Left In Missouri

For the next 50 days or so, every 24/7 news outlet will analyze every move Barack Obama et. al. will make.  They will follow motorcades and speculate why a certain individuals saw this particular person.  They will talk about Bush’s legacy (or the lack of it).  what is a political junkie to do.  I guess I can blog endlessly about the minutia of the political world here in Columbia or in the state of Missouri.  Columbia has three new state representatives entering the capital this January and they are rising star in the Democratic party.  good luck to Mary Still and Stephen Webber.  I know Chris Kelly will make his own luck in Jefferson City

I still have a bone to pick with the State Democratic party.  They need to get on board and modify the 50 state strategy and have a 114 county strategy.  There are too many rural counties that have the old guard, do nothing Democrats that are nothing more than social clubs, having wienie roasts instead of campaign training or party building.  Putting all your eggs in one basket is foolish and I encourage other Democrats to hold off donating money until the MoDems use that money wisely.  Instead give that money to a local Democrat party or allied organization.  your money will go farther.

Anyway, I’m still happy and so are they…..

The Coffee Ground, a mom and pop coffee shop recently closed its doors.  One of the reasons was the a Starbucks had opened the next block over.  I don’t drink coffee, but love the atmosphere.  So I leave it to you, fair readers, what is the best coffee shop in Columbia?

I have been discussing this with a few friends about this scenario.  Rumor has it that McCaskill might be offered the DNC chair.  McCaskill was Obama’s most vocal surrogate  and one would think that the spoils system will reap Claire some benefit.  Instead of being appointed to the DNC chair, what if she gets an appointment to the Cabinet?  This will leave her Senate seat open and with a Democratic governor, another Democrat would be appointed.  So who would that Democrat be?  I have 2 possibilities.

Robin Carnahan

• Tremendous name recognition
• has been in statewide office for 4 years
• ability to fund raise and had the most votes of any candidate in Missouri History

Judy Baker

• Was able to come with 2.5% of winning in a +19 Bush district, overperforming in many key counties
• Can generate huge fund raising dollars, raised over 1.5 million dollars for her congressional bid
• viewed as a moderate
• Her personality would suit well in the more civil atmosphere of the Senate and can work across party lines.

I think it is imperative that a woman replace Claire if she had to step down.  I’m sure there are many other woman to choose from, but these two are the rising stars of the party and will continue to shine in the future

I am torn.  I am extremely happy the Barack Obama was elected President.  How ever it saddens me that Judy Baker did not win.  she did everything that a candidate should do.  However, the 9th Congressional District is very Republican and she came with 2% of her opponent.  I just wish some folks in the the rural counties would get their heads out of their asses and stop being manipulated by untrue Republican rhetoric that they recycle every 2 years.  Do these rural voters have any idea why they vote Republican?  Does it make them feel good that Republicans wrap them up in the proverbial flag, talk about conservative social issues, and then when elected grease the palms of their supporters.  How many times are “rural” conservative voters are going to fall for this shit.  Baker talked about real issues.  Veterans Health, health care, the economy, education he talked about things that really mattered.  Luetemeyer talked about privatizing social security, talked about illegal immigration, and gun rights.  Are these the issues that Missouri needs to worry about.  Blaine sent out direct mail lying to all that he supported insurance mandated mammograms, which he didn’t.  While the rest of the country was sending a message to bankers and insurance executives that their practices were unacceptable, the 9th Congressional district elects a banker and a insurance man that self-funded his campaign for over 1.5 million dollars.  Good job, he’s really one of the “rural” poor.

The 9th needs to come to grips that the Guns, God, and Gay agenda is clouding their better judgement.  You are electing people that are risking your retirement, spending your money, not in America, but overseas, and will not commit to taking care of veterans once they are back in the country.  They need to look at the cost in health care, the volatility in fuel prices, and educational funding as their top priorities.

Also to note, those Democrats that didn’t vote for Graham is the general election now have a Republican in the 19th senate distinct to contend for 4 years.  redistricting is after the 2010 census and we really needed to have Democrats in the senate to redraw the lines.  The dangers of voting on emotion.

Ona  brighter note, Chris Kelly defeated Ed Robb for the 24th District seat.  Ed Robb ran the sleaziest campaign I have ever seen.  Kelly had good ground game and he prevailed in the end.

It comes as no surprise to readers of this blog that Left in Missouri wholeheartedly supports Judy Baker for Congress.  Over the last couple of weeks Judy’s Baker’s opponent Blaine Luetkemeyer has put in nearly a million dollars of his own personal fortune for the Missouri 9th congressional seat.

Judy believes that education, an economy that lifts the middle class, and a health care system that covers all Americans, regardless of pre-existing condition the issues.  As a daughter of a Navy doctor, she knows and understands that are troops need our support when they come home.  This dedication to our veterans has earned her the VFW-PAC endorsement.  Their only endorsement for an open congressional seat.

Blaine Luetkemeyer voted against insurance mandates for mammograms even though he sends direct mail misinforming voters that he did.  A candidate that lies, misinforms and spends 1.5 million dollars of his own money is a person hungry for power and knows he will get that money back by being in the pocket of then banking and insurance industry.  You know….the two industries that needed that 700 BILLION dollar bailout.

Judy Baker has raised about 1.3-1.4 million dollars, save a 10,000 loan at the beginning of the campaign, entirely through contributions from a wide range of supporters, mostly small donors.

Wayne and I have had the privilege of being represented by this extraordinary woman.  We remember when she announced nearly a year ago that she was running against Kenny Hulshof.  She raised $100,000 before the year’s end and was off to a good start.  When Hulshof decided to run for governor, she was pushed aside by many local pundits, stating that her more “electable” opponents would win the primary.  She kept raising money and meeting citizens.  In August she proved those doubters wrong, routing her opponents.  Now a slew of progressive and moderate groups are behind Judy.  Through her courage, she has energized the progressive base and has converted many Republicans with her commonsense approach to government.

Judy Baker for Congress

To my fellow Missourians, don’t forget the down ballot races, they are just as important than the Presidential race.  Together we can really change the face of Washington.

While Judy Baker has been raising money from a wide base of small donors, Blaine Luetkemeyer continues to try to buy his way to representing the 9th District. Yesterday Luetkemeyer dropped another 340K into the race to continue to fund his negative ad addiction.

The St Louis Post-Dispatch article about Luetkemeyer self-funding this election

As my state legislator Judy Baker has been the most accessible legaislator in either party that I have ever met. I have no doubt that she will be a great champion of her constituents in Washington DC regardless of their political affiliation. Blaine Luetkemeyer, on the other hand, will serve a very narrow base of special interests. His lack of ability to raise money from individual contributors is a reflection of his disinterest in meeting with ordinary constituents. Between cutting $300,000 checks for himself and having Dick Cheney come in to raise $150,000 in a closed room meeting with rich donors, Luetkemeyer has shown little interest in the average middle-class constituent who can’t afford to buy influence with big checks and closed room deals.

Judy Baker needs our grassroots help to close the deal and be our next congresswoman! If you want a voice for ordinary average Americans in congress, she is the clear answer in this race.

Give one more time to help send Judy Baker to change the culture of Washington!

The right wingers are out in force, spreading more lies and falsehoods.  Devoid of any substantive stands on the issues, they are using Chuck’s DWI as a political tool.  Now Chuck has said the DWI is fair game politically.  However making up crap as you are going along is not.  Graham is running against Kurt Schaefer , a lawyer that represented former AG chief Fred Ferrell over his sexual harassment of a female employee and him along with Governor Blunt, tried to cover it up.

Republicans are trying to push the fiction that somehow Graham received special treatment in his plea deal.  This Columbia Tribune article states that a special prosecutor was appointed for this case and it was determined that he didn’t refuse a breathalyzer test.  The reason there was a special prosecutor in the first place was to insure a fair process for the people of the state of Missouri.

When referring to his “Ferrell” problem, he says that it his job as a lawyer to represent to the best of his ability, but when it comes to Graham’s lawyer, it is special treatment.  More hypocrisy.  You can’t hide behind your status as an attorney, but come out and imply that his lawyer did some “deals”

Schaefer has heavy ties to Blunt and is not a man of integrity.  He denies any involvement with a continuing committee that called up voters and told the listeners that Graham was at a party boozing it up.  Which was wrong.  He denies any involvement, but his law firm has monetary ties to the marketing firm that did the robo-calls.  Kurt is a Blunt republican, plain and simple.

To conclude, at the Disabilities forum on October 23rd,  Schaefer stated that Chuck Graham’s record of fighting for the issues of disabilities was lacking.  This caused a stir in the audience.  Kurt, you must really believe your lies, here’s Graham’s record.

• U.S. Congressional Task Force on the Rights, AND Empowerment of Americans with Disabilities for his leadership in passing the ADA, 1990
• Missouri Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Missourians, 1996.
• National Rehabilitation Association E.B. Whitten Silver Medallion Award, 1997
• Governor’s Council on Disability Breaking the Barriers Award, 2001
• Services for Independent Living, Elected Official of the Year, 2002
• Services for Independent Living, Elected Official of the Year, 2001
• Services for Independent Living, Elected Official of the Year, 1998
• Services for Independent Living, Elected Official of the Year, 1997
• Norma Robb Award-Outstanding Young Democrat of Boone County, 1999
• University of Missouri, Human Rights and Diversity Award, 2000
• Disabled Citizens Alliance for Independence, Legislator of the Year, 2001
• Disabled Citizens Alliance for Independence, Legislator of the Year, 2000
• National Education Association, A+ Award, 1998
• SEMO Alliance for Independence, Barrier Freedom Award, 2000
• Missouri Community College Association, Distinguished Legislator Award, 2001
• Missouri Association for Career and Technical Education, Legislative Award, 2000
• The MU Alumni Association, Tiger’s Roar Award, 2002
• Human Environmental Sciences Alumni Organization, Distinguished Service Award, 2002
• Missouri Easter Seals, Disability Leadership Award, 1995
• National Easter Seals, Outstanding Advocate Award, 2002

Vote for Chuck Graham, not an aloof lawyer who will not represent the majority of the district.

Blaine Luetkemeyer recently loaned himself another 285,000 dollars bringing his self-fiancing in this race to $920,000.  This is an extraordinary amount of money.  You may be wondering why someone spend nearly 1 million dollars to win a congressional seat representing a generally poor rural district.  That easy.  Luetkemeyer is an insurance man and banker.  He is not stupid.  He knows that a million dollar investment during this election will benefit him and his insurance cronies in the long run.  He’ll get that million back and then some.

However, is an insurance man and banker who can plop down a million dollars representative of the MO. 9th?  This is indicative of a lust for power.  Judy Baker, on the other hand, has raised over 1 million dollars, save for 10k, all of it was through contributions from others.  Thousands of others.  So who would you rather represent you?  The insurance/banker that can loan his campaign what most people make in a lifetime  or the daughter of a naval officer that has endorsements from unions to the VFW?

Judy Baker IMO is truly a public servant and will be accountable and accessible.  She is the true moderate in this race.

Luetkemeyer will continue to attempt to buy this election.  Send him a message that the 9th is not for sale

Over the last few weeks, the race for the Mo. 24th state representative has gotten ugly.  This is the worst example of a smear campaign I have seen for a local race since I moved to Missouri 25 years ago.  Not only is the Missouri Republican House committee pouring money into the race, there is also money being funneled through the Republican 24th legislative district committee, which have been running ads on the radio.  They have misrepresented Kelly’s stance on taxes, budgetary matters, and even his character.

Ed Robb’s campaign has hinted that they will basically perpetuate another fraud on the citizens of southern Boone County.  He plans to take out of context what Chris Kelly said at a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters called Local Voices: Citizen Conversations on Civil Liberties and Secure Communities. I was at this conference so I remember the question and the answer rather well.  A woman stood up and asked if we were to blame for the attacks on  9-11, implying that the United States deserved to be attacked.  At that time, Kelly flew out of his seat and angerly responded to the question.  He said “That’s true and irrelevant. … We all probably deserve to get hit. The question is — who deserves to do the hitting?” The bold part of that quote was not referring to 9-11, but to individuals.  He even said jokingly he deserves to get hit [not by terrorists, but by his wife], but he emphatically stated that no one deserves to do the hitting.  Kelly was defending our country, not putting it down.

However Missouri Republicans find truth to be in short supply.  If you want to contribute to his campaign, click on Wayne’s ACTBlue button to the left and help Chris Kelly fend off the swiftboating

Just a quick note on this phony website funded by the Gibbons campaign.  This election we have a choice between a former Republican with union support and a current Republican running for Attorney General.  No matter how icky it makes me feel, I do not want a Republican once again holding that office.  Memories of those landmark anti-choice litigation that Webster put forth is still a sore subject with many.  So I’ll be voting for Koster.  I guess a “phony” democrat is better than a “real” right wing Republican