Matt Blunt’s role in the Palin press conference yesterday inspired an interesting and possibly horrifying article from Ken Newton up in St. Joseph titled Palin’s a star, but don’t expect Blunt to disappear.

Governor Matt Blunt gets the honor of being the second youngest former Governor in Missouri history (and the youngest to end his term without seeking re-election). If Blunt manages to avoid an indictment in the next few years, he could re-emerge to seek office once again.

The editorial essentially notes that Matt Blunt could have been the next Dan Quayle if he played his cards right (well, Ken said that Blunt could have been on the ticket, but let’s face it, Blunt would have probably been the next Quayle.)

Blunt has multiple advantages on Palin, such as slightly more executive experience, a lower chance of saying really stupid things, and being “attractive to women”*. Blunt is a bit nuttier than Palin, since Blunt bit on the C of CC-started “Obama truth squad” nutjobbery.

(* – “I can’t believe a guy that handsome wouldn’t be attractive in some respect (to women)” – John McCain on Dan Quayle, 1988)

But unfortunately for bloggers, and fortunately for the Republican Party, Matt Blunt just wasn’t a realistic pick to be on a ticket with John McCain. It’s hard to be picked for Vice President when you declined to seek reelection after one term. And when your one term was marked by a disastrous first year, alienating the crazier elements of your party (stem cells, Amendment 2), and investigations. (Although, investigations didn’t stop Sarah Palin)

Matt Blunt could run for Senate one day, he could run for Governor again one day, he could found an alpaca farm near Cabool, he could get indicted and sent off to prison, or he could join with Clay “Lyle Lanley” Chastain to promote light rail for places “where people don’t want to live”. The possibilities are endless for Matt Blunt.

January 2009, we won’t have Matt Blunt to kick around anymore. That’s good for Missouri, because we’ll have at least one more part of the capital where someone with good sense runs the show. We’ll have a Gov in place to veto the really stupid and harmful things passed by the General Assembly Republicans. Plus, he won’t get booed during the parade the next time a Missouri team wins a World Title in sports.