Democrats, Republicans regroup after election

Missouri Republicans kept their 5-4 lead in the U.S. House.

By Greg Young

Published Nov. 6, 2008

With the 2008 elections over, both parties are regrouping and figuring out how to improve their standing by the midterm elections in 2010.

In Missouri, Republicans held onto their 5-4 lead in the state's U.S. House of Representatives delegation with the wins of former state Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer in the 9th District and Rep. Sam Graves in the 6th. This came despite at least a 20-seat gain for Democrats in the House.

MU College Republicans Chairman Jonathan Ratliff took pride that Luetkemeyer was able to pull out a victory, despite the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spending millions in hopes of getting state Rep. Judy Baker, D-Columbia, elected to the seat.

"I think we had the right candidate and we came out with volunteers that worked extremely hard," Ratliff said.

MU political science professor Marvin Overby said that while Baker raised more money than Luetkemeyer and ran a good campaign, the district's partisan affiliation was too strong for her to win the seat.

"At the end of the day, even with the support of fellow Democrats like President-elect (Barack) Obama and Governor-elect (Jay) Nixon, she found the district just too Republican in its partisan lean for her to win," he said.

Luetkemeyer is one of an increasingly limited number of Republicans in Congress. Republicans hold 173 seats in the House of Representatives, the lowest total since 1992.

Ratliff said he believes the GOP needs to return to supporting smaller government and low spending in order to have success in the future.

"I think we need to go back to our roots," Ratliff said.

Luetkemeyer's primary focus in Congress will be on lowering taxes and spending.

"The economy will prosper as long as it allows people to make decisions on how and where to spend their money, not the government," Luetkemeyer said.

On education, Luetkemeyer said he would support increased scholarship funding, but believes universities also share some of the responsibility to make college affordable.

"I would be willing to support the increase of college scholarships and research dollars," Luetkemeyer said.

Meanwhile, some Democratic officials are questioning whether Missouri is still truly a swing state at both the presidential and Congressional levels.

One reason for the possible political shift could be demographic, specifically, the lack of growth among the Latino voters in Missouri.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanic people represent 14.8 percent of the national population, but only 2.8 percent in Missouri. Additionally, the 6th and the 9th Congressional Districts - two districts projected to be competitive on Election Day - are both more than 90 percent white.

"I think our state is moving away from the common demographic of the country, and that may be the cause of the result of this election," Young Democrats of Missouri President Rick Puig said.

Additionally, this was the first general election without straight ticket voting.

"I think that it really hurts the opportunity for a party to have a good year and make any gains," Puig said.

Overby said a Republican comeback in the House is possible during the midterm elections, when, he said, the president's party tends to lose seats.

"Cautious about giving any one party too much authority, they may seek to return greater balance to the federal government by cutting or eliminating Democratic majorities in one or both chambers of Congress," he said.