The Kansas City Star endorses:

The Star’s recommendations for Missouri statewide offices

…Attorney General

Two talented political leaders seek this office; we recommend Mike Gibbons, the Republican from Kirkwood. His Democratic opponent is Chris Koster of Raymore, a former Cass County prosecutor. Both are lawyers and state senators, and both have been effective legislators…

…We disagree with Gibbons on some issues, including stem cell research. But he seems to be a straight arrow who really wants to serve the public. Koster sometimes seems focused largely on his own political ambitions.

The Democrat’s campaign has been financed by thousands of dollars funneled through committees by one donor…

Okay.

I seem to recall a republican candidate for some statewide office being the recipient of the single largest campaign contribution in the history of the State of Missouri. It’s there somewhere, I just can’t put my finger on it…

The Star must figure that $1,100,000.00 just can’t buy any decent influence these days…

Public Policy Polling (PPP) conducted a survey (pdf) from August 13th through August 17th of 750 likely General Election voters in Missouri in which they explored voter preferences in the statewide down ticket November races (Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General). The results were released on August 20th. The margin of error is 3.6%.

We’ve written previously on the presidential head to head numbers and the governor’s race.

Lieutenant Governor:

Q3 The candidates for Lieutenant Governor are Republican Peter Kinder and Democrat Sam Page. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

Kinder/Page

All

Kinder – 48%

Page – 37%

Undecided – 15%

Men

Kinder – 52%

Page – 35%

Undecided – 13%

Women

Kinder – 43%

Page – 39%

Undecided – 17%

Kinder/Page by Party

Democrat

Kinder – 16%

Page – 70%

Undecided – 14%

Republican

Kinder – 82%

Page – 11%

Undecided – 7%

Other

Kinder – 43%

Page – 27%

Undecided – 30%

Sam Page needs to educate those Democratic and “Other” undecideds. That’s going to take a lot of money (and television). Kinder, as the incumbent, appears to have his republican base all sewn up. That is until they start thinking about what’s been going on for the last four years…

Secretary of State:

Hubbard who?

Q4 The candidates for Secretary of State are Democrat Robin Carnahan and Republican Mitch Hubbard. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

Carnahan/Hubbard

All

Carnahan – 49%

Hubbard – 39%

Undecided – 11%

Hubbard Who?

State Treasurer:

Q5 The candidates for State Treasurer are Republican Brad Lager and Democrat Clint Zweifel. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

Lager/Zweifel

All

Lager – 41%

Zweifel – 36%

Undecided – 23%

That’s a significant chunk of undecideds. This will come down to money. 37% of the “Others” (not republican, not Democrat) are undecided.

Attorney General:

Q6 The candidates for Attorney General are Democrat Chris Koster and Republican Mike Gibbons. If the election was today, who would you vote for?

Koster/Gibbons

All

Koster – 42%

Gibbons – 39%

Undecided – 19%

Men

Koster – 41%

Gibbons – 45%

Undecided – 14%

Women

Koster – 43%

Gibbons – 33%

Undecided – 24%

Koster/Gibbons by Party

Democrat

Koster – 71%

Gibbons – 14%

Undecided – 15%

Republican

Koster – 17%

Gibbons – 70%

Undecided – 13%

Other

Koster – 36%

Gibbons – 30%

Undecided – 34%

The numbers for Koster among Democrats are not out of line with the other statewide Democratic candidates. Again, those “Other” undecideds will be an important target group. Television, television, television…