Joplin, Missouri (in red) in Jasper and Newton Counties. Image via Creative Commons License.

The presidential vote in Jasper and Newton Counties (including the City of Joplin) in 2012, via the Missouri Secretary of State:

JASPER [County]

President, Vice President (49 of 49 Precincts Reported)

Barack Obama, Joe Biden Democrat 12,808 28.3%

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan Republican 31,345 69.3%

Gary Johnson, James P. Gray Libertarian 919 2.0%

Virgil Goode, Jim Clymer Constitution 141 0.3%

Total Votes 45,213

NEWTON [County]

President, Vice President (25 of 25 Precincts Reported)

Barack Obama, Joe Biden Democrat 6,425 25.6%

Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan Republican 18,179 72.5%

Gary Johnson, James P. Gray Libertarian 397 1.6%

Virgil Goode, Jim Clymer Constitution 79 0.3%

Total Votes 25,080

[emphasis added]

The gubernatorial vote in 2012:

JASPER [County]

Governor (49 of 49 Precincts Reported)

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon Democrat 19,455 43.2%

David (Dave) Spence Republican 24,215 53.8%

Jim Higgins Libertarian 1,356 3.0%

Leonard Steinman Write-in 0 0.0%

Ronald E. Levy Write-in 0 0.0%

Total Votes 45,026

NEWTON [County]

Governor (25 of 25 Precincts Reported)

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon Democrat 9,879 39.5%

David (Dave) Spence Republican 14,481 57.9%

Jim Higgins Libertarian 661 2.6%

Leonard Steinman Write-in 0 0.0%

Ronald E. Levy Write-in 0 0.0%

Total Votes 25,021

And in 2008?:

JASPER [County]

U.S. President And Vice President Precincts Reporting 46 of 46

John McCain, Sarah Palin REP 31,667 65.9%

Barack Obama, Joe Biden DEM 15,730 32.8%

Bob Barr, Wayne A. Root LIB 194 .4%

Chuck Baldwin, Darrell Castle CST 123 .3%

Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzalez IND 311 .6%

Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente WI 0 .0%

Total Votes   48,025

NEWTON [County]

U.S. President And Vice President Precincts Reporting 25 of 25

John McCain, Sarah Palin REP 17,637 69.4%

Barack Obama, Joe Biden DEM 7,450 29.3%

Bob Barr, Wayne A. Root LIB 87 .3%

Chuck Baldwin, Darrell Castle CST 74 .3%

Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzalez IND 158 .6%

Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente WI 0 .0%

Total Votes   25,406

[emphasis added]

The vote for Governor in 2008:

JASPER [County]

Governor Precincts Reporting 46 of 46

Hulshof, Kenny REP 27,764 58.6%

Nixon, Jeremiah W. (Jay) DEM 18,676 39.4%

Finkenstadt, Andrew W. LIB 507 1.1%

Thompson, Gregory E. CST 425 .9%

Brown, Sr., Theodis (Ted) WI 0 .0%

Serati, Mark WI2 0 .0%

Total Votes   47,372

NEWTON [County]

Governor Precincts Reporting 25 of 25

Hulshof, Kenny REP 15,570 61.9% % Yes Votes Graph

Nixon, Jeremiah W. (Jay) DEM 9,134 36.3%

Finkenstadt, Andrew W. LIB 246 1.0%

Thompson, Gregory E. CST 222 .9%

Brown, Sr., Theodis (Ted) WI 0 .0%

Serati, Mark WI2 0 .0%

Total Votes   25,172

President Obama in Joplin, Missouri on May 29, 2011.

Evidently, if you’re President of the United States visiting an area twice within the last year and a half will lose you votes. The numbers for Governor Jay Nixon did go up, but the overall percentages weren’t that great, either.

Previously:

President Obama in Joplin – May 21, 2012 – commencement speech (May 22, 2012)

Some thoughts on Joplin (June 2, 2011)

FEMA declares Eric Cantor a Disaster Area (May 31, 2011)

President Obama in Joplin – photos and remarks (May 29, 2011)

The GOP and Joplin: No compassion, only gamesmanship (May 25, 2011)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) on the floor of the Senate: calling out Rep. Eric Cantor (r) (May 25, 2011)

Government is not the enemy (May 23, 2011)

Narration: In two thousand and eight Mitt Romney gave John McCain over twenty years of tax records. After reviewing the records the McCain campaign decided Romney wasn’t right for the vice presidency. We don’t know what’s in those records. But something made John McCain think that this woman was more qualified.

Because you can’t give up on your dream to make everyone pray to the same deity in the same way at the same time.

HJR 2 was pre-filed by Representative Mike McGhee (r – birther). He’s done this before. Apparently, all assessment of Missouri public school students in the form of tests or exams (and the inevitable accompanying prayers by those same students) have ceased in the last few years. Or something.

Previously:

Department of Redundancy Department: Representative Mike McGhee (r) (January 4, 2010)

HJR 62: brace yourself for “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (May 5, 2010)

Shark Fu has a thing or two to say on the subject:

The Amish are coming…to Missouri!

….I’ve made a study of calls for American communities to integrate faith into everything from public schools to government.  A bitch has to give supporters of organized prayer in school their due – they’ve passed those Death Tax fools in the race to perpetuate nonsense for political gain and that’s quite an accomplishment.  The issue is and has been about organized prayer in the public school classroom, but when you hear people talk about it you’d think their little Missy had been stuck in the corner with a dunce cap for quietly praying before an algebra test.  Now that’s a masterful work of bullshittery!

People buy that bullshit because most of them can’t conceive of why there may be a problem with a teacher leading a class in prayer.

And people often can’t conceive the problem because the fact that teachers don’t lead public school students in organized prayer prevents the problem….

….Talk of bringing organized prayer to public schools is really a call to bring their kind of prayer to those classrooms….

Amen, sister!

The bill:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 2

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES McGHEE (Sponsor), WALLINGFORD, LANT, REIBOLDT, SCHIEBER, LASATER, WHITE, CIERPIOT, KEENEY, LOEHNER, WELLS, SCHAD, DAVIS, BAHR, GATSCHENBERGER, WYATT, KLIPPENSTEIN, FITZWATER, JONES (89), THOMSON, LICHTENEGGER, HOUGH, ROWLAND, SATER, SOLON, LONG, SHUMAKE, CRAWFORD, HINSON, RUZICKA, SCHNEIDER, HAMPTON, FREDERICK, PHILLIPS, KORMAN, ELMER, ALLEN, BERNSKOETTER, HIGDON, BROWN (116), ASBURY, SCHATZ, CURTMAN AND KOENIG (Co-sponsors).

0293L.01I                                                                                                                                                  D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

JOINT RESOLUTION

Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment repealing section 5 of article I of the Constitution of Missouri, and adopting one new section in lieu thereof relating to the right to pray.

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:

           That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday in November, 2012, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or rejection, the following amendment to article I of the Constitution of the state of Missouri:

           Section A. Section 5, article I, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new section adopted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 5, to read as follows:

           Section 5. That all men and women have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; that no human authority can control or interfere with the rights of conscience; that no person shall, on account of his or her religious persuasion or belief, be rendered ineligible to any public office or trust or profit in this state, be disqualified from testifying or serving as a juror, or be molested in his or her person or estate; that to secure a citizen’s right to acknowledge Almighty God according to the dictates of his or her own conscience, neither the state nor any of its political subdivisions shall establish any official religion, nor shall a citizen’s right to pray or express his or her religious beliefs be infringed; that the state shall not coerce any person to participate in any prayer or other religious activity, but shall ensure that any person shall have the right to pray individually or corporately in a private or public setting so long as such prayer does not result in disturbance of the peace or disruption of a public meeting or assembly; that citizens as well as elected officials and employees of the state of Missouri and its political subdivisions shall have the right to pray on government premises and public property so long as such prayers abide within the same parameters placed upon any other free speech under similar circumstances; that the General Assembly and the governing bodies of political subdivisions may extend to ministers, clergypersons, and other individuals the privilege to offer invocations or other prayers at meetings or sessions of the General Assembly or governing bodies; that students may express their beliefs about religion in written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their work; that no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs; that the state shall ensure public school students their right to free exercise of religious expression without interference, as long as such prayer or other expression is private and voluntary, whether individually or corporately, and in a manner that is not disruptive and as long as such prayers or expressions abide within the same parameters placed upon any other free speech under similar circumstances; and, to emphasize the right to free exercise of religious expression, that all free public schools receiving state appropriations shall display, in a conspicuous and legible manner, the text of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States; but this section shall not be construed to expand the rights of prisoners in state or local custody beyond those afforded by the laws of the United States, excuse acts of licentiousness, nor to justify practices inconsistent with the good order, peace or safety of the state, or with the rights of others.

           Section B. Pursuant to Chapter 116, RSMo, and other applicable constitutional provisions and laws of this state allowing the General Assembly to adopt ballot language for the submission of a joint resolution to the voters of this state, the official ballot title of the amendment proposed in Section A shall be as follows:

           “Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure:

           •          That the right of Missouri citizens to express their religious beliefs shall not be infringed;

           •          That school children have the right to pray and acknowledge God voluntarily in their schools; and

           •          That all public schools shall display the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.”

[emphasis in original]

“Useless laws weaken the necessary laws.” – Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689 – 1755)

We are not worthy.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

A quizzical about the political chats this morning…

…CBS Sunday Morning had very solid coverage of the spill and the impact it is already having on local businesses.  But, as I watched This Week on ABC, I couldn’t help but wonder why producers didn’t take this opportunity to invite Sarah Palin on…

…I’d like to ask Palin what her solution to this drama in the Gulf is…if her Drill baby, Drill policy would mandate remote shut off technology…what she has to say in defense of off shore drilling to the folks in the Gulf who, based on 2008 election results, voted for her ass and McCain.

But the rogue has gone silent.

Sigh….

Very good question.

Go. Read the whole thing.

We’ve been getting quite a bit of traffic from right wingnuttia over a reference at one of their sites (no, we’re not going to give them the linky goodness and ensuing traffic).

During the campaign, on July 10, 2008, Michelle Obama came to Kansas City for a town hall on the campus of the University of Missouri – Kansas City. We covered the event:

Michelle Obama in Kansas City – photos

(by the way, one of our photos from the event made its way to the Obama campaign web site)

Michelle Obama in Kansas City – remarks

Right wingnuttia is quite obsessed by this portion of the transcript, claiming that it’s proof that President Obama is illegitimate and this is further proof to be added to the convoluted birther pantheon of conspiracies:

…He understands them because he was raised by strong women. He is the product of two great women in his life. His mother and his grandmother. [applause] Barack saw his mother, who was very young and very single when she had him, and he saw her work hard to complete her education and try to raise he and his sister…

I kid you not. These are the kinds of people who memorize and obsess over every detail of The Brady Bunch as if the complete episodes were Shakespeare’s plays. They just haven’t figured out that there is a difference.

The Faux News Channel will pick this up in, three, two, one… And that’s the problem with political discourse in this country.

The Gallup polling organization released their numbers showing party affiliation by state.

Missouri

% Democrat/Lean Democrat – 48.8

% Republican/Lean Republican – 37.9

Dem-Rep gap (pct. pts.) – 11

Number of interviews – 7,904

The numbers for Colorado, Nevada, and North Carolina are very similar to those for Missouri. It’s interesting to note that Obama carried three of those four states (we’re the exception). Gallup’s methodology:

State of the States: Political Party Affiliation

…In 2008, Gallup interviewed more than 350,000 U.S. adults as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking…

…This large data set provides the unique ability to give reliable estimates of state-level characteristics for 2008. Each sample of state residents was weighted by demographic characteristics to ensure it is representative of the state’s population.

In order to rank the states on partisanship, Gallup analyzes “leaned” party identification by state. This measure adds partisan-leaning independents to the percentage who identify with either of the parties. Thus, the Republican total includes Republican identifiers and independents who lean Republican, and the Democratic total likewise includes Democratic identifiers and independents who lean Democratic…

Missouri-based Angry Black Bitch (AKA Pam Merritt) gets some space in Salon.com, writing about whom she would pardon if she had the power. Pam was also one of the few credentialed bloggers at the state Democratic Convention back in May.

Check it out.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Contact: Jessica Robinson…

…Gov. Blunt Grants Pardons, Allows Parole Hearing

         JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today announced his decision to pardon…

…As governor, Matt Blunt has granted a total of 14 pardons, including those announced today, and denied nearly 1800…

[emphasis added]

Less than one per cent.

From a Missouri Supreme Court decision:

…They were among 45 out of 992 petitioners that were granted clemency by Governor Bob Holden in 2004….

There is a bit of a difference.

Over the course of the last year I believe I’ve taken close to 4000 photographs at political events in Missouri. Most of them didn’t make it into the blog. Some of the things we saw and heard made us smile, made us think, made us gasp, made us hope, and made us despair. I thought I’d provide a retrospective of some of the pictures and stories I consider to be memorable.

January 26, 2008: Former President Bill Clinton speaking at a pre-primary rally for Hillary Clinton at Truman William Chrisman High School in Independence, Missouri.

Bill Clinton in Independence, Missouri on Saturday night

This was a rally for Hillary Clinton in the auditorium gym at Truman William Chrisman High School in Independence right before the February 5th presidential primary. I had asked for media credentials for days and kept getting put off. I never got the credentials, but I did get into the event and I did cover it.

March 4, 2008: Antonin Scalia looking out to the audience during his speech in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Antonin Scalia in Warrensburg, part 1

Antonin Scalia in Warrensburg, part 2

Antonin Scalia in Warrensburg, part 3

Antonin Scalia in Warrensburg, part 4

Antonin Scalia in Warrensburg, part 5

Only credentialed media could take photographs or record (not for rebroadcast) this speech. I did get press credentials. I had been given tickets to the reception after the speech. I attended the reception, but did not get the opportunity to speak to Antonin Scalia – if I had done so it would have been off the record.

May 10, 2008: Registration for delegates to the Missouri State Democratic Convention in Columbia, Missouri.

Lacy Clay at the Missouri State Democratic Convention

Claire McCaskill at the Missouri State Democratic Convention

Leila Medley: uncommitted super delegate

The Missouri State Democratic Convention was the first time Hotflash, Clark, Blue Girl, and I were in the same place at the same time. We had the largest media presence at the convention.  

May 17, 2008: Former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. at Truman Days in Independence, Missouri.

Truman Days 2008 in Jackson County

Truman Days 2008 in Jackson County, day 2

Joe Medley: Greater Kansas City Democracy for America

Blue Girl and I got credentials to cover the two days of the Truman Days activities sponsored by the Jackson County Democratic Committee. We had so much fun we figured we should sponsor a hospitality suite at the next one.

June 14, 2008: Former Arkansas Governor (and Republican presidential candidate) Mike Huckabee speaking at Missouri Boys State in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Mike Huckabee at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 1

Mike Huckabee at Missouri Boys State: Q and A, part 2

Missouri Boys State gave me credentials to cover the week long event, including speeches by Mike Huckabee, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, and Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman. They had never had a blogger cover them before – the folks at the journalism school had me speak about blogging in two separate sessions.

Mike Huckabee is slick, polished and affable. His packaging and his content scare me to no end.

June 30, 2008: Barack Obama speaking on patriotism in Independence, Missouri.

Barack Obama in Independence, MO: the preparation

Obama in Independence: photos

This was the first Obama event I covered during the campaign. In contrast to the McCain campaign the press credentialing process was relatively straightforward. We interviewed a campaign volunteer at the open site event the day before. We later heard she was reminded to not talk to the media, including bloggers. This is standard campaign operating procedure – only the candidate or their designated campaign spokesperson can speak for the campaign.

This event itself was quite different than the usual campaign rally. It was treated by the campaign as a serious speech on a very serious subject. Obama was speaking on patriotism – the campaign did not distribute rally signs or other campaign “chum” to those in attendance.

In the press area I sat next to Scout Finch from the Daily Kos. I understand that Blue Girl may have tormented some reporters in the traveling press by pointing to Scout Finch and saying, “See her, she has a lot more readers every day than you do.”

July 17, 2008: An infant in the audience at the John McCain town hall in the Great Hall at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.

John McCain in Kansas City – the crowd gathers

The Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO on John McCain’s visit

I had called the McCain campaign headquarters in Virginia to inquire about credentials for this event. The told me that they really didn’t issue credentials, but that I should show up with identification. I did, but they didn’t quite know what to do with me and about a half dozen other individuals. First we were in, then we were out, then we were in, then we were going to be asked to leave. It didn’t really matter to me because either way, I was going to get a story.

August 14, 2008: State representative Judy Baker (left) and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (center) at the Governor’s Ham Breakfast on the grounds of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri.

August 14, 2008: United States Senator Clair
e McCaskill (left) and Missouri State Auditor Susan Montee (right) at the entry of the Governor’s Ham Breakfast on the grounds of the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri.

A ham breakfast at the Missouri State Fair

Attorney General Jay Nixon’s press conference at the Missouri State Fair on Thursday

The Governor’s Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair is the largest annual concentration of Democratic and Republican politicians in the State of Missouri outside of Jefferson City.

September 6, 2008: The crowd listening to a speech by Missouri Attorney General (and now Governor-elect) Jay Nixon at the Johnson County Democratic headquarters in Warrensburg, Missouri.

A Democratic crowd gathers in Warrensburg

October 18, 2008: The line of people waiting to get in to the Obama rally at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

RBH, Blue Girl, and I received credentials for this Obama campaign rally at the Liberty Memorial. I had to leave (a scheduling conflict) before Obama spoke, but I was able to witness the huge lines of people waiting to get in to attend the event. As I walked south toward 31st street I would periodically call Blue Girl, in the press area at the site, on her cell phone and exclaim, “Holy shit! The crowd is huge.” This is one of my favorite photos from the campaign. Before I left the site I loaned Blue Girl my second camera. From her perch on the press “cut riser” she took some of the best campaign photos I’ve ever seen of Barack Obama speaking.

October 24, 2008: A relative of the Johnson County Obama Campaign field organizer sent him this t-shirt in a care package.

October 30, 2008: The crowd at an Obama campaign rally in Columbia, Missouri.

Obama in Columbia, Missouri – photos

The logistics were a nightmare. The setting was spectacular. The crowd was huge.

We waited at the press entrance for an eternity, then waited another eternity to get our credentials. The one volunteer checking the press list didn’t have a flashlight so she couldn’t read it in the dark. I tried to live blog, but the available WiFi was quite skittish. I took a large number of photographs – close to 200. I spent an inordinate amount of time on the huge press “cut riser”. Too late into the event I noticed a lift that was being used to take credentialed media up about thirty feet so that they could get aerial photographs.

At this point in the campaign we were struggling to keep up with one event after another.

October 31, 2008: A bumper sticker through the looking glass.

November 15, 2008: A sign at the Proposition 8 protest rally in the park near the Plaza at 47th and Main in Kansas City, Missouri.

Proposition 8 rally in Kansas City

Join the Impact in Saint Louis

Proposition 8 rally in Kansas City – more photos

After the election I had a tendency to sleep in on weekends. Late one morning my spouse asked my, “Are you going into the Plaza to cover the Proposition 8 protest rally?” “Holy crap,” I thought to myself. I rushed around getting batteries charged and getting my equipment together. The weather was cold – I dressed from previous cold weather protest experience. I interviewed a number of people at and near the event. That’s something I wouldn’t have easily done before this year started.

This is a small slice of the experience of this past year. For me here at Show Me Progress this certainly was the year that was. Now that we’ve had practice I suspect we’re going to do quite a bit more.

Barack Obama outlined his economic recovery plan in today’s weekly address:

The plan includes infrastructure investment – roads, bridges, schools, technology. And it will come with a few rules for states – “use it, or lose it”. That’s important. The stimulus won’t work at creating jobs if states hold it and it’s not spent.