More than 100, mostly African-American and largely Democratic, supporters of Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder came out last night to support his re-election bid.

The host committee included several well-known St. Louis African-American Republicans, including James Buford and Jerry Hunter. But it also featured the names of several prominent black Democrats, including St. Louis Argus Publisher Eddie Hasan, developer Tony Thompson, attorney Rufus Tate, and Sal Martinez, among others.

There were also several Democrats in attendance, including Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr.; Tom Shepard, chief of staff for Aldermanic President Lewis Reed; former State Rep. Betty Thompson; and former alderman and Anheuser-Busch executive Wayman Smith.

In this exclusive video, Smith jokingly compared the African-American turnout at Kinder’s fundraiser to those Barack Obama regularly draws.

In his speech and in an interview with PubDef (check back later for video), Kinder talked about the importance of Missouri’s rural and suburban legislators recognizing that the St. Louis region is the “economic engine of the state.”

“As the economy here goes, so goes the economy of the State of Missouri,” said Kinder.

Kinder highlighted his support of historic tax credits, which helped fuel development downtown, and the new Land Assemblage Tax Credit, which he hopes will spur similar development activity in blighted areas of the city, particularly north St. Louis.

Kinder will likely face Democrat Sam Page in the general election in November.

With less than a year before the 2009 Mayoral Primary, who do you think is the best candidate to run against Francis Slay as he seeks his third term in office?

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St. Louis demonstrated a united front yesterday in the State Capitol as the political friends and foes spoke in unison in a call for local control of the city’s largest department, its police force.

Mayor Francis Slay, Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, and 11 city aldermen from north and south St. Louis appeared before the House committee which heard testimony regarding House Bill 2117. Even some local activists who are working to remove Slay from office called a truce for the day and even praised Slay for his testimony in support of the legislation.

Here’s video from the press conference before the hearing. Check back later for more videos throughout the day.

St. Louis Leaders Call for Local Control of Police from pubdef on Vimeo.