Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:
C091145 10/24/2011 FRIENDS OF PETER KINDER Davis Spence 2021 S. Warson Road St Louis MO 63124 Alpha Packaging President 10/24/2011 $5,500.00
[emphasis added]
What kind of trial balloon was this?:
Is Dave Spence a new GOP contender for governor? (October 23, 2011)
….Some sources are suggesting another contender, a (really) dark horse, one Dave Spence. According to Berger’s Beat, Spence was recently in Washington to meet with members of the Republican Governors Association “about self-funding a primary against Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.” Politico’s David Catanese also speculates that Spence, whom he describes as “a chief executive at a packaging company,” is considering a run….
[emphasis added]
There must have been some really interesting phone calls.
Here’s what I think will happen. Educated hunches-not concrete. I think Peter will drop soon. State Sen. Brad Lager, a giant douche, thinks he’s next in line, except that no one likes him. MO-02 candidate Ed Martin also thinks he’s next in line. Everyone likes him, but no one thinks he can win. People think House Speaker Steve Tilley could maybe win, but I think he will decline.
So Kinder gives a chunk of his money to Dave Spence, CEO of Alpha Packaging, who likely retains Kinder consultant David Barklage as general consultant, and now Republicans have a successful businessman with no record (except that he’s created jobs) and a chunk of change in addition to however much he can self-fund. That looks a heck of a lot better to me than the widely-disliked Lager with $71K or Martin with maybe $400K who would be on his third race of the cycle.