Saturday, May 19, 2012
The national program airing Saturday and Sunday will focus on initiative petition campaigns tied to capping interest rates at 36 percent.
A Missouri ballot initiative aimed at curtailing interest rates at “payday loan” entities is getting some national attention. For an episode of PBS’s Need to Know, airing locally this weekend, the program traveled to the Show Me State to follow around activists who are collecting signatures for an initiative petition. If the ballot measure makes it to the ballot and if voters approve it, interest rates on certain lending companies would be capped at 36 percent. Supporters of the initiative argue that the loan agencies place poorer Missourians in a cycle of debt. But opponents counter that the entities are usually the only way lower-income citizens can obtain short-term loans to pay ordinary expenses. While supporters of the initiative …
Friday, May 18, 2012
Country music and laryngitis are two of the methods employed this week.
The last few iterations of this column have noted how several candidates for the U.S. Senate utilized creative means to entice fundraising efforts. For instance, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) used his rhetorical scuffle with President Barack Obama over student loans in a fundraising pitch. And Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has directly attacked third-party organizations that are pre-emptively attacking the incumbent lawmaker as she makes a difficult bid for re-election. McCaskill’s campaign staff continued on a creative path in an email that was sent to supporters earlier this week. They played on the fact that McCaskill had lost her voice right before she was supposed to make a speech at a Democratic gathering in Kansas City. “Between …
Friday, May 11, 2012
This edition of Political Potpourri has campaign machinations on both sides of the race to be Missouri's next U.S. Senator.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) made an appearance this week on The Colbert Report, a popular satirical news show on Comedy Central. The first-term senator spent time on the show talking about her latest ad, which hones on third-party organizations that have been running ads against her. “Stephen, as he always does, used his character to point out the absurd loopholes in federal election law that allow corporations and special interests to anonymously influence the political system. I applaud the work he and his show do to educate America about 501(c)(4) organizations and secret money,” McCaskill said in a letter to supporters. “But, until the system is fixed, secret money will continue to flow into Missouri and attack me. As I said, if…
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Endorsements are piling up for both candidates.
Rep. William Lacy Clay scored a major endorsement today from the head of Missouri's Democratic Party. Gov. Jay Nixon issued a press release in support of Clay, who faces a primary fight from fellow incumbent Democrat Rep. Russ Carnahan. "For over 25 years, Lacy Clay has been a powerful voice for working families and a tireless advocate for the people of St. Louis," Nixon said. "He’s the right man to continue serving the people of the First Congressional District, and I fully support his re-election." St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley backed Clay almost immediately after Carnahan got into the 1st District contest. He also received the support of the local AFL-CIO on April 4. “Organized labor is …
Friday, May 4, 2012
Pending student loan legislation is a source of controversy in the race to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) got some press in late April after President Barack Obama alluded to the U.S. Senate hopeful’s comments about government-backed student loans. At a debate in Columbia, Akin said the following about pending student loan legislation: "America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in. So first, to answer your question precisely, what the democrats did to get rid of the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong, it was a lousy bill, that's why I voted 'no.'" Soon after Akin made that statement, Obama told a crowd at the University of Iowa that “you’ve got one member of …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Local Tea Party members will be in town as part of a nationwide tour. How large will the Wednesday crowd be in Valley Park, which is the only scheduled St. Louis-area stop?
Tea Party Express is making three stops this week in Missouri; two on Wednesday in Kansas City, one in nearby Valley Park Wednesday and one in Springfield, MO, on Thursday. Tea Party Express-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman will help kick off the Missouri leg of a national tour in Valley Park and in Springfield, MO. In Valley Park, the rally will be at 6 p.m. at Victory Field House, 932A Meramec Station Rd. It will feature U.S. House candidates Ann Wagner and Martin Baker, Ed Martin, who is running for attorney general, and local Tea Party organizer Scott Boston. Finally, the tour will rally in Springfield with local activists, including Super Dave Day of the Springfield Tea Party. Tea Party Express has hosted more than 300 …
Saturday, April 28, 2012
The Attorney is using an old ambulance to collect petition signatures.
Chalk this up as one of the more unusual transportation vehicles utilized during the 2012 election season: St. Louis City attorney Ed Martin’s campaign for attorney general is using a retrofitted ambulance aimed at showcasing the Republican’s opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care plan. Martin’s campaign announced last week that the “Ed Martin for Attorney General Campaign ‘Stop Obamacare’ Ambulance” would be traveling around the state to collect signatures against the health care law passed in 2010. “We are inviting citizens from across the state to come out to the ‘Stop Obamacare’ Ambulance Tour and sign the petition to stop the implementation of Obamacare here in Missouri,” Martin said in a statement. “The petition is meant…
Friday, April 20, 2012
Also, find out why Newt Gingrich may not be a fan of the St. Louis Zoo, and we have links to this weekend's congressional district caucus events.
The tea party movement’s activism may have helped tip the 2010 election cycle to Republicans, especially since dedicated volunteers helped Republicans win the U.S. House and close the gap in the U.S. Senate. So it’s no surprise that candidates—including the three major Republicans running for the U.S. Senate in Missouri—are trying to gather support from tea party organizations and political figures. But one of the interesting aspects of the movement is its inherent decentralization—no one entity speaks for everybody. For instance, former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman announced a few weeks ago an endorsement from Tea Party Express, a California-based group that touts itself as the “nation’s largest tea party political action committee.” “…
Friday, April 13, 2012
Even if the state's presidential primary had carried delegate weight, would Mitt Romney's defacto hold of the GOP nomination be any different now?
Missouri politics may be the best arena to ask “what if?” For instance, what if Republican Matt Blunt had decided to run for re-election in 2008? Would he have defeated then-Attorney General Jay Nixon? Or would he have been swept under the relative Democratic wave that year? And what if Chris Koster had decided to run for attorney general as a Republican? Would he have emerged victorious out of a GOP primary or would have been defeated by more conservative candidates? Political prognosticators can only dream. But a more recent version of that fun and exciting exercise comes about with Missouri’s presidential caucuses. After the legislature failed to move the primary date to March, Republicans in the state had to go through with a non-…
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Pennsylvania Republican took a break from campaigning for several days to tend to his ailing daughter, Bella. The combination of his daughter's sickness and recent poll numbers showing him possibly losing his home state prompted him to drop out.
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Tuesday, April 10
In a surprise decision Tuesday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) announced he is suspending his presidential campaign, all but putting an end to the Republican primary, per a report from Huffington Post Politics. "We made a decision to get into this race at our kitchen table, against all the odds, and we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting," Santorum said during an address in Gettysburg, PA. During his 14-minute speech, Santorum notably did not endorse Mitt Romney, according to the Huff Post Politics article. Santorum made history on March 17 when he made a campaign stop in Wildwood prior to the scheduled caucus for …
Devon Seddon
10:45 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Can't think of a more appropriate place for a joke than Comedy Central. Unfortunately, the Claire joke just isn't funny anymore. I wonder if they could employ her over there full-time? more ›