• About
  • The Poetry of Protest

Show Me Progress

~ covering government and politics in Missouri – since 2007

Show Me Progress

Tag Archives: 2nd District

Mark Osmack’s gonna be a contender

19 Saturday Aug 2017

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

2nd District, Ann Wagner, Election 2018, House of Representatives, Mark Osmack, Second district

Missouri’s 2nd congressional district is relatively wealthy, mostly white and traditionally conservative. For years it was represented by retrograde moron and dominionist Christian, Todd Akin, who worried the issue of something he called “legitimate rape” like a dog worrying a bone until he found himself out of a job. His replacement, GOP Rep. Ann Wagner, who can best be described as a political Mommy Dearest, is preoccupied with the sad plight of bankers and financiers whom she struggles to protect, while cloyingly reassuring her other constituents that she has only their welfare in mind – a position the defense of which has necessitated that she rarely make contact with folks from her district who might be inclined to ask inconvenient questions.

We in the 2nd district may be able to tell a different story, though, after 2018. In past election cycles, Wagner has had few opponents who have been able to go up against her scads of banking industry money and local connections and she has easily prevailed. But all things must pass; change is inevitable.

Democratic strategists see the possibility of an upset in the 2nd – how much of a possibility and how seriously the Democratic party plans to support it has yet to be determined; it’s early days yet. Nevertheless, the party’s interest, coupled, I suspect, with the renewed activism triggered by the truly hideous garden path down which Republicans, led by their Trump man-baby, are taking us, has led to several viable candidates stepping up to take Wagner on.

One of those candidates, Kelli Dunaway, was profiled by Gloria Bilchik of Occasional Planet, and based on Bilchik’s comments, certainly seems promising. Another, Mark Osmark, currently employed as a consultant with Deloitte, met with a few members of the Queeny and Lafayette Townships’ Democratic Club last Wednesday (Aug. 16) and also managed to come across as an excellent alternative to the artificial and subtly doctrinaire Wagner. The following comments reflect my impressions of Osmack and what he had to say, in my language, not his – but if I misstate any facts, I would welcome corrections.

Like Dunaway, Osmack, is a newbie when it comes to running for office, although, again like Dunaway, he’s spent some time lurking on the periphery of the political world, putting in stints with both Claire McCaskill and Tammy Duckworth. He implied that he learned from these two distinctive politicians the importance of persevering in the face of obstacles, as well as more than a little about the realities of political give-and-take – and in spite of that baptism, he still believes that government has the power to make lives better for everyday people.

Osmack is a fluent and graceful speaker. Without once mentioning that he was awarded a bronze star, he was able to convey the importance of his two combat tours in Afghanistan. What he focused on when he spoke about his time in the military, was the importance of stepping up and accepting the challenges of leadership – he was a platoon leader – no matter how daunting it might seem.

Apropos of his experience in the service as well as his readiness to start big and run for the US Congress, he noted that no one would ever do anything if they waited until they’re “ready” for new challenges, but instead, one succeeds by stepping up and purposefully addressing the task in hand. To very loosely paraphrase, he presented his approach to the challenges of public service as something you just do because it has to be done and there’s no alternative but to succeed.

Osmack demonstrated familiarity with the ins-and-outs of the major political issues of the day as well as the lay of the land in the 2nd district. His offered acceptable if not daring answers to specific questions concerning such political danger zones as local racism (he won’t shy away from calling out racism despite the fact that the 2nd is a staid, predominantly white district), and, that major spoiler, reproductive rights (he “hates” abortion, but defends the right of women to choose to have a safe, legal abortion). What was impressive in his answers, though, was the way they were laid out clearly within a fully-fleshed, often personal, context that could help to make them palatable to many who are not firmly located on one or the other ends of the political spectrum.

Osmack’s answer to a question about gun violence was typical of his seemingly anecdotal but still laser-sharp approach to explaining his positions. After establishing his military bona fides as a man who knows about guns, he recounted his experience as the victim of an attempted car-jacking. His made the point that the perpetrator was armed with a gun and clearly understood how to deploy it; had Osmack been carrying a firearm and had he attempted to use it, he said that he is convinced he could now be dead. And had there been a gun concealed in his car, a criminal with one gun would now be, he noted, a criminal with two guns – an important point since most authorities agree that the proliferation of illegal guns on our streets is fueled partly by the theft of legal guns.

Nor is Osmack in denial about the potential roadblocks he may need to overcome to win the Democratic primary and prevail over Wagner in 2018. When asked about Wagner’s war-chest, his noted that money isn’t the whole picture and he doesn’t really need to match her reserves: there’s only so many TV spots etc. that can be purchased. He’s equally que sera, sera when it comes to the question of Democratic Party support and his current primary rivals. As noted above, it’s early times yet, and Osmack let us know that he is aware of that fact.

Given that it is early times, what did I learn last Wednesday? First, Osmack could be a real contender. He’s got serious potential and I hope, no matter what happens in the months ahead, that we see more of him in the Missouri political arena. Second, Democrats in the 2nd may be in the almost unprecedented situation of having an embarrassment of riches when it comes to possible challengers to Wagner. I’m looking forward to a promised panel discussion (or debate?) later on when we are closer to the primary.

Oh yes … I’m also feeling just a little more optimistic about being able to say adiós amiga once and for all to Ann Wagner.

Could Carnahan win in the 2nd congressional district?

18 Thursday Aug 2011

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2nd District, Ann Wagner, Ed Martin, missouri, Russ Carnahan

Over at the DailyKos they had this to say about a leaked poll that shows Russ Carnahan very slightly ahead of both Ed Martin and Ann Wagner in a potential run for the 2nd district congressional seat:

A Russ Carnahan internal poll made its way to Dave Catanese’s hands, showing the de-districted Democrat with tiny leads over possible Republican opponents in the new 2nd CD. Carnahan leads teabagger extraordinaire Ed Martin 42-40 and former state party chair Ann Wagner 40-39 in the survey from Lake Research. I’m not so sanguine about these results, though, as MO-02 is very red territory and Carnahan would have to contend with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket.

But, I ask, didn’t the redistricting changes to the 2nd do something to dilute its former makeup? Also, as a resident of the 2nd district, I’ve never found it to be as virulently red as the election of Todd Akin would suggest – lots of old-timey, “moderate” GOPers out here. Their votes for Todd, who for a long time kept his wilder tendencies pretty low key, were more a Pavlovian response to the GOP bell than an endorsement of Todd Akin’s extremism. And now that the Tea Party’s ringing that bell, lots of them are a little less enthusiastic than before about the GOP brand.  

That’s only my read, of course, and, I could be very wrong – poll respondents did rate the Tea Party five points higher than President Obama after all, and there is also  some evidence that the poll results could change as voters become more familiar with the candidates:

The August survey found Carnahan up two points on Martin, 42 percent to 40 percent and leading Wagner by a single point, 40 percent to 39 percent.

After being read positive messages about both candidates, Martin leads Carnahan by five points, 47 percent to 42 percent.  Under the same scenario with Wagner, it’s a closer race, with the Democrat besting the former ambassador 44 percent to 43 percent.

I’d like to know the content of those “positive messages.” When negative messages about Martin and Wagner were read, it’s also interesting that, overall, pointing out that they posed a threat to Medicare was pretty effective in lowering their approval rates – but emphasizing Ed Martin’s past record of corruption also got lots of negative traction.  

Ann Wagner's racing to catch the looney tunes train

18 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2nd District, Ann Wagner, congressional elections, Ed Martin, Jane Cunningham, missouri, Todd Akin

I was overjoyed to learn that Rep. Todd Akin has finally announced that he is running for Claire McCaskill’s senate seat.  As a resident of the 2nd congressional district,  I can now look forward to a time when Todd Akin will no longer be my representative in Washington – and, if we’re all really lucky, Claire McCaskill will kick his backside (or, maybe Sarah Steelman will do it in the primary) and Todd can go home and lick his wounds, out of sight and, blessedly, out of mind. Of course, I’m still not out of the woods. It seems like all the classic, GOP super-crazies are lining up to try to take over Akin’s old territory.  We’ve got Crazy Ed Martin, Crazy Jane Cunningham (probably) , and, as per her announcement today,  Ann Wagner, who is mostly remarkable because her sanity is not consistently questioned.

However, some comments Wagner made recently in an interview in the über-right West Newsmagazine* might suggest that she too is just a little out to lunch in that endearing GOP way. In what was possibly a bid to reassure West County conservatives that she represents continuity with the reality-challenged Akin, Wagner described her motivation for getting back into domestic politics. It seems that it all started during the four years that she spent in Luxembourg as the U.S. ambassador:

She returned to America at the end of Bush’s term and said she immediately got the sense that things in the country had changed with the election of President Obama.

“I was leaving one socialist continent and had the feeling that perhaps I was returning to another one,” Wagner said. “That worried me, so I jumped right back into politics.”

Aren’t we fortunate that we have Ann “Wonder-Woman” Wagner ready to go to battle with the evil socialists in Washington D.C. – just like all those rich socialists she saw in Luxembourg where people enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world? And she’s got her job cut out for her:

“Our country is near financial ruin,” Wagner said, “The federal government has put handcuffs on job creators and their policies are killing private sector jobs.”

I realize that that last bit is just regular old GOP boilerplate – I think they may be legally required to say that – but I do think, since she’s so worried about “financial ruin” in the U.S., that it’s too bad she couldn’t have made it home a little bit earlier and tackled the real architect of our financial woes. You know – George W. Bush, the guy who cut off vital revenue streams to give tax cuts to rich men, spent money like a drunken sailor on things like unnecessary and seemingly endless Middle Eastern Wars, while letting Wall Street drive the economy into the gutter.

*West Newsmagazine, May 11, 2011, pp. 40-41. The text of the interview does not seem to be available online.    

   

Todd Akin: Anti-government zealot

26 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

2nd District, Department of Education, Medicare, missouri, tenthers, Todd Akin

I live in a middle class neighborhood in West St. Louis county. Most of my neighbors send their children to the local public schools; indeed, many of them chose to live here because of the reputation of those schools. A fair-sized number of the people in the neighborhood are seniors who rely on Medicare and Social Security. These folks, of whom a majority seem to consider themselves moderate, common-sense Republicans, quite regularly vote to send the extreme, right-wing GOPer Todd Akin to Washington as the House Representative for our 2nd district.

I wonder if Akin’s responses to a questionnaire circulated by Liberty Central, a right-wing, agitprop group headed by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Curt Justice Clarence Thomas, might not give some of them a wake-up call. If Akin’s more hardcore views were to become widely known and their implications openly discussed, he might not enjoy as much support. Specifically, Akin responded to this question with an unequivocal “No”:

3. Should Congress to use the “general welfare” clause (Art. I, Sec. 8) to regulate aspects of our lives, such as agriculture and education, that are traditionally under the authority of the private sector, state and local government.

Unlike some of the respondents who hedged their answers, Akin is firm in his rejection of a federal government role in public welfare. In response to a question which asked whether be believed that “government is eroding the Founder’s vision of faith, family, and culture,” Akin wrote that:

I believe the purpose of government is to protect God-given rights. Beyond that it is an intrusion and an overreach.

Since Akin recently declared that he believes that we should leave health care for the uninsured to “charity,” we can deduce that his concept of “God-given” rights is somewhat restricted. More importantly for my neighbors, though, is the fact that, as Think Progress observes, his hard-line, “tenther” position “would make essential programs like Medicare and Title I education funds difficult or impossible to administer.” Life in the comfortable West County suburbs, with their good schools, and contented, prosperous seniors, could get just a little rougher if we were to revert to our hardscrabble, pre-New Deal, American roots.

Steve Benen remarked that he wondered “if the electorate fully appreciates what’s become of Republicans’ ideology in recent years,” and links to an article on TPM that enumerates a few of the harmful changes to our way of life that Akin’s position would entail. I am sure that most of the knee-jerk Republicans that I meet out here in West County might be just a little discombobulated if they knew what kind of radical they have been voting for.

It seems to be a commonplace among St. Louis area Democrats that Todd Akin got himself elected by downplaying his Christian dominionist leanings in the past. Now that the Tea Party is providing cover, many GOP pols are daring to dust off some of the more discredited views that they’ve kept hidden away from their larger public. Akin is no exception; from a Christian stealth fighter his image is morphing into that of an anti-government zealot who would willingly destroy the social welfare staples that have propped up the middle class throughout the second half of the 20th century.

Editorial note: Second paragraph edited for clarity.  

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007

Categories

  • campaign finance
  • Claire McCaskill
  • Democratic Party News
  • Healthcare
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Interview
  • Josh Hawley
  • media criticism
  • meta
  • Missouri General Assembly
  • Missouri Governor
  • Missouri House
  • Missouri Senate
  • Resist
  • Roy Blunt
  • social media
  • Standing Rock
  • Town Hall
  • Uncategorized
  • US Senate

Meta

  • Log in

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Digby
  • I Spy With My Little Eye
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • The Great Orange Satan
  • Washington Monthly
  • Yael Abouhalkah

Donate to Show Me Progress via PayPal

Your modest support helps keep the lights on. Click on the button:

Blog Stats

  • 411,131 hits

Powered by WordPress.com.