Lt. Governor Peter Kinder was the sole Republican survivor of Tuesday’s blue sweep of Missouri’s statewide offices. As he assumes the role of leader of his party, his success should be taken as a lesson for future Republican candidates: reaching out pays off.
Kinder defeated his Democratic challeger, State Rep. Sam Page, by 74,034 votes. In St. Louis City, a Democratic stronghold, Kinder received more votes than any other Republican (19%), including Presidential candidate John McCain. The same is true for St. Louis County, where Kinder received 42% of the vote, compared to McCain’s 40%.
Most interesting, Kinder, who campaigned more in the black community than many Democratic candidates, clearly received more votes in north St. Louis’ black wards than any other Republican. For example, in the 1st Ward Kinder received 8% of the vote, compared to Gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof’s 2% and McCain’s 0.8%.
Small numbers, but in close races, those small numbers make all the difference.
In wards seen as “progressive”, Kinder still earned high margins for a Republican. In the 6th Ward, Kinder earned 17% of the vote, compared to McCain’s 12.5% and Hulshof’s 11.5%. In the 28th Ward, Kinder received 23% of the vote.
Kinder capitalized on endorsements from African-American leaders and praise from high-ranking Democrats, including St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.
On Election Day, the Kinder campaign distributed fliers with Slay’s picture and quotes from a recent letter Slay wrote praising Kinder as “good for St. Louis”.
Election Results:
St. Louis City (whole)
St. Louis City (ward breakdown PDF)
St. Louis County
Missouri
Here’s Kinder’s election night victory speech:
Kinder won, so did Chris Koster. B.S. ruled the day there.
Posted by Turd Ferguson | 07. Nov, 2008, 3:21 PMDid Kinder distribute the flyer with praise from Slay everywhere in the City?
Posted by Clark | 07. Nov, 2008, 6:11 PMJust south, I think. Maybe central, but definitely not north.
Posted by Antonio D. French | 07. Nov, 2008, 6:40 PMOn the north side there was a flyer from the Voters for Good Government that reads “Sam Page Brings Back Team 4″ and list the reason is that Page voted against the Land Assemblage bill aka $100,000,000 state tax dollars to Paul Mckee which will end the north side blight.
Posted by northsider | 10. Nov, 2008, 3:59 PMWow. That is some high class B.S. Any pics? Not that I doubt you, just that is some pretty low shit.
Posted by Turd Ferguson | 10. Nov, 2008, 4:33 PMThe flier is classic. I’d love to get a copy for framing. For one thing, the final version of the tax credit authorized only $95 million. For another, Page was one of many St. Louis area representatives who voted against the tax credit because it did not include changes that would have made it more appropriate for use in north city. Page and others were not necessarily opposed to the size of the credit, or necessarily McKee’s project, but the actual wording of the final version of the tax credit. Then again, it’s easier to polarize people and spread lies than actually discuss public policy.
On the other hand, Kinder did worse in north city than Mayor Slay, so the flier had little impact.
Posted by Michael Allen | 10. Nov, 2008, 6:11 PMKeep the money away from Paul, he cost the hardest worker in the City to loose!
Posted by bluehorse | 17. Nov, 2008, 10:47 AMKinder most certainly reaches out. He was seen ‘palling around’ with Governor Elect Jay Nixon. So much for any positive change for the people. When will the people of Missouri wake up and realize that the Missouri Democraticc party is the rehashed version of the old Dixiecrats? Jay Nixon will be almost as disastrous as Blunt. Both pols are all but owned by the Business Roundtable. It’s time to kick out the party system and directly elect some independents.
Posted by Julie Hill | 21. Dec, 2008, 11:57 PM