Guess who’s number 9 in Hotline’s list of the most competitive 2016 Senate races. If you guessed corporate toady Roy Blunt, you’d be right. Here’s what Hotline has to say about the race between Blunt and Democratic challenger Jason Kander:
Among Democrats this year, the Missouri Senate race has evolved from an afterthought to the trendy upset pick of 2016. The change is thanks to Secretary of State Jason Kander, a 34-year-old Army veteran whose fresh face and hawkish foreign policy have put the incumbent Blunt on the defensive. Of course, Kander remains a long shot in a state that hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton in 1996, even if Blunt’s lobbyist ties and long tenure in Washington make him an inviting target. Democrats are hopeful that a strong challenge in a red state will force Republicans to spend real money in a place that should have been a GOP stronghold.
We shouldn’t be too excited yet – Blunt’s a cagey character who surely inspires plenty of monetary loyalty from the plutocrat class after his years of lickspittle servitude. Nevertheless, it is a fact that his bought and sold persona – along with his poorly hidden disdain for the crazies who crawled out from under rocks to form the Tea Party – has even turned off lots of GOPers in Missouri. Remember how the Tea Partiers went after their beloved Michelle Bachman when she bowed to reality and endorsed Blunt in 2010?
Meanwhile one can dream. “Oh, wouldn’t it be loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly… ” if Roy Blunt went bye bye and his is the departure that shifts the Senate away from the deluded conservative clowns who, in their efforts to drown government in the bathtub, have blighted our nations’ prospects over most of this young century?
And, you can be pretty certain that after Labor Day we will see a lot of ads reminding people that not re-electing Blunt will mean the Democrats control the Senate and NONE of the crazy agenda will even be moved in the Senate.