Blunt is in the Senate race
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., announced today that he was joining the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Kit Bond, who will be vacating it at 2010 after more than 20 years in the office.
Blunt has already posted a Web site for his campaign. He is the first Republican to officially enter the race. Former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman has expressed interest in running for the seat, but has not yet declared her candidacy.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, announced her intent to run for the seat earlier this month.
You might remember from last year an intense primary race between Republican gubernatorial hopefuls Steelman and former U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof. In the race, Steelman attempted to portray Hulshof as a Washington insider for his six terms in Congress. Hulshof limped away from race to lose to then-Attorney General Jay Nixon by a wide margin.
George Connor, a political science professor at Missouri State University, said another divisive primary is something the Republican Party doesn't want. But he said Blunt's prominent position in the U.S. House, coupled by his politically connected surname, could give Steelman some of the same ammunition she had in her race against Hulshof, thereby giving an edge to Steelman in the race.
In Springfield and the surrounding Greene County, which Blunt represents in Congress, Steelman beat Hulshof in the primary, and could have some luck with far-right conservative voters there suspicious of Blunt's fiscal conservatism, Connor said.
But he also said that Blunt would have more success with moderate Republican voters, such as those, in the suburbs of St. Louis. In addition, Blunt has won in his Congressional district by crushing margins, and is more politically connected -- thus he should have better access to cash.
"Congressman Blunt can raise money at the drop of a hat," Connor said.