This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 16, 2009 - Missouri's only declared Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate -- U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt -- is following through with his February 19th kickoff promise to spend a lot of time in the St. Louis region.
Blunt's appearance at St. Louis County's Lincoln Day dinner last Saturday marked his second major address in recent weeks to area Republicans. The southwest Missouri native headlined St. Charles County's Lincoln Day event on Feb. 27.
Blunt's message last Saturday included his promise that he will represent the St. Louis region in the U.S. Senate, whether or not a majority of its voters cast their ballots for him.
Blunt also took a few jabs at the only announced Democratic candidate, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, who resides in the city of St. Louis (and also runs the family farm in Rolla.)
“For example, Robin Carnahan said last weekend (at Democrat Days in Hannibal) that she supports the so-called ‘stimulus’ which is a massive spending bill,'' Blunt said.
"If Robin Carnahan had been in the Senate, the Democrats would not have needed any Republican votes to pass that bill. The Washington liberals want Robin Carnahan to be their 60th vote so they will be able to take any amount of money from taxpayers, and treat the whole country like an open ATM for this President and a Congress under liberal one-party rule."
"Missourians can make a difference in this campaign by ensuring that we maintain 41 Republican votes in the Senate to prevent the liberals in Washington from doing whatever they want.”
That address echoed his kickoff remarks on Feb. 19 at Harris-Stowe State University. But so did the locale.
Blunt, R-Strafford, promised at his kickoff to spend a lot of time in the St. Louis area -- and St. Louis County in particular -- because "St. Louis County is where Republicans have seen the most slippage'' in recent elections.
But Republicans also are concerned about St. Charles County, long one of the GOP's bastions. Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, did carry St. Charles County last November -- but McCain's margin was 20 percent below that of then-President George W. Bush in 2004.
A study just conducted for the state Republican Party by veteran GOP consultant John Hancock bears that out. The study, which has been widely circulated in recent weeks, suggested that statewide GOP hopefuls take a lesson from the playbook of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, the only Republican to win statewide last fall.
Hancock now is working for Blunt and for the state GOP.
St. Louis County is the state's largest bloc of votes, accounting from at least 20 percent -- and sometimes closer to 30 percent -- of any statewide vote. Once a GOP stronghold in the 1980s, the county now trends Democratic.
McCain lost the county by 111,000 votes. Kinder failed to carry the county as well, but he bested McCain by losing to Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Sam Page by only 72,000 votes. As Hancock's study points out, that means Kinder snagged 39,000 county votes from people who preferred Democrat Barack Obama for president.
In the city of St. Louis, Kinder snagged 18,000 more votes than McCain. Hancock and Kinder tie his stronger performance to Kinder's high-profile focus last year on winning African-American votes. Kinder preached that message at the statewide Lincoln Days last month, where he emphasized that many church-going African-Americans side with social conservatives in their opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
The bottom line: Expect to see Roy Blunt a lot in the region -- and don't be surprised if he starts showing up at area black churches.
