Today, via Twitter, from Representative Jason Smith (r):

Jason Smith ‏@JasonSmithMO

In Dexter last night for Stoddard Co Lincoln Day. Spoke about my work fighting against Obama war on rural America#MO8 [….] 10:44 AM – 2 Mar 2014

Yeah, we know. If this situation was imposed on us by another nation it would be a casus belli:

Editorial: Poverty is not a punch line in Missouri’s 8th District

February 16, 2013 6:15 am  •  By the Editorial Board

….That makes the 8th District the perfect place to look at how America’s commitment to its neighbors has been neglected by those who are in service to the rich.

In terms of median income, children living in poverty, and various health outcomes such as infant mortality that are often directly tied to poverty conditions, Missouri’s 8th District is very much in need of a Robin Hood.

It is the poorest congressional district in Missouri. The pain is spread throughout the southeastern quadrant of the state that makes up the 8th.

Of the 10 counties with the lowest median income in the Show-Me State, all but one are in the 8th.

Shannon County brings up the rear at $26,600 per household, far below the statewide average of $45,000 – which is about $5,000 below the national average.

What does the 8th District get for all that poverty?

Malnourished babies. Abused children. Dead kids.

Texas County, home of the new mean center of the U.S., comes in at 108th out of 115 Missouri counties in terms of child deaths. Mr. Smith’s Dent County ranks just one better.

Infant mortality? Teen deaths? Dropouts?

For as much as Missouri’s rural lawmakers like to talk about poverty as an urban issue, the statistics in their counties, particularly the 8th, are as bad or worse….

….This is the paradox of the modern-day Republican Party in Missouri.

It campaigns against the needs of the very people it represents. Too many of the party’s voters encourage such behavior by demonizing the federal government that they don’t realize is helping to keep them and their children alive….

Oh, wait, it’s not Obama’s war…

From the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Congressional District 8, Missouri

Income and Benefits

(In 2012 inflation-adjusted dollars) Estimate

Total households 289,287

[Income]

Less than $10,000 30,619

$10,000 to $14,999 26,265

$15,000 to 24,999 42,920

$25,000 to $34,999 39,278

$35,000 to $49,999 46,272

$50,000 to $74,999 53,412

$75,000 to $99,999 22,929

$100,000 to $149,999 20,040

$150,000 to $199,999 4,499

$200,000 or more 3,053

Access to health insurance in the 8th Congressional District, from the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Health Insurance Coverage Estimate

Civilian non-institutionalized population 729,868

With health insurance coverage 625,689

With private health insurance 435,651

With public coverage 290,108

No health insurance coverage 104,179

Civilian non-institutionalized population under 18 years 172,506

No health insurance coverage 10,231

[emphasis added]

The poverty level in the 8th Congressional District, from the U.S. Census Bureau (2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates):

Percentage of Families and People whose Income in the Past 12 Months is Below the Poverty Level Estimate

All families 14.4%

With related children under 18 years 23.2%

With related children under 5 years only 23.9%

Married couple families 7.9%

With related children under 18 years 10.6%

With related children under 5 years only 11.3%

Families with female householder, no husband present 40.7%

With related children under 18 years 51.7%

With related children under 5 years only 49.4%

All people 19.7%

Under 18 years 26.8%

Related children under 18 years 26.2%

Related children under 5 years 29.6%

Related children 5 to 17 years 25.1%

18 years and older 17.5%

65 years and older 12.6%

People in families 16.0%

Unrelated individuals 15 years and over 35.7%

Oh, there’s a war all right, just not from Obama.

From the Missouri Secretary of State:

State of Missouri – Special Election, June 04, 2013

U.S. Representative – District 8 462 of 462 Precincts Reported

Steve Hodges Democrat 17,203 27.4%

Jason Smith Republican 42,145 67.1%

Bill Slantz Libertarian 968 1.5%

Doug Enyart Constitution 2,265 3.6%

Robert W. George Write-in 73 0.1%

Thomas Brown Write-in 85 0.1%

Wayne L. Byington Write-in 25 0.0%

Theo (Ted) Brown, Sr. Write-in 0 0.0%

[emphasis added]

Status quo.

Previously:

Jason Smith, freedom-fighter (for the wealthy) (February 11, 2013

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (r): now she tells us (December 3, 2013)

At today’s Blog Watch:

[underline emphasis added]

Yeah, we know, we’ve had typos, too.

Via the Missouri Secretary of State:

Unofficial Election Returns

State of Missouri – General Election, Tuesday, November 06, 2012

U.S. Representative – District 8 (494 of 494 Precincts Reported)

Jack Rushin Democrat 73,755 24.6%

Jo Ann Emerson Republican 216,083 71.9%

Rick Vandeven Libertarian 10,553 3.5%

Total Votes 300,391

Apparently Representative Jo Ann Emerson (r) has announced, one month after running (and winning) reelection, that she is giving up her seat representing Missouri’s 8th Congressional District:

Missouri Rep. Jo Ann Emerson to resign from House

Posted by Sean Sullivan on December 3, 2012 at 11:17 am

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) will resign from Congress next February to become President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, she announced on Monday….

Electricity? Oh, right (via the Federal Election Commission):

2012 House and Senate Campaign Finance

Election Cycle:  2011-2012

Other Committees Contributions – EMERSON, JOANN

ACTION COMMITTEE FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATI RECEIPT ARLINGTON VA 22203 02/23/2011 $3,000

ACTION COMMITTEE FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATI RECEIPT ARLINGTON VA 22203 11/30/2011 $2,000

ACTION COMMITTEE FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION PAC ARLINGTON VA 22203 03/30/2012 $1,000

AMEREN FED PAC WASHINGTON DC 20004 03/30/2012 $1,000

AMEREN FEDERAL PAC WASHINGTON DC 20004 07/30/2012 $2,000

AMEREN FEDERAL PAC WASHINGTON DC 20004 09/24/2012 $2,000

AMEREN FEDPAC RECEIPT WASHINGTON DC 20004 06/29/2011 $1,000

AMEREN FEDPAC RECEIPT WASHINGTON DC 20004 04/20/2011 $2,000

AMEREN FEDPAC RECEIPT WASHINGTON DC 20004 06/29/2011 $1,000

AMEREN FEDPAC RECEIPT WASHINGTON DC 20004 11/18/2011 $1,000

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION PAC RECEIPT BETHESDA MD 20814 09/30/2011 $2,500

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION PAC RECEIPT BETHESDA MD 20814 03/11/2011 $2,500

GROWTH ENERGY PAC WASHINGTON DC 20002 06/29/2012 $500

GROWTH ENERGY PAC RECEIPT WASHINGTON DC 20002 11/18/2011 $1,000

KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT COMPANY PAC KANSAS CITY MO 64141 09/28/2012 $1,000

KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT COMPANY PAC KANSAS CITY MO 64141 07/30/2012 $1,000

KCP&L POWER PAC RECEIPT KANSAS CITY MO 64141 11/18/2011 $1,000  

NATIONAL RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS ACTION COMMITTEE FOR RURAL ELECTRIFICATION PAC ARLINGTON VA 22203 05/30/2012 $2,000

XCEL ENERGY EMPLOYEE PAC WASHINGTON DC 20004 09/24/2012 $1,000

[emphasis added]

According to the FEC, from January 1, 2011 to October 17, 2012 Representative Emerson (r) took in $1,407,909.00 and spent $1,319,012.00 getting reelected to Congress.

For one month in office.

Such a deal.

Her Democratic Party opponent, Jack Rushin, raised $24,217.00 and spent $16,352.00 for the election.

Via Steve Benen at Political Animal:

July 05, 2011 3:20 PM

GOP concludes consumer safety is overrated

…Whatever the reason, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee has approved a spending bill that not only slashes the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission but also cuts off all funding for a recently launched database of product-safety complaints…

….Republican Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri took the lead on this, and has struggled to explain why. There’s no great mystery here….

….The point of the database couldn’t be any more of a no-brainer. The Consumer Safety Product Commission has valuable information, but faces challenges in reaching the public. For very little money, the government has created an online resource that will help families make more informed choices, and create a new incentive for manufacturers to put safe products on the market. As Michael Lipsky explained recently, “One would think it hard to find a politician who opposes reducing preventable dangers to children.”

Meet the Republican Party of 2011.

No mystery, indeed:

…From 1984 through 1996, Jo Ann Emerson worked in public affairs or lobbyist roles for a slew of organizations, including the National Republican Congressional Committee, the National Restaurant Association and the American Insurance Association…

When you run for any office you raise money and fight the fight from the day you announce your candidacy to the last minute that the polls are open on election day. You owe that to democracy and to the voters. Unless, of course, you’re part of the inside the beltway conventional wisdom cocktail weenie circuit:

Most Outrageous, Absurd Candidates of 2010

By Stuart Rothenberg

Roll Call Contributing Writer

Nov. 18, 2010, Midnight

….Tommy Sowers (Missouri). The Democrat raised just shy of $1.5 million through Oct. 13 and yet drew only 29 percent of the vote in a campaign that stands out for being about nothing but smoke and mirrors.

….Still, even I am stunned at the absurdity of the campaign.

….Another Feifs e-mail [from Sowers’ campaign], this one on Nov. 1, the day before the election, went further: “In thousands of conversations with undecided voters in the district, Republicans and Independents tell us that they’re voting for a Democrat for the first time.”

As with most direct mail, the assertions here are propaganda, exaggeration, distortion and fiction. Still, isn’t there something at least a little wrong with prying cash out of people by leading them to believe that you can win when you can’t? Or were the Sowers folks so politically inept that in late October they thought their candidate could win?….

[emphasis added in original]

“…by leading them to believe that you can win when you can’t?…” Says who? That’s why we have an “election day” where people “vote” for candidates.

What’s absurd is that the punditocracy thinks that incumbents anointed by conventional wisdom should be given a free pass or face token candidates who just go through the motions.

Asshole.

I’ll take a candidate like Tommy Sowers any day.

If there’s one thing you can say about Tommy Sowers (D) campaign style in the 8th Congressional District race – he obviously thrives on engaging with the people in the district:

From Tommy Sowers’ campaign:

…out on the ground with Tommy doing our third Boots on the Ground operation (BOTG III) and it’s been fantastic.  Tommy was waiting tables in St. James today and talking to voters about the need for new blood in Congress (and their lunch order, of course.)…