McCaskill for Missouri
2006-10-23
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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rss feed"It says something about Missouri," Jim Talent was saying last week, "that after this much time, with two first-tier candidates, with this much money and national attention and with these kind of differences on the issues, that it's still so close."
Indeed it does. Missouri, which has been a bellwether state in 25 of the last 26 presidential elections, now reflects the deeply divided political mood of the country in this off-year election. Mr. Talent, 50, a Republican from Chesterfield who is seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate, has found that out the hard way. With all the advantages of incumbency, including $21.4 million in campaign donations, he finds himself in a dead heat with Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill with the election two weeks away.
It no doubt comes as a surprise to the 53-year-old Ms. McCaskill as well. In an interview 19 months ago, still nursing bruises from her unsuccessful 2004 gubernatorial race against the 33-year-old Republican Matt Blunt, Ms. McCaskill had been ambivalent about the prospect of challenging Mr. Talent.
Party leaders wanted her to make the run, she said, but Mr. Talent would have all the money he needed, and she was sick of asking people for money, particularly in a race she wasn't sure she could win. Another defeat would end her political career, she said.
Things changed. The war in Iraq continued to claim American lives and treasure. Hurricane Katrina raised profound questions about the competence of the Bush administration. Gasoline prices spiked. The national economy, driven by tax cuts passed by the Republican Congress, benefited mainly the wealthy. Mr. Talent, a hard-core supporter of President George W. Bush (and the president, likewise, for him), was caught in the downdraft when the president's poll numbers began to drop.
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