Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, Governor Jay Nixon (D) continues to rake in the campaign contributions:

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Stephen F Meyerkord 13004 Sunny Dawn Court Saint Louis MO 63127 Meyerkord & Meyerkord, LLC Attorney 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Schultz & Summers Engineering, Inc. 3287 Bagnell Dam Boulevard Lake Ozark MO 65049 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Michele M Schaefer 5260 S. Holland Avenue Springfield MO 65810 Mercy Health Administrator 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

There’s quite a lot more:

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Gori, Julian & Associates, PC 156 N. Main Street Edwardsville IL 62025 3/29/2012 $25,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Carolyn Noland 1516 Wellington Way Liberty MO 64068 None Homemaker 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Citizens For White 9703 N. Kenwood Court Kansas City MO 64155 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Kevin A Graham 1505 Glen Brook Lane Liberty MO 64068 Flook & Graham, PC Attorney 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Kurt D Pycior 1786 SW Summit Valley Drive Lees Summit MO 64081 Pycior + Co President 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI White Goss Bowers March Schulte & Weisenfels, PC 4510 Belleview Avenue Suite 300 Kansas City MO 64111 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Law Office of Lyle M. Gregory 309 S. Washington Street Raymore MO 64083 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI William H Bates 720 W. 44th Street Apt. 3007 Kansas City MO 64111 Lathrop & Gage LLP Attorney 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Jerry D Riffel 3701 Valentine Road Kansas City MO 64111 Lathrop & Gage LLP Attorney 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Timothy K McNamara 626 W. 58th Street Kansas City MO 64113 Lathrop & Gage LLP Attorney 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI McClelland Law Firm, PC 200 Westwoods Drive Liberty MO 64068 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Friends of Greg Canuteson 20 E. Franklin Street Liberty MO 64068 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Lathrop & Gage LLP 2345 Grand Boulevard Kansas City MO 64108 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Diane D Bradshaw 1231 Huntington Road Kansas City MO 64113 None Homemaker 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Kansas City Power & Light Company PO Box 418679 Kansas City MO 64141 3/29/2012 $10,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Hackley Associates PO Box 40 Oak Grove MO 64075 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Fred Palmer 57 Fair Oaks Drive Saint Louis MO 63124 Peabody Energy Senior VP of Government Relations 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Lynn Britton 1117 Shepard Oaks Drive Wildwood MO 63038 Mercy Health CEO 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Lloyd J Carmichael 2659 E. Normandy Street Springfield MO 65804 Carmichael & Neal, PC Attorney 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Marie Carmichael 908 S. Augusta Drive Springfield MO 65809 Affordable Homes Realtor 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/31/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Marie Glancy 25 Ladue Terrace Saint Louis MO 63124 Mercy Health Chief Advocacy Officer 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

And yesterday, for Governor Nixon:

C001135 03/30/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Jack M House 337 Mason Ridge Drive Saint Charles MO 63304 The Boeing Company VP of Supplier Management 3/28/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/30/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Evans Richardson 16600 Jamestown Forest Drive Florissant MO 63034 The Boeing Company Director of Government Relations 3/28/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/30/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Sam Cook 238 Madison Street Jefferson City MO 65101 Central Bank Senior Chairman 3/28/2012 $1,000.00

Yesterday, Dave Spence (r) had a few contributions:

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Harold Wiese 2 Fair Oaks St Louis MO 63124 WieseUSA Bus Mgr 3/30/2012 $5,000.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR John Gentry 423 N. Campbell Ave. Springfield MO 65806 Positronics President 3/30/2012 $5,000.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Drury Development Corp. 721 Emerson Road Ste. 200 St Louis MO 63141 3/30/2012 $10,000.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Marion Oertli 12764 Spruce Pond Dr. St Louis MO 63131 Self Homemaker 3/30/2012 $1,250.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Menlo Smith 15009 Manchester Rd. #284 Ballwin MO 63011 Sunmark Capital Chairman 3/30/2012 $1,000.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Douglas Mertzlufft 4815 Forder Oaks Ct. St Louis MO 63129 Guarantee Electrical CFO 3/30/2012 $1,250.00

C111205 03/30/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Paul Vogel 25 Deerfield Rd. St Louis MO 63124 Argos Partners LLC Executive 3/30/2012 $2,500.00

Not quite in the same volume.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge (March 25, 2012)

Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge – part 2 (March 29,2012)

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Teamsters Local Union # 41 Political Action Fund 4501 Emanuel Cleaver II Blvd. Kansas City MO 64130 3/30/2012 $3,000.00

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Asbestos Workers Local #27 400 S. Main St. Independence MO 64050 3/30/2012 $1,000.00

And yes, there’s more:

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER United Food & Commercial Workers Local #655 Elect Political Fund 300 Weidman Rd. Ballwin MO 63011 3/30/2012 $10,000.00

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Lithoflex Corp. 11880 Borman Dr. St L MO 63146 3/30/2012 $10,000.00

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP 460 Nichols Rd. Ste. 200 Kansas City MO 64112 3/30/2012 $25,000.00

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Chuck Caisley 820 W. 65th St. Kansas City MO 64113 Kansas City Power & Light Co. VP of Marketing & Public Affairs 3/30/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER William Bolster 30 Oak Park Drive St Louis MO 63141 Lewis, Rice, & Fingersh Attorney 3/30/2012 $2,500.00

Nothing Something for Ed Martin (r).

Update:

Just in at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C121046 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN John Qualy 13 E Brentmoor Clayton MO 63105 Northwestern Mutal 3/31/2012 $1,000.00

C121046 03/31/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN James Talent 1470 Country Lake Estates Drive Chesterfield MO 63005 Attorney 3/31/2012 $1,000.00

You spend a lot of cash propping up someone who will actually have an opponent in the general election.

Previously: Campaign Finance: money is not a problem (March 29, 2012)

From the Missouri Secretary of State:

State Senator – District 15

Republican

Eric Schmitt 937 BROWNELL AVE

ST LOUIS MO 63122 742 2/28/2012

Unopposed.

State Senator – District 23

Republican

Tom Dempsey 3103 BUCKSKIN PATH

ST CHARLES MO 63301 2/29/2012

Unopposed.

What happens? Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C010450 03/31/2012 LEMBKE FOR SENATE Dempsey For Senate Two Westbury Dr St Charles MO 63301 3/30/2012 $25,000.00

C010450 03/31/2012 LEMBKE FOR SENATE Schmitt For Senate PO Box220722 Kirkwood MO 63122 3/30/2012 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

This is why, failing everything else, the party which is in the minority should have placeholders file for office against the majority’s incumbents.

10. Buy Mega Millions tickets constantly, blame the left when you lose, say you didn’t really wanna win anyways.

9. Raise money for friends, tomorrow’s the deadline.

8. Put your “David Atchison is worse than Rush Limbaugh” argument into a thesis format.

7. Tell more stories of your father’s veterinary experience and how it makes you a women’s health expert.

6. Figure out if bringing the Hunger Games to Missouri counts as a jobs bill

5. Prank Call Orly, see if she blames Obama

4. Figure out how you’ll get the Missouri House featured in the ‘lame stream media’ this week

3. Check the betting line on the James Higgins/Leonard Steinman Libertarian primary.

2. Figure out if the War on Religion includes holding Baseball’s Opening Day on Good Friday

1. Pantsless party

for the benefit of a certain leader who shall go nameless

FuseWashington.org notes that many states – at least 38 states, in fact – permit insurance companies to discriminate in pricing health care based on gender. The site offers (h/t DailyKos) a nifty little chart that shows how much more than men women in each of the 50 states pay now pay. Here in Missouri the figure is 25-50% more.

The chart also shows that after Obamacare is fully phased in in 2014, women will pay no more or no less than men – because such discrimination will be prohibited by the law of the land.

Of course that depends on whether or not the Bush appointees (both Bushes – remember who nominated Thomas) on the Supreme Court decide to go on a repeal-the-new-deal bender.  

The Ryan Budget is a big gift to all of us, right and left, because it clearly shows us what the GOP stands for – nature red in tooth and claw where we struggle for survival of the fittest  – with a little extra help for our rich citizens who are probably considered to be the most fit because they can afford to pay Congress for the assistance.  This blatant embrace of the 1% is interesting because new research suggests that it does not really reflect the beliefs of the important if somewhat confused Tea Partiers who are popularly supposed to be playing an important role in the ever more rightward drift in the GOP itinerary.

Theda Skocpol and Vanessa Williamson, who have exhaustively researched the Tea Party phenomenon, have concluded that even those strident advocates for “liberty” from taxes, don’t really oppose government spending – as long as the spending is lavished on people they perceive as being like themselves. As Steven Teles summarizes it in The Washington Monthly:

In short, the fundamental principle of Tea Party activists is that government is fine when it’s helping people like them-hardworking, uncomplaining, non-mooching, self-restraining, religious (but not Muslim!), patriotic Americans-but it’s a threat when it’s helping people who are not like them. Screaming about the debt is really just the language Tea Party activists use to express their fear that the reins of government have been taken away from the people who actually make the society work, and given to a coalition of weirdos and parasites.

Which brings us to the three Republicans vying to represent their party in the race contesting Claire McCaskill’s Senate Seat. Their reactions to the Ryan budget provide a type of Rorschach test not only for the individuals involved, but for the degree to which they are actually attuned to attitudes that animate their base:

Todd Akin, a.k.a. Mr. Predictable, makes no bones about the fact that he wants to push even the lame, halt and starving little birdies out of what he views as a nest unfairly feathered by the  government at great cost to the rich:

This is a concrete plan that will put our economy back on track. Now is not a time to sit on the fence or to wait to see where the polls and political winds blow, it is time for action and leadership

Since almost no economists believe that the Ryan spending plan will do anything other than increase the deficit, gut the safety net and enrich the rich, this has to be a case of hard-core ideological blindness, disguised with the now cliched GOP efforts to paint Ryan as a bold thinker – or even as a thinker. Clearly, Akin would love to see the last of such programs as Medicare – and he might find that this attitude won’t endear him to the very folks he’s relying on to support him.

Sarah Steelman, the anointed candidate of the Tea Party Express if not all generic Tea Partiers in Missouri, is more in tune with the Tea Party mentality that Skocpol describes, albeit in a cautious fashion:

I would like to move towards a fairer flatter tax, shrink the size of government and balance the budget sooner. I am also taking a closer look at the Medicare revisions to make sure that Congress isn’t treated better than our seniors and that seniors have the option of staying with the current Medicare plan.

In other words, Steelman wants to deflect attention from the issue of privatizing Medicare, and tries to placate her Tea Party followers by reassuring them that if they suffer, she’ll make sure that Congress suffers too. Congress  is usually a fail-safe stalking horse. Notice that Steelman says nothing about making sure that the wealthy pick up their fair share of the load that the Ryan Budget foists off on the poor and middle class.

And John Brunner? Mr. No-Show does it again:

The third GOP candidate, St. Louis businessman John Brunner, said that Ryan showed “courage and leadership,” but declined to offer his views on the Wisconsin lawmaker’s proposed budget.

Interesting that Bruner chooses to emphasize “courage and leadership” while carefully showing neither. It seems that what he dubs the  “message of the citizen-senator against the career politician,” when speaking about his campaign, seems to be no more than an empty piece of paper.

No word yet about what the newest candidate, anti-stem cell guy Mark Memoly, thinks about budget priorities. I suspect it’ll be entertaining.

So there you have it. The old-line, crank right winger, Tea Party confusion and obfuscation, a corporate GOPer who stands for almost nothing but getting elected, and a cipher. And they want us to entrust them to watch out for programs like Medicare and Social Security that have sustained and built the middle classes, programs that even important segments of their own base support.    

Yesterday I noted in passing that the Ryan Budget gave the Pentagon more money than it had asked for or wanted. It is, of course, even worse than that – Rep. Ryan actually accused the generals – those folks the GOP are so keen that we defer to when their positions are more convenient – of lying (h/t Ed Kilgore):

We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice,” Ryan said during a forum on the budget sponsored by the National Journal. “We don’t think the generals believe their budget is really the right budget….

Kligore also notes that our own Rep. Todd Akin (R-2) also got into the act:

… The lament that the Pentagon must be protected from cuts reached the point in the Budget Committee markup last week that Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) began listing all the wars for which he felt America had been unprepared: He included “the War for Independence.”

Typical Todd. Embarrassing for Missourians, but aside from that does anyone wonder just why GOPers like Akin are so determined to shower unwanted funds on the military? Kilgore sees politics at play:

All in all, it appears House Republicans are so upset that they were backed into a bipartisan agreement last year (though it was basically an agreement not to agree, and to put into place a failsafe spending cut mechanism to punish them if they continued to fail to agree) that they want to put on a demonstration of what Congress would be like if there were no Democrats in it. Democrats should be very grateful.

And I am grateful. But I also wonder how much this determination to continue wasteful military spending has to do with defense industries at home. Pork in other words. That would explain Akin’s difficulties parsing the concepts attendant on military waste. Certainly explains why it’s now the done thing in GOP circles to question the judgment of the military managers they are usually so eager that everyone else defer to.  

Previously: Campaign Finance: Après Ed, le déluge (March 25, 2012)

The past few days, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Missouri Chamber PAC P.O. Box 149 Jefferson City MO 65102 3/26/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Davis, Bethune & Jones, LLC 1100 Main Suite 2930 Kansas City MO 64105 3/26/2012 $10,000.00



C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Sprint Nextel PO. Box 63670 Phoenix AZ 85082 3/26/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association (MPCA) PAC 205 E. Capitol Ave Suite 200 Jefferson City MO 65101 3/26/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Johnston and Associates 904 W. Main St. Suite 100 Jefferson City MO 65109 3/26/2012 $5,000.00

[emphasis added]

As you were expecting, there’s a whole lot more:

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER AA & L Enterprises, Inc. DBA Bahr’s Discount Food 2155 Highway 100 Labadie MO 63055 3/26/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/26/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER James McMullin 1312 Wyndham Lane Ballwin MO 63011 Self Attorney 3/26/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/27/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Noranda Aluminum, Inc 391 St. Jude Industrial Park New Madrid MO 63869 3/27/2012 $5,000.00

C031159 03/27/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER I.B.E.W. Educational Committee 900 Seventh Street N.W. Washington DC 20001 3/27/2012 $5,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Larus Corporation 12444 Powerscourt Drive, Suite 170 St Louis MO 63131 3/28/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Sprint Nextel PO Box 63670 Phoenix AZ 85082 3/28/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Jane Dueker 14665 Chesterfield Trails Dr Chesterfield MO 63017 Stinson Morrison Attorney 3/28/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Axcess Financial, Inc. 7755 Montgomery Road Ste. 400 Cincinnati OH 45236 3/29/2012 $2,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Missouri Health Care Association PAC 236 Metro Drive Jefferson City MO 65109 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Missouri AFL-CIO COPE 227 Jefferson St. Jefferson City MO 65101 3/29/2012 $1,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Hammond and Schinners, P.C. 7730 Carondelet Ave. Ste. 200 St Louis MO 63105 3/29/2012 $2,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Missouri Pharmacy PAC P.O. Box 1145 Jefferson City MO 65102 3/29/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 702 SW 8th St. Bentonville AR 72716 3/29/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades Council Political Education Committee 400 South Main St. Independence MO 64050 3/29/2012 $2,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER JMK Properties, LLC 4522 N. Mulberry Court Kansas City MO 64116 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Wagstaff & Cartmell, LLP 4740 Grand Ave Ste. 300 Kansas City MO 64112 3/29/2012 $17,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Selling Source, LLC 325 E. Warm Springs Rd. 2nd Floor Las Vegas NV 89119 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Thompson Law Office, LLC One Town Square North Kansas City MO 64116 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Centrinex, LLC 11944 West 95th St. Ste. 147 Overland Park KS 66215 3/29/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Davis, Ketchmark, McCreight, & Ivers PC 11161 Overbrook Road Ste. 210 Leawood KS 66211 3/29/2012 $25,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Hayfield Investment Partners, LLC c/o Willowbrook Partners, LLC 300 Creek View Road Ste. 102 Newark DE 19711 3/29/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Kansas City Power & Light Co. P.O. Box 418679 Kansas City MO 64141 3/29/2012 $20,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Star Loans, Inc. DBA American Cash Advance 8638 East 63rd St. Kansas City MO 64133 3/29/2012 $2,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER The Macfarlane Group, Inc. 6950 W. 56th St. Mission KS 66202 3/29/2012 $3,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER John OConnor 4740 Grand Ave. Ste. 300 Kansas City MO 64112 Wagstaff & Cartmell, LLP Attorney 3/29/2012 $8,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER PBA Health 6300 Enterprise Rd. P.O. Box 34015 Kansas City MO 64120 3/29/2012 $2,500.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Select Orthopedics 1000 Camera Avenue Ste. G St Louis MO 63126 3/29/2012 $2,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER American Traffic Solutions, Inc. 7681 East Gray Road Scottsdale AZ 85260 3/29/2012 $5,000.00

C031159 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR KOSTER Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. One Busch Place St Louis MO 63118 3/29/2012 $10,000.00

[emphasis added]

That’s a pile of money coming from a lot of people. Anyone think there won’t be more?

On the other hand, Ed Martin (r) managed to get some mercy contributions:

C121046 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN Herbert Baumann 217 Clarkson Executive Park Ellisville MO 63011 Real Estate 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C121046 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN Luke Vander Bleek 504 Portland Avenue 504 Portland Avenue Morrison IL 61270 Self 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

C121046 03/29/2012 MISSOURIANS FOR ED MARTIN Katherin Tychsen 10 Roan Lane St Louis MO 63124 Home Maker 3/29/2012 $1,000.00

It’s not exactly like someone is clubbing a baby harp seal because baby harp seals are cute and you’d just have to avert your eyes.

The candidate on the right is stuck in the 19th century. This is more like watching a slow motion steam locomotive wreck.

Johnson County Democrats met at the Trails Regional Library in Warrensburg at 7:30 p.m. to elect delegates and alternates to the 4th Congressional District meeting (and Missouri Democratic Party Convention) in the next step of the national convention delegate selection process. Unlike the republican beauty contest primary in February and their subsequent public relations disaster (and in some cases amusing) caucuses, the Democratic Party primary on the same date was binding as to the distribution of delegates.

People interested in participating started showing up and signing in around 7:00 p.m. The doors were closed at 7:30 p.m. If an individual showed up after 7:30 p.m. they could observe, but not participate.

The Johnson County chair appointed a temporary caucus chair who the ran the election for the permanent caucus chair. Once that process was finished the caucus proceeded to make nominations for and elect delegates and alternates to the congressional district meeting in April. Each congressional district is allocated a certain number of national convention delegates and alternates to be elected at those meetings. Those same county delegates and alternates will also attend and vote at the Missouri Democratic Party Convention in June for at-large national delegates and alternates.

Brennan Wallace (center), age 17, was elected a delegate to the 4th Congressional District meeting (and the state Democratic Convention). Under party rules he can run as a delegate if he will be old enough to vote in the November General Election. He will be. Brennan is running to be a delegate to the national convention.

Gary Grigsby (left), a candidate in the 51st legislative District encompassing part of Johnson County,

was elected the caucus chair and ran the delegate and alternate elections.

Nancy Maxwell from Holden, Missouri, the Democratic Party candidate in the 54th Legislative District,

will be facing Denny Hoskins (r) in the November general election.

Courtney Cole, the Democratic Party candidate in the 121st Legislative District in 2010, on being elected a delegate to the 4th Congressional

District meeting, stated, “Hey, I finally won an election!” The entire caucus broke out in laughter.

Conservatives have been bursting a vein over President Obama’s totally unsurprising statement that negotiations might be more fruitful once U.S. pols are no longer engaging in the ritualized puffing and strutting of their electoral mating dances. As a matter of fact, some of those on the right who are especially easy to inflame have dubbed his rather mild nod in the direction of realism, “unilateral disarmament.” Never mind that nobody can show the slightest bit of evidence that the President has any intentions of stripping the U.S. and only the U.S. of our entire nuclear arsenal (or of any type of arsenal) – which is what would be required if we were to disarm unilaterally.

The point that I really want to make, however, is that those on the right do seem to recognize that unilateral disarmament is foolhardy. So why do so many of them think (or pretend to think) that when politicians refuse to endorse what amounts to unilateral disarmament in the electoral sphere, it is “hypocrisy.” I allude to the GOP response to the VoteVets ad that is running in support of Claire McCaskill:

For years, Claire McCaskill has feigned outrage over political spending by outside interest groups that she accuses of trying to “buy your government”-but now that she is benefiting from an outside interest group funded by radical environmentalists, she is strangely silent,” the state GOP said in a statement.

To make matters worse for McCaskill, the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org has investigated VoteVets and unmasked the interest groups behind it. As it turns out, VoteVets has raked in millions of dollars from radical environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

Let’s sort it out: McCaskill has been hammered and will, no doubt continue to be hammered with dishonest third party ads, most recently from Crossroads GPS. The GOP can rely on enough third party moolah from their corporate and financier pals to gold-plate Everest if they didn’t prefer that it be used for carefully calibrated attack ads instead.  All of which brings home the fact that it’s definitely not a level playing field.   Walking unarmed out onto this far from level battle playing field is surely the political equivalent of unilateral disarmament – which the GOP clearly considers criminally stupid, even if they don’t exactly know what it entails.

McCaskill has to play the hand she’s dealt and that means taking help where she can get it. But at least, she knows that we need to reform the rules that govern the playing field and her condemnation of the bad faith that forces her hand, is far from hypocrisy, even if she still retains a clear concept of what current realities demand. On the other hand, GOP pols really, really seem to want to perpetuate the money laden status quo. Otherwise, they’d join their Democratic colleagues’ efforts to do something about the efforts of a few rich men to purchase our government.

Oh – I almost forgot – the claims about VoteVets?  How purile can you get. VoteVets consort with environmentalists? You gotta admit – they’re a classier bunch than either the Kochs or Carl Rove who’re among the sugar daddies behind the groups spending big bucks to knock McCaskill out of the ring.