Congressman Ike Skelton (D) now knows who his opponents will be for the November general election.

The residents of the 4th Congressional District get to look forward to seeing these through November.

Illustration of the vote by county between the top two republican candidates courtesy of RBH.

Results from the Missouri Secretary of State:

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri Primary Election  – 2010 Primary Election

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

U.S. Representative – District 4 – Summary

Precincts Reporting 417 of 417

Steinman, Leonard DEM 6,264 19.5%

Skelton, Ike DEM 25,914 80.5%

Scholz, James REP 4,259 4.8%

Madden, Arthur John REP 2,483 2.8%

Hartzler, Vicky REP 35,853 40.5%

Viessman, Roy REP 3,702 4.2%

Riley, Brian REP 3,196 3.6%

Stouffer, Bill REP 26,570 30.0%

Clark, Brian REP 2,655 3.0%

McElroy, Eric James REP 1,928 2.2%

Parnell, Jeff REP 7,968 9.0%

Braun, Jason Michael LIB 165 50.6%

Holbrook, II, Thomas LIB 161 49.4%

Cowan, Greg CST 296 100.0%

Total Votes   121,414

[emphasis added]

An understated (single color!) campaign sign – apparently there just weren’t enough of them.

When right wingnuts collide, the results aren’t always pretty, though the ice cream imagery is greatly appreciated during the current heat wave. Bill Stouffer (r) tried to use direct mail to paint Vicky Hartzler (r) as one of those tax raising politicians.

31 Flavors Of Ice Cream

Good

31 Tax Increases

Not Good

State Representative Vicky Hartzler’s record on taxes is Not Good.

You hear that, Ike? Vicky Hartzler is a tax and spend liberal. Go figure.

Right wingnut rhetoric on any government revenue has gotten so extreme that anything greater than 0% is a grievous affront to their orthodoxy.

State Representative Hartzler served up 31 ways to scoop your money into big government.

Can You Believe…

…now she wants you to send her to Congress?

Higher Property Taxes

Senate Bill 348

New Sales Taxes

Senate Bill 193

A New Farm Tax

House Bill 1207

Even A Tax On Pets

House Bill 1099

August 3rd say No to Higher Taxes! Say No to Vicky Hartzler for US Congress.

Republican

Bill Stouffer

Farmer.

Small Businessman.

Conservative.

I guess we can be thankful that it wasn’t fifty-seven ways, otherwise there’s be ketchup splatters all over the mailer.

Given the results of the primary 40.5% of republican primary voters wanted those 31 taxes and weren’t willing to join the fight. Either that, or there were 35,853 Democratic voters with a sick sense of humor who crossed over to vote in the republican primary.

That would have been awesome.

The second mailer:

Bill Stouffer

Republican U.S. Congress

“Our children should have the freedom to prosper and enjoy a quality of life comparable to our own. I refuse to let the tax-and-spend liberals force our families, economy, military and nation into a position of weakness. If you’re willing to join the fight and ensure our nation’s best days are ahead of us, I ask you to join my campaign.” – Bill Stouffer

Priorities –

Restore fiscal discipline in government

Make private-sector job creation a priority

Streamline the tax code and cut income taxes

Reduce regulations and bureaucracy for businesses

Reduce regulations and bureaucracy for businesses – because bad things wouldn’t have happened if we had left British Petroleum alone. Oh wait, we did.

Bill Stouffer

Conservative Republican For Congress

Bill Stouffer is running for U.S. Congress because Washington is failing to hear our concerns and leading our nation down a dangerous path. Bill is a son of the soil, former school board president, and graduate of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture. As a father and a grandfather, he refuses to let government jeopardize our children’s future with more debt and reckless spending.

As a citizen legislator, Bill Stouffer heard your calls for fiscal responsibility and delivered on his promise to cut spending and lower taxes. Widely recognized as one of the most conservative members of the Missouri Senate, Bill lead the fight to cut more than $450 million dollars in spending and balanced the state budget. As our conservative problem solver in Washington, Bill will continue working hard for the results we expect.

Conservative Republican – because there are just too damn many moderate and liberal republicans in Missouri. You know, like Vicky Hartzler.

Poor Bill Stouffer. He wasted part of his mail plan on a Democratic Party household. We didn’t get any of Vicky Hartzler’s mail (if there was any). Even at that, Vicky Hartzler only beat him by ten points. Interesting.

Ike, have you been listening to Vicky’s opponent? He’s laid out your game plan for the general election.

A question, though, for Bill Stouffer – where were your complaints about fiscal discipline and economic policy in the federal budget from 2001 to 2009?

Just asking.