With 4 business days left in filing, here are the opponents who have stepped up to face Todd Akin, Sam Graves, and Blaine Luetkemeyer.
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They’re on pace to be unopposed by Democrats. Which is probably the first time that 3 Congressional Republicans have been unopposed in this state in awhile (or ever?)
The last thing those three need to say to themselves after this term is “I was so awesome that nobody opposed me”
25. $100 paid receipt. A chance to see the State Capital. And the possibility of being in a general election in November. The voters who’d never vote Graves, Akin, or Luetkemeyer need somebody.
from what I hear from those in my district (Akin’s) the state party offers very little support and tends to write it off – I don’t know about the other two districts.
In an era in which federalism is being challenged by nullification movements among many states, we need to put “our best and brightest” in Congress to protect the strong role that the federal government must play in protecting the people’s welfare. In our blog the Occasional Planet, we have looked at the Second District issue since February 24, the first day of filing.
I personally considered running, but in all honesty I am not the right person. However, I have written about some criteria that I think would be important in several posts including Thinking About Running for Congress — Part III. There are links at the bottom of that article to the two previous parts.
With today, there are four filing days left; it would be great to have a non-egocentric progressive file.
1. To quote that famous Cardinal, Joaquin Andujar, “you can sum it up in one word: ‘you-never-know.'” Specifically, Todd Aiken could be the next Mark Foley or Eric Massa.
2. The district is not as bleak as some think; I believe that both Claire McCaskill and Barack Obama pulled in more than 45% of the voters from the Second District (it’s been a while since I checked that data, but it’s close).
3. One of the key points that I tried to make in the Occasional Planet is that districts that are conventionally considered to be unwinnable are precisely the ones where risks can be taken to try a different kind of campaign. I listed eight ideas I had in a recent post, but others could come up with their own novel ideas. Even if a candidate would lose, he or she would get some publicity for a novel approach and could continue his or her political career in the next cycle by running for a state or local office
4. The passage of the health insurance reform bill has stimulated a number of states (most particularly Texas and Idaho, but also Missouri) to advance the “nullification” argument that was used by confederate states prior to the war; i.e. states can ignore whatever federal legislation they choose to. This is all the more reason why a federal office such as Missouri Second Congressional district should not be ignored; we need representatives in Washington, DC who support Lincoln’s ideas on federalism.