Posted on 11/08/2010 7:22:55 AM PST by Crichton
In the words of a prominent Missouri Republican, Claire McCaskill is the new glittery object. Actually, her U.S. Senate seat is. The Republicans are mesmerized by it. They covet it. Who will get the chance to try to take it?
Let's preview the Republican fight for the 2012 senatorial nomination. We should start with the Big Two — Ann Wagner and Jim Talent.
...
Now let's get to some of the other names that are being bandied about.
Sam Graves is the congressman in Missouri's 6th District, in the northwest part of the state. The district includes part of Kansas City and was represented by a Democrat before Graves became a congressman in 2001. He won his most recent re-election with 69 percent of the vote. His major problem is low name recognition outside of the Kansas City area.
Sarah Steelman is the former state treasurer. She is attractive and likes to take on the establishment. If she were running for vice president, Tina Fey would play her on "Saturday Night Live." In other words, she shares more than just a first name with Sarah Palin, and if you like Palin, you'd like Steelman. That is her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. In addition to winning election as treasurer, she lost the 2008 gubernatorial primary to Kenny Hulshof.
Peter Kinder is the lieutenant governor and widely considered leader of the state's Republicans. But wait, you say. Kinder is running against Gov. Jay Nixon, isn't he?
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The article touches on Jim Talent, Ann Wagner, Sam Graves, Sarah Steelman, Peter Kinder, Tom Schweich, Ed Martin, and Matt Blunt.
Talent did a good job as Senator but was edged out in the 2006 wave. Wagner could be good; first time candidates are a bit risky, and Missouri FReepers can indicate whether she'd make a good Senator. Sarah Steelman, of course, is terrific.
The other question is who will have the balls to take on Jay Nixon.
It would be Senator Jim Talent, except for ACORN.
The number 1 issue for the new congress should be voter fraud.
With a slew of potential candidates, the ability to fundraise with weed out a few early on..for the rest, that's why we have primaries..
What's important is that the state party, and Cornyn and the RNC and RSCC STAY OUT of the primary..do NOT endorse anyone ..we should have learned the lesson already
I like Talent, but also like Sam Graves (used to live in his district for as few years). Matt Blunt would be a possibility, but I hear he’s a little soft on life issues - so he’d need to folks know where he stands before he could be a serious contender. Don’t know anything about Wagner, Steelman, Kinder, Schweich, or Martin as I’ve been out of state too long.
Jim Talent is a very nice guy.
He’s also a loser. He ran a dismally inept campaign, just as he did in 2000 against Holden.
I think he’s a solid conservative and someone I would be happy to support. However, given the chances he has blown in the past, I will not vote for him in the primary.
Two Senators from MO named Blunt? No chance.
Steelman is not impressive and did not come off well in her primary run against Hulshof.
Sam Graves lacks name recognition statewide. Who’s Ed Martin? (Yes, I know who he is, but I’m a junkie.)
Schweich looks good but will probably want to serve out his Auditor term at the very least.
Of your list, I’d go with Kinder.
As far as Nixon is concerned, he is essentially powerless against an overwhelmingly Republican legislature. It is far more important, in my opinion, to replace Robin Carnahan as Secretary of State with a Republican — perhaps Ed Martin for the irony.
Voting in Missouri will not be trustworthy as long as a Democrat holds the office of SoS. All the remaining Carnahans should have bullseyes on their backs, especially Robin.
I remember watching election returns in 2006. Sen. Jim Talent was comfortably ahead most of the evening. Then a decision was made to keep the polls open in St. Louis for a few extra hours. All of a sudden votes were magically pulled out of a hat and that fat bovine who is now senator took the lead. Textbook example of how Democrats steal elections in one-party urban districts with little or no bipartisan oversight.
Steelman is NOT Sarah Palin and is nothing more than an opportunist. Dont take my word for it - look to nothing more than her husband who took a job from Gov Nixon (Democrat).
Check out a little more into her past and how as a state senator she got along quite well with Unions and then ran a scorched earth campaign against Kenny Hulshoff for governor.
Not to be outdone, she yanked the media and constituency in Missouri around with the idea of Challenging Roy Blunt for Senate; using much of the same rhetoric which Robin Carnahan tried to use. In fact at one point she commented on Blunt being a white male.
Of course she eventually did decide to do step aside.
You may be asking at this point why all the bitterness toward Steelman from my angle? Because I tire of people making comparisons to Sarah Palin when anyone and everyone in the state knows that is simply not true.
In my view she is nothing more than an arrogant egotistical opportunist and it gets underneath my skin to see someone who does not deserve such praise to receive it.
I really do not know who would be the best to run against McCaskill. Outside of Kinder, I am not really thrilled by the list of names given.
Matt Blunt has left the playing field.
I like Steelman but she may be a bit too harsh.
Chuck Purgason might be a good candidate if he would ditch that wig...
I’m beginning to think Lt Gov Kinder may be better off taking a shot at McCaskill rather than the riskier venture of going after Nixon. I wish Missouri would move all of its statewide elections to off-year (rather than just Auditor). I think we’d do a lot better with the statewide offices.
Talent seemed presentable at the start of his first term and then became uninspirng, even before the final days of his run.
He is better than some of the others mentioned, but do you think the Independents would go for him?
I don’t think we have a strong TeaParty guy, Purgeson got very lttle traction.
Talent? Nice guy ,good Conservative. TERRIBLE campaigner!! I mean BAD! Now his wife. A very lovely lady and a great speaker. She should have been the politician in the family.
Chuck would probably not attract the independent vote. Kinder would.
Kinder for Senate and Talent for Governor?
Don’t forget Claire’s past. Her dead ex-husband and her current one who skims money from Medicare with his nursing homes. She is a dirty liberal Rat party member.
Trys to pass her self off as a conservative Rat. She is not.
If Talent ran for either office, it would be a slaughter. I don’t have a problem with his voting record, he’s a fine man, he’s just not someone we can trust after losing two high-profile races that he shouldn’t have lost. Kinder, of course, is the only current statewide GOP officeholder (soon to be joined by Tom Schweich who defeated McCaskill’s protege, Susan Montee). Schweich could run against Nixon without giving up his office, but he’s so new on the scene, I’d rather he get some experience as Auditor before making the jump. Perhaps Congressman Sam Graves might be willing to take on Nixon ? Another idea is Jo Ann Emerson, whom I think has been in Congress a bit too long and is going native. If she wins, fine, if she loses, we get another Republican in her seat.
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe better he run for Governor if no other top candidate is willing to tackle it. If he loses, oh well, he'd likely keep it respectable, if he wins, he'd do a good job.
That’s not necessarily the case. One high-profile race he lost was by less than 1% against a better-known opponent, and that race (Governor 2000) was eclipsed by the Ashcroft/Carnahan Senate race. In 2006, Talent was caught in the perfect storm against a statewide elected office holder and still lost by only 2%. That’s not such a terrible record.
Yeah, but two high-profile losses is still two losses. We need to run a new face who can mount a stronger challenge. I think Kinder is that person.
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