Left In Missouri

Every four years, you see a reawakening of political fervor.  People are excited of the possibility of political change nationwide.  But I also hear and see a disturbing pattern when it comes to volunteers.  Volunteers are the lifeblood of any political campaign.  Their tireless hours canvassing, phone banking, etc is usually appreciated and celebrated.  While walking downtown, I stopped by the Judy Baker campaign headquarters , walked by the Nixon Columbia HQ, and then past the Obama HQ on 9th.  What I saw is that the Obama campaign had tons of people phone banking.  Maybe this was just a good day, I don’t know, but talking with someone from the Nixon campaign, it is really for hard for them to attract volunteers.  This is disturbing because Missourians should pay more attention to local and state wide races.  Missouri is predicted to lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census.  If Republicans control the state legislature, they will gerrymander the lines and we will lose a Democratic congressperson.  I am not saying that electing Obama is not very important, I just want to remind people that it is the down ticket candidates that affect your life the most.  For those who are volunteering for Obama, try to make some time for the down ticket candidates. :)  Here in Boone County:

Kelly Schultz for 21st Rep District

Judy Baker for Congress

201 N 10th Street Suite 102
(on Ash Street between 9th and 10th)
Columbia, MO 65201

Jay Nixon for Governor

Columbia Office
Phone: 573-442-6139

Chris Kelly for 24th District Rep

Mary Still for 25th District Rep

If anyone wants to add to this list, just leave a comment

Hmm, McSame, he is one of us.  I as well lose track of how many houses I own.  But hey since I have a net worth of only 4 million dollars, I’m not rich enough to keep track of them.  Just kidding

This has given Obama the fodder he needs to expose McCain as the true elitist.

However, this should show those who are on the fence and have begun to believe the Republican distortion machine that the McCain campaign is full on manipulative bull manure.  Its funny that Republican hate taxes, but don’t mind that the middle class pay a disportionate amount of it.  Blaine Luetkemeyer’s campaign will no doubt use this playbook, claiming Baker would be an out of touch university liberal.  But with his campaign ignorant of the ways of NASCAR, I’m sure they will continue to make a fool of the,selves

I quick note on this.  He is no longer a candidate nor on the short list for VP, why is this going to hurt Barack.  With Republicans playing bathroom footsie in an airport, hitting on underage male pages, or e-mailing porn to thirteen old girls here in Missouri, I think Edward’s affair ranks pretty low on the slimy sleazeball scale.  If this is a skeleton in the Democratic Party’s closet, the Republicans have a whole graveyard to deal with.

Here are the rest of the endorsements”

Attorney General:  Jeff Harris

Donnelly is a good progressive, but Jeff has been in a leadership postion in the Missouri which gives him the edge.  Koster is a republican rat that jumped off a sinking ship.  If Koster was a moderate Republican at odds with his own party, shunned by his peers and then decided to switch parties, that’s one thing.  However Koster voted for the Voter ID bill and the medicaid cuts.  He was a leader in the Republican state senate.  People, if you have an ounce of progressive in you, please don’t have a brainfart and vote for Koster.

State Treasurer - Undecided

Between Andria Simckes and Clint Zweifel:  Feel free to comment to sway me one way or the other

It looks like everyone who is running for an office in Missouri wants to really show how country they are.  Republicans and even some Democrats have this notion that you can’t win without the “rural” vote.  I know Bode, Luetkemeyer and Gaw are stressing their rural roots.  So is Hulshof.   However is this a winning strategy?  Over the years, both parties have pander to this population, usually with the Republicans gaining their support.

This year I believe is different.  Remember the book, “What’s the matter with Kansas” by Thomas Frank?  This book essentially asked the question “Why would rural people from Kansas vote against their own self interest?  The author believed that Republicans promised to bring a moral order to politics and protect them from gay marriages, abortion, and other social mores.  At the time, this superseded any concern of economic and energy polices.  This year the rural poor will see the soaring energy prices, their mounting medical bills as they age, and the lack of educational opportunities for their children.

The Republicans had 4 years to address those social concerns, but chose to keep them in play, probably to use it as a campaign tool time and time again.  Little do they know that using that tactic is beginning to have diminishing returns.

Candidates like Kay Barnes and Judy Baker are hitting the issues hard.  Instead of getting on a tractor or a horse to show how “rural” they are, they are addressing the issues that affect rural, urban, and suburban alike.  Issues like energy prices, soaring medical costs, and a good education crosses all these demographics.  To me the winning strategy is not to pander to one group over the other, but present the issues in a way that says we are all in it together.

Looks like McCain is going to have a tougher time in Missouri.  Along with the 3 established parties in Missouri, the Constitution Party will have access this November according to a post in the Columbia Tribunes political blog.  If a more liberal party or candidate does not make it on the ballot, there is a possibility that these 2 third parties will siphon enough votes to essentially “Nader” McCain.

To quote Wayne Brekhus quoting Keith Brekhus “There are 4 Greens in Columbia divided into 5 factions.  If this is true, the protest vote might skew right this year, not good for McCain in a battleground state

Finally got away from Blogger and decided to host my blog itself.  I will be expermenting with it for the weekend and the DNS proliferation will take another day or 2 to work itself out.  So Leftinmissouri.com will work one second and down the next. I’m using wordpress and seem to like it.  Have a happy 4th of July and take care.

I just come across this article. Nader is accusing Obama of “talking” white and should focus more on the poor in the inner cities. I believe that Nader is missing the point and perpetuating a stereotype. Obama is trying to appeal to all Americans, not just African Americans. Poverty strikes not only in the inner city here in Missouri, but also in poor rural areas. Poverty does not discriminate. I know I just gave Nader more attention than he deserves. His 1/2 of one percent vote intake in 2004 is evidence of his irrelevance.

Maybe if Obama started to talk “street” Nader would then, only in his mind, lend crediablity to Obama’s candidancy? Probably not.

Over the last ten years, the Missouri 9th Congressional district has been represented by one of the strongest supporters of the Bush administration policies of economics and war. This election year, Kenny Hulshof will not be running for Congress and instead decided to enter Missouri ’s gubernatorial race. This leaves the 9th open for anyone who has at least attended a social studies class in junior high. Now over the years, the Democrats put up candidates against Hulshof, but it usually ended up that our candidate getting close to the Democrat base vote in each of those elections. This was due, for the most part, to the lack of fund raising and support these candidates received.

However this election cycle was different. With Hulshof still in the race, Judy Baker decided to challenge him. In a matter of a few weeks, she raised over $100,000 before the New Year. She was a serious challenger and was going to take the fight to him. We all knew what happened next. Kenny decided to run for governor and 3 primary challengers joined Baker in vying the Democratic party’s nomination.

So why should DFA endorse Judy for Congress, there are 7 main reasons

1. Judy has amassed at least 250,000 dollars in this race.
2. She is a unabashed progressive and served in the state legislature
3. She is running for an open seat.
4. She has received the endorsement of Emily’s list, a rather large and influential PAC.
5. Being married to a pastor, she will have appeal to those independent rural swing voters.
6. She is one of ActBlue’s top ten fundraisers
7. This one is the most important, she entered the race when the fight was on. Her challengers entered the race when it was easier.

To me, the 50 state strategy of leaving no republican unchallenged is the credo of Howard Dean and DFA as well. There is no other candidate that illustrates this more clearly than Judy Baker

Here in the MO-9, there are many local pundits and political scientists making prediction based on past performances, a fair way to access a race at first blush. However what seems to be happening is that some democrats are running away from the liberal title, believing that rural voters will cringe at the sound of the word and run to the Republican party. But what are they running from and more importantly, what are they running towards? By virtue of the Republican echo chamber, the word liberal has been defined as gay-loving, baby killing, gun stealing, tax and spenders. We need to take back the word liberal and embrace it. Health care, jobs, and sustainable energy are values that all Missourians care about and Democrats need to embrace. Enough of the crony state. Encourage all democratic candidates in Missouri to take back the issues.