Politics 2010: Missourians want candidates to show them something

Despite the name recognition and popularity of veteran Democratic Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, Republicans believe Skelton is vulnerable this year.

Tuesday's primary for Missouri's 4th Congressional District features nine Republican candidates, led by state Sen. Bill Stouffer and former state Rep. Vicky Hartzler, who play up their rural roots, try to out-conservative each other and attempt to paint Skelton as a someone who helps push a liberal agenda, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported recently.

Skelton has been winning the Republican-leaning district because of his reputation as a military expert and social conservative who stays in contact with his constituents. But Republicans hope voter anger at Washington and incumbents in general will make 2010 the year they defeat Skelton, first elected in 1976.

Skelton, 78, isn't taking anything for granted, raising nearly $2 million, running television ads stressing support for the military and hiring campaign consultants, fundraisers and researchers.

"Second place doesn't count," Skelton said. "We intend to win."

Even though they've lobbed criticism at Skelton, Stouffer and Hartzler recently have redirected their attacks to each other, including back-and-forth charges of votes for tax increases.

In his ads, Stouffer says he's "conservative" while Hartzler's ads declare she's a "real conservative."

In the marquee congressional race for Missouri in November, Republican U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt leads Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan for the U.S. Senate, a Post-Dispatch-KMOV-TV, St. Louis, poll indicates.

Both are expected to breeze through their party primaries to square off in the general election to replace retiring Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, a Republican.

The poll indicated Blunt was backed by 48 percent of the respondents while 42 percent said they favored Carnahan and the remaining 10 percent were undecided.

"Outside of the metro areas, he's killing her," said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the poll.

Results indicated Carnahan leads in the more populated St. Louis and Kansas City areas, which tend to vote Democratic. Blunt leads all other regions by a healthy margin, the poll found.

However, the two well-known names in Missouri political circles are finding they can't bank on their family brand in the year of the disgruntled voter, The Hill said.

When President Obama came to Missouri to raise money for Carnahan, Blunt's campaign called the secretary of state "a third-generation Washington-insider politician."

But Blunt, with his 14 years in Congress, can't escape the "insider" label, which the Missouri Democratic Party has hammered to voters as well as pointing out the lobbying career of Blunt's son Andy, who happens to be his father's campaign manager.

But while armchair pundits are salivating over a Blunt-Carnahan race in the fall, one of Blunt's primary challengers has a television ad that had its genesis on YouTube and features "Joe the Plumber," aka Joe Wurzelbacher the Ohio blue-collar guy whose questioning of President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race propelled him to instant fame, the Post Dispatch said

In a release, Wurzelbacher said he filed the appropriate paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to make an individual expenditure on Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck Purgason's behalf and that Purgason knew nothing of his plans.

"I wanted to show that individuals can have some say in what's going on," Wurzelbacher said. "I called and got a couple of people to donate."

Also on Tuesday's ballot is a measure asking whether Missourians should be able to opt out of the health insurance mandate in the new healthcare law. A recent Post-Dispatch-KMOV-TV poll indicated the measure likely would pass.

Republicans overwhelmingly approved of the proposition, 67 percent to 16 percent, with 17 percent undecided. Democrats said no, 48 percent to 27 percent, with 25 percent undecided, poll results indicated.

Even if the proposal passes, legal experts said the question of whether Missourians can opt out of the federal health insurance mandate would be settled in court.