful terms, the first woman to have ever held that job. A cousin of Walter Cronkite, she is credited with bringing together a broad coalition of private and public interests to revitalize downtown K.C. She is a quintessentially business-friendly Democrat.

Ron Grunzberger reports something odd about the race. There is a lot of chatter about Barnes challenging Graves. But instead of rallying around him, local Republicans... are rallying around her! "State House Speaker Rod Jetton (R) decided to present Barnes with an "Outstanding Missourian Award" at the State Capitol last week. Jetton even made sure the ceremony was videotaped for possible later use." Jetton is just one of many local Republicans sick and tired of Graves' imperious attitude and of his divide-and-conquer approach to internal Republican politics in Missouri.