You can follow the filing here. For best results in finding new candidates on Monday/Tuesday, just do a text search for the current date.

There are two days left in candidate filing, and as with anything involving candidates and possible candidates, there will be more candidates filing on Monday and Tuesday. So here’s a dry journey of the races without a filed major party candidate.

Blaine Luetkemeyer gets a new district number and a new district shape (the new 3rd looks like a worm attempting to eat St. Louis), but Blaine doesn’t have a Democratic opponent for the 3rd. Luetkemeyer became the first major party candidate to get a free pass from the other major party since Bill Clay in 1970 back in 2010, (edit: so a Dem not running v. him in 2012 would make it two elections in a row). Libertarian Steven Wilson is seeking to oppose Luetkemeyer though.

The other 7 districts are contested by both parties. The only major party candidates currently unopposed in their primary are Luetkemeyer, Teresa Hensley/Vicky Hartzler in the 4th, Emanuel Cleaver in the 5th and Jim Evans (D-Republic) in the 7th.

Under the fold, the State Senate and the State House!

Now in the State Senate, the Republicans don’t have a candidate in the 5th, 9th, 11th, and 13th. None of which is a huge surprise. The Republicans still have Jane Cunningham filed in the 7th despite the fact that the 7th moved cross-state to Kansas City. So might as well count that as a “seat with no major party candidate filed)

As for the Democrats. Well. No candidate in the 15th (59/41R), 21st (55/45D), 23rd (56/44R), 27th (66/34R), 29th (70/30R), 31st (54/46R), or 33rd (66/34R). So that’s 7 of 17 seats. In 2008, only one of those seats was uncontested (the 29th). The 02/10 numbers are not perfect (because they count uncontested state house races, and inflates the results from places like the 21st). But it’s a mix of areas that at least drew a candidate or two, even against incumbent Senators.

The House has Republicans in 125 seats and Democrats in 93 seats, with a Democrat/Republican matchup in 55 seats.

The most Democratic seat with a Republican candidate is the 24th where House Democratic Leader Mike Talboy is facing his first Republican opponent ever in a 85/15 Dem seat.

The most Republican seat with a Democratic candidate is the 134th, where Democrat James Owen will face the winner of the Republican primary in a seat around 2-1 Republican.

As for Blueish seats with no candidate.. the 29th (South Independence) has a Dem candidate who hasn’t filed yet. The 11th (Platte/South Buchanan) is still Galen Higdon v. nobody. The 14th is Ron Schieber v. nobody.

The seats that are around 50/50 in some measurement (using the official state measurements) with no Democratic candidates are the 119th (Franklin County, Dave Hinson), the 35th (Lee’s Summit with part of Kansas City, Gary Cross), the 60th (all-Jeff City, Jay Barnes) and the 90th (Kirkwood, Rick Stream).

The 48th (Boonville and assorted parts of Howard/Saline/Pettis Counties, Open) is near that list. Along with the 57th (Henry and Benton Counties, Wanda Brown) and 106th (Eastern St. Charles, Chrissy Sommer).

Of the districts with one of the measurements showing a D/R split of under 10% either way or an incumbent in a more challenging district, Republicans haven’t filed in 3 of those seats, Democrats haven’t filed in 18 of those seats.

Or to put in in chart form (with the 02/10 numbers used)

Don’t you love it when 50/50 is a mark with 59 seats on one side and 99 seats on the other side? But then again, Democrats only hold 57 seats, so 59 or 62 or 64 is an improvement. Aw, 2010.

Ultimately, this year in Missouri redistricting is brought to you by chaos (which is the new normal in Missouri Politics). But I don’t think you can place your bets on the House map going away. Probably the same for the Senate map, but anything is possible there. And definitely the same for the Congressional map (compactness is apparently just a word, not an order)

For the sake of history, the number of legislative candidates who filed on the last two days in 2008? 45 candidates.

The number of legislative candidates filing on the last two days in 2010? 42.

(And some of them actually won, although that list for non-“Incumbent withdraws suddenly” scenarios is mostly Kurt Schaefer, Cole McNary, Eileen McGeoghegan and Penny Hubbard)

The maps are as set as they’re ever gonna be. Time to roll, candidates.

Senator Claire McCaskill filed for reelection to the U.S. Senate yesterday afternoon. From the Missouri Secretary of State:

U.S. Senator

Democrat

Claire McCaskill PO BOX 300077

ST. LOUIS MO 63130 3/23/2012

2:39 p.m.

[emphasis added]

To date Senator McCaskill does not have a primary challenge.

The insane clowns running in the republican primary:

Republican

Todd Akin PO BOX 334

GLENCOE MO 63038 210 2/28/2012

10:58 a.m.

Jerry Beck 211 E OLIVE ST

LA MONTE MO 65337 376 2/28/2012

10:19 a.m.

Sarah Steelman 11820 SPRINGHOUSE LN

ROLLA MO 65401 453 2/28/2012

2:52 p.m.

John G. Brunner 1726 BUTTERNUT DR

ST LOUIS MO 63131 653 2/28/2012

10:50 a.m.

Mark Memoly PO BOX 1124

LEES SUMMIT MO 64063 854 2/28/2012

2:35 p.m.

Mark Patrick Lodes 208 BARAT AVE S

ST LOUIS MO 63135 3/20/2012

2:54 p.m.

This past week, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C001135 03/16/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Carlos A Perez 1415 S. Fairway Avenue Springfield MO 65804 Retired Retired 3/14/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/16/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Kim Day 2328 Celebration Avenue Springfield MO 65809 Mercy Health President of Central Region 3/14/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/16/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Dennis A Muilenburg 34 Country Club Drive Edwardsville IL 62025 The Boeing Company Executive Vice President 3/14/2012 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

Oh, yes, there’s a lot more:

C001135 03/17/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI David L Steward 309 Wyndmoor Terrace Court Town and Country MO 63141 World Wide Technology Chairman 3/15/2012 $10,000.00

C001135 03/17/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Christopher M Chadwick 482 Pine Bend Drive Wildwood MO 63005 The Boeing Company President of Boeing Military Aircraft 3/15/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/19/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Richard A Mendenhall 2212 Shepard Boulevard Columbia MO 65201 RE/MAX Boone Realty Real Estate Agent 3/17/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/20/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI John Wright 9195 W. Graham Road Rocheport MO 65279 Rollins Capital Investor 3/18/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/21/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Kevin Cantwell 5568 Hennsley Circle Weldon Spring MO 63304 Big River Telephone CEO 3/19/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/21/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Edward Pinegar 850 Farm Road 56 Springfield MO 65803 Pinegar Chevrolet Owner 3/19/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/21/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Andrew O Brien 815 Geyer Avenue Saint Louis MO 63104 O’Brien Law Firm Attorney 3/19/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/21/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Dominium Development Acquisition, LLC 2905 Northwest Boulevard Suite 150 Plymouth MN 55441 3/19/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/21/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Shannon Sock 6319 Waterman Avenue Saint Louis MO 63130 Mercy Health Executive Vice President 3/19/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/22/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Benchmark HM LLC 1795 Clarkson Road Suite 200 Chesterfield MO 63017 3/20/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/22/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI UFCW Local 655 Elect Political Fund 300 Weidman Road Ballwin MO 63011 3/20/2012 $10,000.00

C001135 03/22/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Sheet Metal Workers Local No. 36 2319 Chouteau Avenue Suite 100 Saint Louis MO 63103 3/20/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/22/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI William Showalter 2126 Kehrs Ridge Drive Chesterfield MO 63005 Mercy Health Vice President & CIO 3/20/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Robert M Robuck 418 Crystal View Terrace Jefferson City MO 65109 Central Bank Chairman 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PO Box 1088 Ridgefield CT 06877 3/21/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Bristol-Myers Squibb Company PO Box 840769 Houston TX 77284 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Thomas Hale 12749 Topping Acres Saint Louis MO 63131 Mercy Health Medical Director – Center for Innovative Care 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Debra L Rub 2024 Kingspointe Drive Chesterfield MO 63005 The Boeing Company VP of Missiles & Unmanned Airborne 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Central Bancompany PAC 238 Madison Street Jefferson City MO 65101 3/21/2012 $5,675.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Cathy Steele 1006 Orchard Lakes Drive Saint Louis MO 63146 Self Attorney 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI David L Steward II PO Box 1724 Maryland Heights MO 63043 Lion Forge, LLC CEO 3/21/2012 $5,000.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Flotron & McIntosh, LLC PO Box 2051 Jefferson City MO 65101 3/21/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Johnston & Associates, Inc. 904 W. Main Street Suite 100 Jefferson City MO 65109 3/21/2012 $1,250.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI Bruce H Wilson 3704 Shadow Glen Court Columbia MO 65203 Retired Retired 3/21/2012 $2,500.00

C001135 03/23/2012 JAY NIXON FOR MISSOURI West Gate JC, LLC 302 Campusview Drive Suite 203 Columbia MO 65201 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

[emphasis added]

And Dave Spence (r), in the same time frame?:

C111205 03/16/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Philip von Gontard 9762 Old Warson Road St Louis MO 63124 Self Financial Advisor 3/16/2012 $1,000.00

C111205 03/21/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Al Koller III 1227 Devonworth Chesterfield MO 63017 Koller Enterprises President 3/21/2012 $2,500.00

C111205 03/21/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Eugene Johnson Jr 61 Fair Oaks St Louis MO 63124 Anheuser-Busch Sales 3/21/2012 $1,000.00

C111205 03/21/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Kimberly Diederich 6 Countryside Lane St Louis MO 63131 Self Homemaker 3/21/2012 $2,500.00

C111205 03/23/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Derek Glanvill 552 Eagles Nest Ct. Wildwood MO 63011 McCarthy Building Companies President & COO 3/23/2012 $2,500.00

C111205 03/23/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Woodard Cleaning & Restoration Inc. 2600 Creve Coeur Dr. St Louis MO 63144 3/23/2012 $1,000.00

C111205 03/23/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Content180 LLC 111 West Pacific Ave. St Louis MO 63119 3/23/2012 $5,000.00

C111205 03/23/2012 SPENCE FOR GOVERNOR Chase McKeague 111 West Pacific Ave. St Louis MO 63119 Chase and Company Principal 3/23/2012 $5,000.00

What, nothing from organized labor (working people!)?

There is a difference.

Previously: Campaign Finance: on any given Sunday (March 11, 2012)

Via Twitter:

Markos Moulitsas ‏ @markos

Notice that conservatives aren’t arguing that Trayvon should’ve been packing? I wonder why… 2:41 PM – 23 Mar 12

Good question.

Wednesday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C121149: Missourians Against Costly Mandates

Po Box 220904 Committee Type: Campaign

St Louis Mo 63129

(314) 781-5233 Established Date: 03/21/2012

Ballot Measures Election Date Subject Support/Oppose

Renewable Energy Standard Initiative 11/06/2012 Renewable Energy Statewide Oppose

[emphasis added]

A new committee, fancy that.

And this new committee is opposed to this initiative?:

Statutory Amendment to RSMo Chapter 393, Relating to Renewable Energy, version 1.0a

2012-129

OFFICIAL BALLOT TITLE AS CERTIFIED BY

SECRETARY OF STATE

   Shall Missouri law be amended to:

    *   increase incrementally the total amount of renewable energy produced from sources such as wind turbines, solar, and hydropower that investor-owned electric utilities are required to purchase, generate, or otherwise acquire to at least 25% of their total retail sales by 2026, and limit rate increases to retail customers for compliance with this standard;

    *   require that such renewable energy be either procured by an electric utility for Missouri retail customers or generated by such customers; and

    *   provide for solar energy incentives for retail customers and additional duties for the Office of Public Counsel?….

Who would be opposed to increasing use of renewable energy?

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, their first big contribution:

CONTRIBUTION OF MORE THAN $5,000.00 RECEIVED BY ANY COMMITTEE FROM ANY SINGLE DONOR – TO BE FILED WITHIN 48 HOURS OF RECEIVING THE CONTRIBUTION

C121149 MISSOURIANS AGAINST COSTLY MANDATES [pdf] 3/23/2012

Ameren Missouri

PO Box 66892

St Louis, MO 63166 3/21/2012

$10,000.00

[emphasis added]

Go figure.

Yesterday, via twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏ @RepHartzler

Today’s the 2nd Anniversary of ObamaCare being signed into law w/ it’s higher costs & less access. Repeal it! 6:09 PM – 22 Mar 12

Today, from the White House [pdf]:

….Health reform is already making a difference. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act:

•• 2.5 million more young adults have health insurance on their parent’s plan.

•• In 2010 and 2011, over 5.1 million seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare have saved over $3.1 billion on prescription drugs. These savings include a one-time $250 rebate check to seniors who hit the “donut hole” coverage gap in 2010, and a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole in 2011. And everyone with Medicare can get key preventive services like mammograms and other cancer screening tests for free.

•• Insurance companies can no longer drop your coverage when you get sick because of a mistake on your application, put a lifetime cap on the dollar amount of coverage you can receive or raise your premiums with no accountability.

•• Insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition. And in 2014, discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition will be prohibited….

….•• No more pre-existing condition denials for children: The parents of over 17.6 million children with pre-existing conditions no longer have to worry that their children will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

•• No more lifetime dollar limits on coverage: 105 million Americans no longer have a lifetime dollar limit on essential health benefits. Annual dollar limits are set at increasingly higher amounts until January 1, 2014 when most plans issued or renewed are banned from having an annual dollar limit on coverage….

There is a difference.

Evidently Representative Hartzler (r) and the other right wingers in Congress resort to Twitter when it comes to criticizing health care reform. A real solution to the real health care access problems for all Americans takes more than 140 characters. And the republicans don’t have any real solutions.  

A few weeks ago St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson decided to get all up in Mr. Obama’s face when the President, quite logically, issued health care guidelines guidelines that would require many Catholic hospitals, schools and charities to include contraception in their employees federally mandated preventative health care insurance. The Bishop got himself so worked up that he authored a pastoral letter that he required to be read aloud in every parish in the archdiocese. Nor was he mollified when the President modified his rule so that most church entities could escape even this indirect support for those parts of women’s health care that irks the institutional Church (as opposed to actual Catholics who overwhelmingly use birth control).

The bishop condemned the guidelines because he claimed that it would, by forcing the church to indirectly fund birth control, contravene the principle of “religious freedom” – in spite of the fact that birth control is, in terms of actual dogma, rather a peripheral issue. As Gary Wills points out:

Contraception is not even a religious matter. Nowhere in Scripture or the Creed is it forbidden. Catholic authorities themselves say it is a matter of “natural law,” over which natural reason is the arbiter-and natural reason, even for Catholics, has long rejected the idea that contraception is evil.

In essence the Archbishop was trying to play Big Daddy and tell us all that we have to observe Catholic Church preferences no matter the cost to the individual or the nature of our personal beliefs.

There is, however, a central tenet in current Catholic social teaching that is under political attack. That teaching goes by the name of the “preferential option for the poor” and was fully articulated by Pope John Paul II in 1991 in his encyclical Centesimus Annus. Although the current pope has attacked the Latin American liberation theology in which the principle was first described, he was careful to affirm the basic principle:

… love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel.

Sure, Benedict XVI also includes the unborn among the vulnerable classes (although he didn’t explicitly extend the protection to sperm and ovum), but the important point is that he supports the continued highest elevation of efforts to protect the poor and helpless.

It’s also a fact that this week the Republican Party has introduced a budget, the  Ryan Budget, that gives to the wealthy – an average $187,000 tax break to each millionaire, in fact. It manages to do so by taking from the poor, decimating safety-net programs such as food-stamps, Medicare, job training progams, educational aid – you name it, it disappears.

At the same time, the Missouri Senate passed a budget that supports education at the expense of the welfare of blind citizens. It strips $28 million from a health care program that provides care to those needy blind Missourians who do not inhabit the extreme depths of poverty necessary to qualify for Missouri’s Medicaid. This budgetary contortion comes on top of continued cuts to the state’s social programs over the past few years. At the same time the same legislators have seen fit to cut corporate taxes – cuts to the state’s already very low franchise tax, for instance, cost the state $85 million dollars in needed revenue.

I think we call this robbing the poor to give to the rich. Note that this reverse Robin Hood maneuver is the preferred sport of today’s fringe-dwelling Republican Party. And also note it’s the opposite of the “preferential option for the poor,” one of the most important of the Catholic social teachings.

So, to sum up, the facts are these: If Archbishop Carlson (and the rest of his confreres) are serious about standing up for the Church’s teachings, specifically about the protection of the vulnerable, we should expect to see the pastoral letters hitting the parishes right away. To be even more explicit, we should be hearing their condemnations of the entire Republican party, the perpetrator of these budget atrocities, anytime now. And until we do, I know just how much respect and credence I’m going to grant the fathers of my erstwhile church when they sit in their tax-exempt churches, collect tax-dollars to fund their good works, and whine about their “religious liberty.”

Addendum:  Just be clear, I’m not talking about some statement from the bishops that they don’t think the GOP budget strategies are very nice – I’m talking about having the church fathers fight for the preferential option for the poor with the same fervor they bring to their anti-abortion jihad. When I hear about a priest denying a catholic GOPer communion because of the GOP war on the poor, I’ll believe that the church stands behind all its teachings, not just the ones that best conform to the prejudices of a group of authoritarian, celibate males.

A bill, filed today:

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1968

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES PARKINSON (Sponsor), JONES (89), BAHR, FUNDERBURK, TILLEY, COX, SOMMER, GATSCHENBERGER, FRANKLIN AND FITZWATER (Co-sponsors).

[….]

AN ACT

To repeal section 571.107, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to signs posting private property off-limits for concealed firearms, with penalty provisions.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

[….]

….(15) Any private property whose owner has posted the premises as being off-limits to concealed firearms by means of one or more signs displayed in a conspicuous place of a minimum size of [eleven] fifty-five inches by [fourteen] seventy inches with the writing thereon in letters of not less than [one inch] five inches. ….

[….]

[strike through emphasis added]

Think about that for a moment. Was this bill introduced because someone with a conceal carry permit couldn’t read a posted sign?

To qualify for a conceal carry permit an individual must receive a passing score of 15 of 20 rounds hitting a B-27 silhouette target at seven yards. One of the larger sizes advertised for a B-27 target is 24 x 45 inches.

Think about that for a moment. If this bill passes the required size of a posted no conceal carry sign would be significantly larger than the target someone would have to hit seventy-five percent of the time from a distance of seven yards to qualify for a conceal carry permit.

Beats me.

A bill, introduced yesterday, to have voters register by party and not allow crossover voting in primaries:

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 1963

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES PARKINSON (Sponsor), JONES (89), TILLEY, SCHOELLER, NANCE, SOMMER, CONWAY (14), McCAHERTY, LONG, KELLEY (126), SCHARNHORST, ZERR, BAHR, CURTMAN AND GATSCHENBERGER (Co-sponsors).

[….]

AN ACT

To repeal sections 115.135, 115.137, 115.155, 115.157, 115.163, 115.225, 115.249, and 115.637, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof nine new sections relating to primary elections, with penalty provisions.



Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

[….]

4. Any person updating or changing such person’s party affiliation as required under section 115.166 may update or change such party affiliation for the upcoming election at any time before the deadline for registration for such election established in this section. Any update or change to such person’s party affiliation made after the deadline for registration established in this section shall be effective only for subsequent elections.

[….]

3. For all primary elections held after January 1, 2013, any person who is entitled to vote in such primary under this chapter shall be entitled to vote only the official primary election ballot of the political party designated in the person’s voter registration. Any person attempting to vote or voting a primary election ballot of a political party other than that for which the person’s designated party affiliation qualifies the person to vote shall be guilty of a class four election offense as provided in section 115.637.

[….]

3. Any person who fails to designate a party affiliation shall be registered without a party affiliation. The election authority shall notify the person by mail that the person has been registered without a party affiliation and that the person may change or update the person’s party affiliation as provided in section 115.166.

[….]

Who would ever consider crossover voting in a primary?