We were apprised of the following from an e-mail this morning:
…For nearly a decade, I’ve had the pleasure of working with many of you while covering politics and local government for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Today, I’d like to share with you an exciting new venture.
Effective immediately, I’m leaving the newspaper to form Shield Political Research, which will offer a fresh and innovative approach to opposition research for candidates and campaigns around the country.
The P-D’s Jake Wagman thinks it surprising that Kit Bond would go for the auto bailout. Wagman notes that Bond’s website states that “government doesn’t create jobs, businesses do.”
Well, that may be true that Bond makes that claim on his website, but Bond does love him some pork. Look at Bond’s earmarks for FY2008 Appropriations. He certainly doesn’t mind spending government money to stimulate job growth; it’s partly why he has such a high approval rating when Republicans overall are in such disfavor. And he voted for the $700 billion financial bailout – why would he have qualms about loaning a great deal less to auto companies when thousands of jobs are on the line in Missouri?
Via Fired Up, I see that Republican operatives are squawking to Politico that Judy Baker was their preferred opponent in Missouri’s Ninth District. Nothing new here; Republicans love spreading misinformation on that site. What’s perhaps more surprising is that one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s main political writers, Jake Wagman, would fall for the same story.
The GOP is trying to promote a storyline that Baker is weak outside of her “liberal base” in Columbia, where Gaw would supposedly have scooped up votes all over the district. Nevermind that Baker beat Gaw in northern Missouri counties like Clark and Scotland, in the center of the district in Gasconade County, in Saint Charles County, and in the south of the district in Crawford County. If it had been a true rural vs. city split, the race might have been closer, but as it was, Baker won handily with support throughout the district.
It’s not surprising either. I’ve met Judy, and she’s very charming and personable. She has a good track record working on important issues like health care, and as the wife of a Baptist minister and as someone with a Master of Divinity degree, the usual Republican cultural attacks don’t work too well against her. And as a candidate, she is very effective at raising enough funds to compete all over the district.
The fact of the matter is, GOP operatives aren’t interesting in pesky little things like facts. If Gaw, Bode or Jacob had prevailed, they would put a different spin on the exact same storyline. But as a newspaper reporter and all, Wagman should spend a little more time researching and a little less time passing along GOP talking points.
By the way, if the P-D wants to pass along a partisan point of view, they would do well to read Fired Up’s analysis of why Hulshof is the worst of the Republican gubernatorial options, politically speaking.
Photo of Judy Baker sandbagging in Hannibal courtesy of JudyBakerforCongress on Flickr.
Even though Jake Wagman of Political Fix didn’t know, a week ago, who Byron DeLear and Mike Garman were, he had a more accurate sense of how that election might go than I did.
A Political Fix posting about Byron DeLear’s new TV ad reminded me that Post-Dispatch writers and Show Me Progress writers live in parallel, but alternate, realities.
Jake Wagman seemed bemused at Byron’s tilting at windmills.
One of [the five Democratic nominees foolish enough to challenge Akin] – Byron DeLear – even has a commercial out.
(Who? Yes, I had to look him up, too.)
Wagman is familiar with names from past elections:
As a Democrat, he’ll face some sturdy opposition in Tuesday’s primary. Opponents include David L. Pentland, who was a St. Louis alderman, and former city School Board member Bill Haas, whose serial attempts for higher office have gained him, if nothing else, name recognition.
But Wagman is–I would say–unfamiliar with the present. DeLear has been off his radar screen and Mike Garman still is.
Now, in my alternate reality, DeLear and Garman dominate the primary race in the Second Congressional District. Between them, they’ve scooped up endorsements from just about every local Democratic group and Garman even scored an AFL-CIO endorsement–an honor that group virtually never grants before the primary election.
Pentland is a nice fellow, I’m sure, as is Bill Haas, but I don’t see either one of them working his patootie off out in West St. Louis County as DeLear and Garman have been. But what do I know? It’s been less than a year (Aug. 5, 2007–our first birthday is coming up!) since I started blogging on state news. I’m a newbie.
Perhaps on August 6th of this year, I’ll be bowing to Wagman’s superior knowledge of Democratic politics in the Second Congressional District. I’m sure he has a depth of knowledge on many topics that I couldn’t approach.
On the other hand, August 5th is primary day. And perhaps, on that evening, I’ll be toasting the victory of DeLear or Garman in the primary and savoring our first birthday with the (OK, minor) coup of having known who the real contenders in the Second were.
Via