Steelman still undecided about Senate run
Sen. Kit Bond announced he will vacate the seat after serving four terms.
Published Feb. 21, 2009
KANSAS CITY — Before the Missouri Republican Party’s Lincoln Days event this weekend in Kansas City, candidates from each party already had already thrown their hat into the ring for next year’s election for Missouri’s empty U.S. Senate seat.
But former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, a Republican, said she is still considering a run for the seat.
The Missouri Republicans found their first official contender for the office, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., on Thursday. The six-time congressman officially announced he would make a bid for the seat that will be vacated by longtime Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo, who said he will not seek a fifth term.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, officially announced her candidacy earlier this month.
The Missouri GOP establishment has already thrown its support behind Blunt, which was evident at the party’s Lincoln Days event held this past weekend, where supporters wore “Roy Blunt, U.S. Senate” T-shirts and stickers. Posters of the same message were hung on the walls.
After Bond thanked colleagues and supporters for their service to him after more than 22 years – and essentially giving an early farewell address for his career in the Senate to members of various Missouri Republican groups – Blunt took the stage and discussed the upcoming election aimed criticism at his would-be general election opponent.
Carnahan has already begun the war of words by saying publicly Blunt will “have some things to answer for” for his tenure in the House, according to a KWMU report released Thursday.
“I am just not part of the Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid-Barack Obama liberal agenda,” Blunt said. “That’s what her problems are.”
But Steelman, who appeared at the event, said the party has lost touch with its conservative principles.
“I think people are tired of Washington experience and Washington ways,” she said.
Steelman’s last bid for statewide office was last year’s gubernatorial race, in which she ran in a highly competitive primary race against former U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof. Hulshof won that race with 49 percent of the vote, and Steelman got 47 percent.
In the race, Hulshof, who went into Congress the same time Blunt did, also received the support of the state’s Republican establishment. Steelman portrayed Hulshof as a Washington insider with ties to big money lobbyists and was able to frame the argument by the fact that the economy had begun to worsen.
Hulshof left the primary strapped for cash and subsequently lost to then-Attorney General Jay Nixon.
As a former state treasurer, Steelman has shown she can have statewide appeal in Missouri. In Springfield and the surrounding Greene County – an area that typically prefers Republican candidates, which is included in Blunt’s congressional district – Steelman pulled more support than Hulshof in 2008, but Blunt has won re-election by wide margins. Blunt and Carnahan have both been elected twice as Secretary of State.
George Connor, a political science professor at Missouri State University, said in the Springfield area, Blunt will likely prevail, but Steelman can still draw far-right conservative votes. He said Blunt will have the fundraising advantage if he is put into a primary with Steelman.
John Hancock, a former Republican state legislator who works as political consultant, said the best Republican to take on Carnahan in the general election would be a single one, with out a primary fight to nominate them.
He said the GOP can win the rural areas of Missouri and a challenge for the party will be snagging voters in urban centers.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder addressed this concern at Lincoln Days speaking engagement. He said the Republicans can make in-roads to African-American voters in the cities – who overwhelmingly vote Democratic – by concentrating on social issues, such same-sex marriage and abortion rights, on which Kinder said black urbanites hold conservative views.
Hancock agreed with Kinder’s statements. He said Democrats have taken the black urban vote for granted in terms of committing electoral resources because it has historically dependable for the party.
“I think the African-American community would be better served by having a dynamic competition between the two parties,” he said.
