Better late than never?

Several Missouri Democratic Super-delegates finally endorsed Barack Obama today. They include Jay Nixon, candidate for governor; Sec. of State Robin Carnahan, whose brother (Congressman Russ Carnahan) and mother (former Senator Jean Carnahan) endorsed Obama months ago; and State Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal.

Missouri Superdelegates Endorse Sen. Barack Obama for President

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Tonight, Attorney General Jay Nixon, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and Missouri Democratic Party Chairman John Temporiti announced their endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for President. Sen. Obama, the superdelegates said, is the best candidate to bring about the change that Missouri and America needs.

The superdelegates released the following statements:

Attorney General Jay Nixon: “Over the past few months, Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton have inspired and energized Americans from all walks of life. Across the nation, and here in Missouri, there is a level of excitement and hope that I haven’t seen in many years.

“Sen. Clinton ran a strong campaign and she empowered millions of Americans to reach for their dreams. But after eight years of George W. Bush, Sen. Obama is the right candidate to bring about the change our country so badly needs.

“Missourians are ready for a new direction, both for our state and the nation at large. Families are struggling to make ends meet, and they’re looking for new leaders, with new priorities, to move us forward. Just like Missourians don’t want four more years of Matt Blunt’s policies at the state level, they don’t want four more years of George W. Bush’s policies at the national level.

“Democrats are already uniting behind Sen. Obama, and over the coming weeks, I expect to see many Independents and Republicans unite behind him as well. I look forward to joining Sen. Obama on the campaign trail this fall as we fight to change the direction Missouri and the nation.”

Secretary of State Robin Carnahan: “As Missouri’s chief elections official, it is my job to ensure that every eligible voter has the chance to have their voice heard at the polls. As of tonight, voters in the final two states have done just that.

“Barack Obama has secured the requisite number of delegates to become the nominee of the Democratic Party. He has my complete support and will receive my vote at the Convention.

“With the many challenges facing our country – from the high cost of health care and the fragile state of our economy to the war in Iraq and global warming – it is clear that we need a dramatic change in leadership. Both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are extraordinary leaders with a passion for change and clarity of purpose that will serve our country well. It is my hope that in the days ahead both the Senators and their supporters can join together in achieving that common purpose.”

Missouri Democratic Party Chairman John Temporiti: “It now appears that Senator Barack Obama has the delegates necessary to win the Democratic nomination.

“I want to commend both he and Senator Clinton for running an issue based primary that has energized Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike. As Missouri Democratic Party Chairman, I now urge all Americans to unite behind Senator Obama’s campaign and the ideals he has promulgated these past months. Not since John F. Kennedy have I witnessed a candidate that has energized and captivated the American people, especially our young voters, like Barack Obama has.

“The election this November will quite simply come down to whether the American people deserve change or more of the same. It will be a privilege for me to cast a vote at the Democratic National Convention for Barack Obama as our next President of the United States.”

Senator Barack Obama was in Missouri today. He delivered a speech (posted below) in Cape Girardeau, the heart of the conservative southeast section of our state. Here’s the video:

Several Missouri Republican leaders used Obama’s appearance in the state as an opportunity to slam him as a “raise-your-taxes, increase-the-bureaucracy” Democrat who is too left of Missouri values. Here’s audio from a conference call today with Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, and Republican Chairman Doug Russell.

AUDIO: GOP Conference Call on Obama Visit

Kinder, a Cape Girardeau native, went further by releasing the following statement:

Obama’s visit to Cape Girardeau cannot hide the fact that his call for increasing taxes would hurt Missourians already struggling with out-of-control health care costs and higher gas prices. We must keep Missouri’s economy strong by keeping the government and Barack Obama out of our pocketbooks. The problem for Missourians like you and me is that Obama’s solution to every problem is bigger government, more government and higher taxes. Missourians will not accept someone who wants to increase the payroll tax and increase the capital gains tax and even increase the tax on gasoline. My friends, we do not want to go down this road!

I also remember, as many of you do, that Barack Obama told his liberal friends not too long ago in San Francisco that folks like those in Southeast Missouri were bitter and clinging to our Second Amendment rights and our religion. I am sure that Southeast Missourians will have a lot to say to Barack Obama about those elitist comments, and many other issues as well.

What I find particularly intriguing is that recently, the liberal New York Times did not tab Missouri as a bellwether state despite our knack over the last 100-plus years of picking presidents. It is my suspicion that the New York Times has concluded that a liberal like Barack Obama cannot win Missouri, and from where many of us in Southeast Missouri are sitting, they are probably right.

Here, as promised, is the text of Obama’s speech:

It’s great to be here in Missouri with my good friend Claire McCaskill. This is a state that voted for change when you sent Claire to the Senate in 2006; you voted for change in February when we surprised the pundits and pulled out a victory; and this is a state where we will compete to win when I am the Democratic nominee for President.

There is a lot of talk these days about how the Democratic Party is divided. But I’m not worried, because I know that we’ll be able to come together quickly behind a common purpose. There’s too much that unites us as Democrats. There’s too much at stake for our country. And there will be a clear choice on November 4.

Now there’s one thing we know for sure about this election. The name George Bush will not be on the ballot. The name of my cousin Dick Cheney will not be on the ballot. But while the Bush-Cheney ticket won’t be up for reelection, the Bush-Cheney policies will, because John McCain is running for four more years of the same approach that has failed the American people.

There is a reason that a record number of Americans think that we’re on the wrong track. We’ve lost hundreds of thousands of jobs just this year. The cost of everything from health care, to a tank of gas, to college tuition has skyrocketed while wages have stayed stagnant. Millions of American families are facing foreclosure. We’re spending tens of billions of dollars fighting a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.

Meanwhile, Americans have lost faith that Washington can or will do anything about problems they face day in and day out. Because the troubling statistics only begin to tell a story found in communities and at kitchen tables across the country. It’s a story of empty factories shut down forever because the jobs have been shipped overseas and nothing took their place. It’s the story told by a mother who can’t sleep because she can’t afford health care for her sick child; a father who lost his job but can’t afford a tank of gas so that he can look for a new one; a family that doesn’t know where they’ll be living in a month or a year because they’re about to lose a home.

It’s a story of an American Dream that is slipping away. And what the American people need at this defining moment is leadership that restores the fundamental American belief that you can make it if you try in this country – that your dreams matter more than the demands of special interests or the convenience of political posturing. That’s why I’m running for President. That’s why we’ll be united as Democrats. Because Washington has failed the American people, and this election is our chance to turn the page.

John McCain has served his country with honor, and I respect that service. But for two decades, he has supported policies that have shifted the burden on to working people. And his only answer to the problems created by George Bush’s policies is to give them another four years to fail. Just look at where he stands and you’ll see that a vote for John McCain is a vote for George Bush’s third term.

Four more years of George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who don’t need them and didn’t ask for them.

Four more years of a health care plan that works for the healthy and the wealthy while tens of millions go without care, and families struggle with rising costs.

Four more years of a President who supports privatizing Social Security.

Four more years of a war that has cost us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars without making us safer, while we run up a mountain of debt that is mortgaging our children’s future.

Four more years of a White House that is run by the kind of lobbyists who run John McCain’s campaign, while Washington tells the American people – “you’re on your own.”

Well we know that the American people cannot afford any more of the Bush-McCain program. Not this time. Not when the stakes are so high. Not when the opportunities are so great. We need a new direction in Washington. We need new leadership in the White House.

We know that government cannot solve all of our problems, and we don’t expect it to. We don’t want our tax dollars wasted on programs that don’t work or perks for special interests that don’t work for us. We understand that we cannot stop every job from going overseas or build a wall around our economy, and we know we shouldn’t.

But that is not an excuse to spend another four years doing nothing to reclaim the American Dream for working people. We’re the nation that built the largest middle class in history. We all have a stake in each other’s success. We can’t continue an economic program that rewards Wall Street at the expense of Main Street because then we all end up hurting. It’s time to end a failed approach that tries to build prosperity from the top down, and renew our common prosperity from the bottom up.

Instead of a tax code that rewards wealth and not work, we’ll provide an income tax cut of up to $1,000 for a working family, and eliminate income taxes altogether for any retiree making less than $50,000 per year.

Instead of more inaction on health care, we’ll finally bring this country together, stand up to the drug companies and insurance companies, and make health care affordable and accessible for every single American.

Instead of putting a secure retirement at risk, we’ll safeguard Social Security, we’ll protect pensions instead of CEO bonuses, and we’ll help all Americans save more so they can have a retirement that is dignified and secure.

Instead of gimmicks like a gas tax holiday that rewards the oil companies while doing nothing to lower gas prices in the long-term, we’ll raise fuel efficiency standards, invest in alternative energy, and create millions of Green Jobs that will free this country from our addiction to oil.

Instead of a blank check to fight an endless war in Iraq, we can end this war, restore our military, finish the fight against al Qaeada, and invest some of those dollars to put millions of Americans to work rebuilding our roads and bridges, laying down new rail lines and new broadband, and making sure that all of America can compete and win in the 21st century.

That’s the new direction we need in this country. The other party has already decided to run on the failed policies of the past; that’s why we need to be the party that stands for the future. Everywhere I go, I meet Americans who can’t wait another day for change. Change that refuses to let lobbyists drown out the voices of the American people.. Change that puts folks back to work. Change that finally delivers on the promise of health care you can afford, and an energy policy that makes sense. Change that leaves behind partisanship that stands in the way of progress, because we’re all in this together as Americans.

This is our chance to build a new majority of Democrats and Independents and Republicans who know that four more years of George Bush just won’t do. This is our moment to turn the page on the divisions and distractions that pass for politics in Washington, so that we can write the next chapter in the history of American prosperity for all Americans.

Showing the bi-partisan love, St. Louis Democrat Senator Jeff Smith today announced the Senate approval of Gov. Matt Blunt’s appointment of Republican and former St. Louis School Board member James Buford to the state Human Rights Commission.

Jefferson City — Sen. Jeff Smith, D-St. Louis, today announced that the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee and the full Senate have approved the nomination of James H. Buford of St. Louis to the Missouri Commission on Human Rights.

Buford, the president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis since 1985, joins the seven-member commission, which develops, recommends and implements ways to prevent and eliminate discrimination in employment, public accommodations and housing.

“I cannot think of a better candidate than James Buford for the Missouri Commission on Human Rights,” Sen. Smith said. “He is a longtime advocate for social and economic parity and has demonstrated remarkable skill as a force for racial unity in the St. Louis metropolitan region.”

Buford currently chairs the St. Louis Connectcare Board and serves on the executive board of the St. Louis Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the board of Downtown St. Louis Partnership, Fair St. Louis, and the St. Louis Science Center.

On the state level, Buford was appointed to the St. Louis Public School Board in 2005. He also was previously appointed as secretary of the St. Louis County Board of Elections by the late Governor Mel Carnahan. His numerous awards and honors include the 2005 Mentor St. Louis Award, the Whitney M. Young Award from the Boy Scouts, the St. Louis Community College Distinguished Alumni Award and the Brotherhood-Sisterhood Award presented by the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

A graduate of Elizabeth College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, with a degree in human services administration, Buford also holds honorary doctorate of humane letters degrees from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Webster University and Harris-Stowe State University, both in St. Louis.

“James Buford works tirelessly to promote the St. Louis community, to provide hope and opportunities for young people and is a wonderful public servant whom I greatly admire,” Sen. Smith said. “I look forward to his service on the commission and know the citizens of Missouri will benefit from his knowledge and experience.”

BREAKING NEWS - READ IT HERE FIRST @ 10:51 AM

The controversial $800 million tax credit for a Canadian airplane manufacturer has been killed this morning in the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee.

The so-called “Bombardier” deal, named after the Canadian airplane manufacturer who would benefit from this tax credit, the largest in state history, was killed in committee this morning by a vote of 5-2, with Senators Jeff Smith (D-4), Rita Days (D-14), Wes Shoemeyer (D-18), Brad Lager (R-12), and Rob Mayer (R-25) voting against it.

UPDATE #2 ON MAY 1ST:  A slimmed down version of the deal passed the senate today. In this audio, from Jason Rosenbaum from the Columbia Tribune, Senator Charlie Shields explains the differences:

UPDATE #3: The Senate press release:

Jefferson City — Missouri senators advanced a mega project tax credit plan today allowing the state to work to bring an airplane assembly plant to the Kansas City Region. The measure, House Bill 2393, handled by Senate Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, and co-handled by Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Clay Co., could trigger a Montreal-based company to invest $400 million into building a passenger jet assembly plant at the Kansas City International Airport.

“We want Missouri to be open for business that brings great paying jobs to our residents,” Shields said. “This is a phenomenal deal for taxpayers, because we have safeguards in place to make sure the company creates jobs before any tax dollars are issued through tax credits.”

The company, Bombardier, has confirmed it is considering a site at Kansas City International Airport to invest $400 million to build a passenger jet assembly plant that, when at full capacity, would employ approximately 2,100 workers paying an average wage of $63,000 annually. These jobs could spur thousands more indirect jobs in the region and state.

The company, which also owns Learjet, would invest a total of $3.2 billion in research, development and structure for the project, but is seeking assistance from Kansas City and the state.

The bill clarifies what the Missouri Department of Economic Development can offer in state assistance through existing programs including the Enhanced Enterprise Zone and Quality Jobs Act programs, capping tax credit investments to $240 million dollars over an 8 year period. The state programs would be coupled with local resources in Kansas City to help bring this aerospace economic development and investment to Missouri.

Ridgeway said Missouri’s plan requires Bombardier to repay tax credits issued by the state.
“We protect taxpayers by not allowing any tax credits to be issued until the company has created jobs. Plus, we would collect royalties on the company’s product, meaning taxpayers recoup the money issued through the tax credits. Ultimately, between the company’s repayment and the new revenue generated from thousands of new jobs, that state and taxpayers would get a net increase of more than $200 million dollars.”

The assembly plant would produce a new, fuel efficient, less costly, 110-plus seat commercial aircraft. It will be the first new commercial aircraft assembly facility in America since 1968.
The bill now returns to the House for final approval to become law. To track the legislation visit www.senate.mo.gov and do a “keyword” search for HB2393.