Via Fired Up, I see that Republican operatives are squawking to Politico that Judy Baker was their preferred opponent in Missouri’s Ninth District. Nothing new here; Republicans love spreading misinformation on that site. What’s perhaps more surprising is that one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s main political writers, Jake Wagman, would fall for the same story.

The GOP is trying to promote a storyline that Baker is weak outside of her “liberal base” in Columbia, where Gaw would supposedly have scooped up votes all over the district. Nevermind that Baker beat Gaw in northern Missouri counties like Clark and Scotland, in the center of the district in Gasconade County, in Saint Charles County, and in the south of the district in Crawford County. If it had been a true rural vs. city split, the race might have been closer, but as it was, Baker won handily with support throughout the district.

It’s not surprising either. I’ve met Judy, and she’s very charming and personable. She has a good track record working on important issues like health care, and as the wife of a Baptist minister and as someone with a Master of Divinity degree, the usual Republican cultural attacks don’t work too well against her. And as a candidate, she is very effective at raising enough funds to compete all over the district.

The fact of the matter is, GOP operatives aren’t interesting in pesky little things like facts. If Gaw, Bode or Jacob had prevailed, they would put a different spin on the exact same storyline. But as a newspaper reporter and all, Wagman should spend a little more time researching and a little less time passing along GOP talking points.

By the way, if the P-D wants to pass along a partisan point of view, they would do well to read Fired Up’s analysis of why Hulshof is the worst of the Republican gubernatorial options, politically speaking.

Photo of Judy Baker sandbagging in Hannibal courtesy of JudyBakerforCongress on Flickr.