Posted on 08/21/2010 5:25:19 AM PDT by darrellmaurina
SEDALIA, Mo. (Aug. 20, 2010) — For the first time since the mid-1990s, U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton has lost the endorsement of the Missouri Farm Bureau’s political action committee. The trustees of Missouri’s 4th Congressional District FARM-PAC announced Friday morning that they’ll be endorsing Vicky Hartzler, a former state representative from Harrisonville, over Skelton. “It has been a long, long time since we didn’t endorse Skelton, and for a long time before that, we made no endorsements,” said Charles Bassett, a rural Dixon resident who chairs the 4th Congressional District FARM-PAC. The Farm Bureau endorsement could reflect an important shift in voter sentiments in Skelton’s congressional race. Skelton hasn’t had a seriously competitive race for three decades even though he’s a conservative Democrat in an increasingly Republican district. As chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Skelton has worked hard to support Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman Air Force Base, but Bassett noted that agriculture is just as important to many 4th District voters as national defense—and perhaps more so. “Outside of the two military bases, agriculture is the number one industry in Congressman Skelton’s district,” Bassett said. “He does have the two military installations, Whiteman and Fort Leonard Wood, but that’s pretty much Johnson County and Pulaski County.”
(Excerpt) Read more at pulaskicountydaily.com ...
Skelton is a Dembulb.
Those on the ground: Can this elect the Republican?
He always did seem DENSE.
He is the clods caught dog cussing some Republican on the mic in the House earlier this year.
When you come right down to it, it seems that we need to take our country away from both of the political machines and deposit them on the scrap heap of history.
Every genuine conservative house member should be hammering Pelosi in this election cycle. She is toxic.
This is one Donk who could slip through a GOP landslide.
I’m not impressed with “our” candidate.
“Our Candidate” (Vicki Hartzler) has not voted with Pelosi 95% of the time. She has not sold out to every cheap deal that has been offered by the Dems. Until someone shows me where she is in lock step with the Obama regime, like Skelton then she is very impressive. Sadly, I don’t live in Ike’s district and I’m not a democrat, so I doubt that I’ll drive up to cast an extra vote against him.
In my county? Probably not. This is the home of Fort Leonard Wood, and Rep. Skelton is credited with keeping the post open twice during Base Realignment and Closure efforts, as well as dramatically expanding it by bringing the engineer officer training from Fort Belvoir here (Fort Leonard Wood was historically an enlisted engineer and basic training post), as well as the Army Chemical School and MP School from Fort McClellan. I'd have to pull the numbers t be certain, but as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, he's probably put a half-billion dollars into Fort Leonard Wood in just the last year or so.
Similar things could be said about the area around Whiteman Air Force Base.
A further issue: the Republicans defeated a solid candidate in the primary, State Sen. Bill Stouffer, who understands the military very well and is a member of the Missouri Military Preparedness and Enhancement Commission, which has a history of effectively working with Skelton and the Department of Defense to bring additional projects to Fort Leonard Wood and Whiteman AFB and change Missouri laws that were creating problems for the military and military families.
The winning Republican candidate, former State Rep. Vicky Hartzler, has a strong agricultural background (Stouffer did too, BTW) and was a key leader in the Missouri fight against gay marriage. She's identified as a Christian conservative candidate who is pro-agriculture, and has written a book on Christian politics.
In my county, neither of those will help her much. We don't have many farmers left, and since Skelton is a social conservative, Stouffer’s strong Christian stance on gay marriage won't help her much unless something really bad blows up with “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” Most of the leading Republicans I know in this county are quietly supporting Rep. Skelton, but then again, they've done so for decades, and that includes much of the Christian conservative vote. Stouffer would have had a much better chance in this county, but even he would have been hard pressed to be something other than “Stouffer, nice to hear from you, we'll consider you when Skelton retires.”
But once you get out into farm country outside the two military installations — Rep. Skelton has a serious problem.
Put bluntly, this could easily turn into a campaign of what's good for our local interests as opposed to “sending a message to Washington.”
I'm not at all sure that what is good for me personally as a business owner, for my county because of Fort Leonard Wood, and for the Department of Defense in general is the same as what is good for the nation as a whole.
Unfortunately, most “republicans”, espc. business types, in the FLW area are not really interested in doing right, rather they want to see the income realized from MILCON/manpower growth and defense contracts continue more than seeing/doing what is right for our people (of the US).
Wood is well above the cut line for BRAC, has been since 1998 when MANSCEN was created-too many egss in one basket to move elsewhere now.
Iv’e been cajoled about voting for Skelton and warned that if he isn’t “re-upped”, FLW will dry up and blow away-sounds like a “king” thing rather than an elected servant thing to me.
Best;
Skelton has been wrapping himself in the American flag and subtly claiming he was responsible for Fort Wood and Whiteman for too long.
Whiteman is the logical place for the B2s because it’s in the middle of the country.
Fort Wood has been an institution for decades longer than Ike’s been around and will be here when he’s gone.
U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton has lost the endorsement of the Missouri Farm Bureau's... 4th Congressional District FARM-PAC... they'll be endorsing Vicky Hartzler, a former state representative from Harrisonville... The Farm Bureau endorsement could reflect an important shift in voter sentiments in Skelton's congressional race. Skelton hasn't had a seriously competitive race for three decades even though he's a conservative Democrat in an increasingly Republican district.So what's their rush? :') Thanks darrellmaurina.
Sara Steelman took on Ike years ago. He stomped her bad. She’s a tough lady (pro-RKBA,anti-tax) but Ike is a legend in his own mind, and that of thousands of Missourians.
Hopefully, folks in his District will come to their senses this fall.
Wood, established in the early 40s as a response to the war time swell, stood idle for many years between WW2 and Korea, until the mid 80s when the US Army Engineer school moved from Ft Belvoir VA, then the MP and Chemical schools moved in in ‘98 and the Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN) was established.
Whiteman, I don’t know too much, other than the B2s and now a USN CB (SeaBee) battalion is moving there (from either CA or MS).
A friend from the Viet era trained at Wood (at least, I thought he did.)
He ended up serving in Berlin since he had a Masters in German from Columbia.
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