MATT BLUNT-- ONE OF AMERICA'S LEAST POPULAR AND MOST CORRUPT GOVERNORS-- CUTS AND RUNS

The Blunts: one down, one to go

All recent polls pointed to a disastrous re-election campaign for Missouri's failed governor Matt Blunt, the son of extreme right wing loon and GOP congressional leader Roy Blunt, a Tom DeLay holdover. The two of them have exercised considerable power in Missouri politics, although that bellwether state has started moving very decisively away from the GOP of late. The younger Blunt withdrew from the race today, pretty much guaranteeing a victory for Democrat Jay Nixon.

n a statement that shocked political leaders, in both parties, Blunt released a TV address "announcing that having achieved virtually everything he set out to accomplish when he ran for governor, he will not seek a second term.

...His decision leaves his party without a presumed candidate in the gubernatorial election on Nov. 4. Blunt and the leading Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jay Nixon, had clashed frequently over issues ranging from immigration to the collapse of AmerenUE's Taum Sauk reservoir.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican from Cape Girardeau and a former state senator, told a Post-Dispatch reporter who saw him in a Capitol hallway shortly after Blunt's announcement that there was a "decent chance" he will run.

State Republican legislative leaders expressed shock at the news, which Blunt revealed to them at 3:50 p.m. in a conference call.

"I'm sort of dumbfounded," said Senate Pro Tem Mike Gibbons, R-Kirkwood.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, said GOP legislators "were shocked. Nobody expected it. I don't think anybody knew this. It's hard to keep a secret in Jefferson City, but I hadn't heard anything."

"...We were just speechless," Jetton said. "You don't expect that on Jan. 22 of an election year."

Jetton said among the likely GOP candidates would be former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent of St. Louis County, U.S. Rep. Ken Hulshof of Columbia, State Treasurer Sarah Steelman of Rolla and Kinder, the lieutenant governor. "We need to sit down among ourselves and see who would best be able to carry out our mission," Jetton said of Republicans.

Of Blunt's decision, Jetton said the governor indicated "he didn't have the sense of mission, that he had accomplished what he had committed to do, that he just didn't have the oomph to carry on."

Let's see... what did Gov. Blunt accomplish? I seem to recall that the very first thing he did when he took office in 2004 was to join with 3 other far right newly elected governors-- the since-defeated Bob Ehrlich (MD) and Ernie Fletcher (KY) and the soon to be defeated Mitch Daniels (IN) to rescind collective-bargaining rights for state employees. Then he proceeded to kick more than 100,000 low income Missourians off of the state's health care program at the same time he dramatically slashed health care benefits for another 300,000 Missourians. And that doesn't even get into why his administration is being investigated for corruption. Fired UP Missouri thinks he may be bowing out of politics because of an impending trial and a possible prison sentence. Wouldn't it be ironic if the son went to prison before the father, one of the most corrupt men in the history of Congress?

This is also bad news for Willard, whose campaign in Missouri Blunt has been supporting. Then again, some Willard advocates saw the unpopular Blunt's support as a kiss of death.

This video was meant for another father/son team, but... what the heck... the song works fine for Roy and Matt too.




UPDATE: MAKES NO DIFFERENCE WHICH RIGHT WING IDEOLOGUE THE REPUBLICANS COME UP WITH

Attorney General Jay Nixon, speaking to Missourians today:

"We will be successful not because of whom the Republicans may nominate, but because Missourians know that change will only happen if we elect a Governor with fundamentally different priorities. That's the message I hear at every stop we make around the state. It's everywhere. Missourians are united for change. And together, we can bring about real change for Missouri families-- by expanding access to health care, creating new jobs and making sure that every Missouri child receives the quality education they deserve."

SEISMIC SHIFT IN MISSOURI POLITICS?

Missouri, a heartland swing state, has been trending red for some time now. The excesses of the Bush Regime and the rubber stamp and extremist Republicans seem to have changed that. In his race to retain his senate seat wingnut incumbent Jim Talent only managed to get 47% of the vote and Democrat Claire McCaskill, a moderate Democrat is far more representative of the state. Missouri has 9 congressional districts divided between 4 Democrats and 5 Republicans and it looks likely that Sam Graves (MO-06) will be forced into retirement next year by Democrat Kay Barnes. Most stunning of all was the SUSA election poll for next year's Missouri governorship. Extreme right wing governor Matt Blunt looks like one of the most likely GOP governors to lose his seat. The poll shows him with the support of only 38% and with Attorney General Jay Nixon beating him decisively. Blunt has the support of only 28% of women and Nixon beats him in virtually every demographic group, even in Blunt's native Ozarks, the most backward and Republican part of the state (represented in Congress by his reactionary and uber-corrupt father, Roy).

But that isn't today's news. Today's news is about State Senator Chris Koster. Yesterday Koster resigned as chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus. He spent the day on the phone with his major backers telling them that the GOP has moved way too far to the right and gotten way too extreme for a moderate voter or a moderate legislator. He is officially switching parties today-- like so many Republicans in neighboring Kansas have already done.

Koster, a candidate for attorney general next year, will hold news conferences in Columbia, Harrisonville and St. Louis. In a news release, he promised "a speech that may transform the political landscape of Missouri."