Kinder Drops Out of Governor Race
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder said David Spence now is Republicans' best chance to unseat Jay Nixon in 2012.
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A Ladue businessman is the Republican frontrunner for the 2012 gubernatorial primary.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder announced at 4 p.m. Friday that he is dropping out of the Missouri governor race, according to an Associated Press story.
Kinder has struggled after articles about visits at a strip club and taxpayer-supported hotel stays.
Kinder said he would support the candidacy of Dave Spence, of Ladue. Spence is president of Alpha Packaging on Page Industrial Boulevard in Overland. He has never run for office.
Spence is “a self-made man and proven manager who understands how to create jobs and improve the state's economy,” Kinder said, according to the AP article.
Bill Randles, a lawyer and consultant from Kansas City, is another candidate for the Republican nomination.
A Washington Post blog also is reporting the story.
Spence also faces some questions regarding his position on the board of Reliance Bank, as reported by the St. Louis Beacon.
A report posted on Politico.com at about 2:30 Friday afternoon broke the news before Kinder’s announcement.
More Republicans may enter the race now that Kinder has dropped out. The Associated Press is reporting that Chris McKee, son of controversial developer Paul McKee, has dropped his bid for Lieutenant Governor, while State Senator Brad Lager (R-Savannah) remains in the race but plans to speak with Kinder.
Calls from Patch to the Missouri Republican Committee and Spence were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
The original story erroneously reported that Spence was the only Republican candidate currently in the race.
Dennis Broadbooks
3:27 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Hey, Julie...the Ladue businessman is NOT the only candidate presently in the race on the GOP side for MO Governor. Bill Randles formally announced his candidacy back in February of this year. One may go to http://billrandles.com/ to see his credentials. BTW, this isn't an endorsement of Bill on my part, only a correction of the facts.
Joe Scott
6:54 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Dennis -
You are correct. I had not heard of Mr. Randles' candidacy or anyone else running against Mr. Kinder for the Republican nomination except Mr. Spence. I did a a couple of quick searches on the Internet while writing this story, but found nothing. I should know not to use absolutes in these cases. Thank you for pointing out the error.
Julie Brown Patton
5:27 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Dennis, I will share your comments with the Patch staffer who wrote this article.
Dennis Broadbooks
8:43 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Thanks, Joe, for following up on this. The Randles for MO Governor campaign is one of the best kept secrets in MO politics as it's not being covered by the major news sources. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
Eileen Tyrrell
9:06 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
I don't believe Kinder ever formally announced, therefore cannot drop out of a race he was never in.
Dennis Broadbooks
9:19 pm on Saturday, November 19, 2011
Eileen, technically that's true. However, Peter Kinder has spent the better part of the past year raising significant amounts of money based on the premise (not a promise!) he was going to throw his hat in the gubernatorial ring. Not even two weeks ago Peter was still saying the MO Gov race was a "go" for him & he was waiting to make the formal announcement in December. His decision not to run for the big prize & instead "re-run" for Lt Gov makes the game of musical chairs continue to go round & round for the MO GOP.