The 2010 saga continues as Roy Blunt confirms what we have only suspected for 2 weeks or so. And he even has a reason to be running, to be an irrelevant roadblock.
Because Democrats are within two seats of holding a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, “there’s more focus on the fight in the Senate because the minority in the Senate has a bigger voice in the Senate than the minority in the House.”
“That’s a reason to go,” Blunt said of running a campaign to keep Bond’s seat in Republican hands.
It’s a fitting reason, considering Roy Blunt’s main achievement as a Congressman was getting into the leadership and presiding over giving George W. Bush whatever he wanted on a variety of topics.
Many Missouri political observers believe if Roy Blunt were to run for the seat, he would clear the field of possible Republican candidates to avoid a contentious primary.
Out of the candidates mentioned (Blunt, Kinder, Talent, Steelman, and Sam Graves), Blunt is the most likely to successfully nudge others out of the race. Although what you believe may not come to be. Out of the five mentioned, I could see a Blunt/Graves or Blunt/Steelman primary. In both cases, Blunt is the early favorite. But then again, Graves and Steelman have shown their willingness to use large blunt objects on their opponents.
As for a race for the open 7th District. Term-limited Senator Gary Nodler is a reasonable pick to run for the seat since he lost primaries for the seat in 1988 and 1996. Several Southwest Missouri House members are also term limited (such as Jim Viebrock, Ron Richard, Jay Wasson, Bob Dixon). Also, the Springfield media market makes up 3/4ths to 4/5ths of the voters so the safe bet is to bet on Springfield holding the seat. But if a Joplin candidate is nominated, the odds of picking up Greene County would be slightly better (don’t laugh, we’ve won Greene County in MO-7 before).
So in conclusion, should be a heck of an election season.
Gary Nodler – 2 term state Senator from Joplin. Ran for Congress in 1988 and 1996. Lost to Mel Hancock (of Hancock Amendment infamy) in 1988. Lost to Roy Blunt in 1996. He did carry the Joplin television market though.
Ron Richard – Speaker of the Missouri House. Also from Joplin. Seeing as he is term-limited and not able to run in 2010, he will probably run for Nodler’s Senate seat. But if Nodler passes on Congress, Richard might run. Although it seems hard to believe that the Speaker of the Missouri House would be in a contested Congressional Primary.
Jim Viebrock – Term-limited State Rep from Republic in Greene County. Has a personal site where the US flag morphs into a Christian flag. I don’t know what infamous things he has done.
Jay Wasson – Term-limited State Rep from Nixa in Christian County.
Bob Dixon – Term-limited State Rep from Springfield. Son of Jean Dixon (a one-term state Rep who lost a Repub. primary in 1990 to a moderate)
The Joplin TV market in MO7 – Jasper, Newton, and McDonald Counties (the counties in the US71 corridor).
Democrats who might run in MO7 – No freaking clue. It depends on Obama’s popularity. There is a former Missouri House Speaker who is a Dem who is a resident of the District.
Can Dems wring much more from the Bush carcass? If they can then tying Blunt to him should be easy. Looking at the Kos/R2k poll its clear that Congressional Repubs are as popular as smallpox. Though Dems aren’t much better I suppose.