After rallies with President Bush Friday in Springfield and Joplin, which the campaign estimates were attended by 11,000 people collectively, Sen. Jim Talent continued his trek across Missouri with stops in Perryville, Kennett and West Plains for “Farm and Ranch” rallies with Missouri Farm Bureau President Charlie Kruse.
Yesterday he began his 11-city “Missouri Values Tour” which will feature get-out-the-vote rallies in Jefferson City, St. Joseph, Kirksville, Hannibal, Poplar Bluff, Cape Girardeau, Rolla, St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City and Springfield.
We reported yesterday that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill pulled an “all-nighter” Friday and Saturday, campaigning 24-hours straight, hitting diners, firehouses and factories talking to voters working the late shift. Here’s more from the AP:
“It’s the last person you expect to see at Waffle House at 3 a.m.,” said Tim Yazawa, 24, who was grabbing a middle-of-the-night snack with a friend…
...McCaskill’s stops before midnight Friday included police stations, fire stations and the night shift change at an auto plant. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, her big blue recreational vehicle rolled to all-night diners, where patrons were often stunned to see the Senate candidate amid the burgers and shakes.
It was constant motion as McCaskill hopped on and off her RV, spending 10 to 45 minutes at each stop. Nursing a raspy voice with cough drops and hot tea, McCaskill said it was her idea to target people who work the night shift, though at many stops she was greeted by just a handful of police officers, waitresses or emergency workers.
“It may seem like we’re not doing much, but these guys talk to so many people, it’s the kind of thing that gets out,” she said after stopping at a St. Louis police substation. “I’m trying to let people know the folks who work when the sun goes down do some of the most important work out there.”
The McCaskill campaign will hold a rally at 4:00 today in Forest Park at the World’s Fair Pavilion. The very popular Sen. Barack Obama will be there hoping to rally the Democratic base to come out strong for McCaskill.
Claire McCaskill rolled her blue campaign RV to north St. Louis today capping off nearly 24 hours of straight campaigning.
The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate stopped by an event hosted by St. Louis Congressmen Lacy Clay and Russ Carnahan at the Gateway Classic Building near downtown. She said she had campaigned through the night, stopping at all-night diners, firehouses and factories talking to workers on the night shift.
“I listened and realized how much we have to do to make sure they have health care, that they have a living wage, that they have an opportunity to send their kids to college, that they have the opportunity to live the American dream,” said McCaskill.
Several other elected officials were in attendance, including Comptroller Darlene Green, License Collector Gregg Daly, State Reps. Rodney Hubbard, Robin Wright Jones, Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Jamilah Nasheed, and Talibdin El-Amin, Aldermen Greg Carter and Jeffrey Boyd, former Ald. Irv Clay, Committeeman Joe Palm, and surely others that we didn’t spot.
Mike Jones, aide to County Executive Charlie Dooley, spoke on behalf of his boss. And Gateway Classic founder Earl Wilson played host to the nearly 80 people in attendance.
Supporters of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill will be gathering on Election Night on the eastern side of the state in downtown St. Louis and on the western side of the state in downtown Kansas City.
In St. Louis, in the Majestic Ballroom of the Renaissance Grand Hotel, 800 Washington Ave. In K.C., in the Count Basie Ballroom of the Downtown Marriott, 200 W. 12th Street.
A report by the blog ePluribus Media outlines over $30,000 in campaign contributions from executives and political action committees related to UniGroup, Inc., a Fenton-based firm that owns some of the nation’s largest moving companies and which has millions of dollars in federal contracts.
According to campaign finance reports, Richard McClure, the firm’s CEO and the former chief of staff for then-Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft, has given $4,000 to Talent’s Senate campaign. His wife, Sharon, gave another $2,000.
What’s wrong with that? Well, according to ePluribus, the Senate Ethics Manual bars contributions from federal government contractors. Not exactly.
While the rules fordid contractors like UniGroup, Inc. from giving to candidates, its employees and executives are free to give as much money as is legally allowed for anyone else.
Now whether it’s ethical for politicians to accept campaign contributions from people whose employers are affected by legislation overseen by those legislators is another deal altogether.
But if that was outlawed, who would fund all the citywide campaigns in St. Louis?
The very popular Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) will be in St. Louis again this weekend to support fellow Democrat Claire McCaskill in her very tight campaign against incumbent Sen. Jim Talent.
There will be a public rally at the World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Tickets can be requested from McCaskill’s website.
Exactly one week before Election Day, a new CNN poll shows the race between Republican Jim Talent and Democrat Claire McCaskill tied.
Of 565 Likely Voters: Jim Talent - 49% Claire McCaskill - 49% (Sampling Error: +/- 4%)
Of the larger pool of 1,004 registered voters, McCaskill led with 51% to Talent’s 43%. Click here to download the PDF of the 3-page report from CNN’s polls of Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia voters.
The Associated Press is reporting that President George W. Bush will be coming to Missouri on Friday to stump for Sen. Jim Talent. Details are still not available, but such a public event would mark a shift from a perceived distancing from the president by the Talent campaign.
St. Louis Congressman Lacy Clay recently suggested Republican Sen. Jim Talent may be doing a better job than his Democratic challenger, Claire McCaskill, of addressing African-American campaign issues.
From a story in Sunday’s U.S. News & World Report:
But some Democratic candidates are facing their own base motivation problems, with recent polls showing lower-than-normal black support for Democratic Senate candidates like Missouri’s McCaskill, who wasn’t cracking 50 percent black support in a poll earlier this month. Other polls show African-Americans more likely than whites to doubt that their votes will be counted because of voting controversies in recent years.
“I hear Talent really trying to address some issues near and dear to the African community,” says St. Louis Rep. William Lacy Clay, a Democrat. “I don’t hear the same drumbeat from the McCaskill camp.”
While acknowledging McCaskill’s ties to the black community, St. Louis NAACP Vice President Claude Brown says Talent “has done a tremendous job recruiting African-Americans.” But, he adds, “people are really angry. If nothing else gets African-Americans to the polls, it’s anger.” If that’s still not enough, perhaps a call from one of the two parties will do the trick.
Actor Michael J. Fox, whose commercial for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill has been the subject of much discussion the past few days, discussed with Katie Couric the recent allegations made by radio host Rush Limbaugh and his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s disease.
After rallies with President Bush Friday in Springfield and Joplin, which the campaign estimates were attended by 11,000 people collectively, Sen. Jim Talent continued his trek across Missouri with stops in Perryville, Kennett and West Plains for “Farm and Ranch” rallies with Missouri Farm Bureau President Charlie Kruse.
