Free Republic

Former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens won the Republican primary for Missouri governor Tuesday after a hard-fought race in which he cast himself as a conservative outsider willing to use his military bravado to blow up perceived corruption in government. Greitens prevailed over another self-described outsider, businessman John Brunner, and a pair of more experienced Republican leaders — longtime Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and former Missouri House Speaker and U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway. He will face Attorney General Chris Koster, who easily won the Democratic gubernatorial primary, in the Nov. 8 general election. The Missouri governor's office will be open...

Republican John Brunner's U.S. Senate campaign is acknowleging that Brunner's former company was more than two months late paying property taxes on a company-owned plane in 2006—an admission that Democrats hope will take incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill's own tax problems off the table as a campaign issue. Brunner is one of three major candidates vying for the GOP nomination in Missouri's Aug. 7 primary. The winner will challenge McCaskill, D-Mo., in the Nov. 6 general election.

ST. LOUIS — U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Missouri, provided a new twist on a recent argument when he said during a Friday debate he would favor repealing the 17th Amendment. That 1913 addendum to the U.S. Constitution allows state voters to elect U.S. senators rather than having state legislatures appoint them. “I’m very concerned about states’ rights, and if I were to lean one way or the other it would be leaning going back to repeal,” Akin said during a debate sponsored by Springfield television station KY3. The repeal of the 17th Amendment...