Missouri-02 Overview
Rep. Todd Akin easily wins re-election in MO-02
It appears that Missouri will remain a Red State in the 2008
election. Not all of the provisional ballots have been counted yet,
but McCain remains ahead by approximately 5000 votes and it would
take a big turnaround for MO to go to Obama. This is a rather big
deal, as MO has been a bellweather state for decades, only missing
the winner twice since 1904 (1956 - Stevenson over Ike, and
2008)…the best “bellweather percentage” in the US. MO has moved
ever so slightly left from the 2004 election - Kerry won only three
counties in MO in 2004…in 2008, Obama won nine, but in both
cases, the Dems took the major metro areas of St. Louis and Kansas
City, and Boone County, the left-leaning home of the University of
Missouri.
In Missouri’s 2nd Congressional District, Rep. Todd Akin easily
won re-election over Bill Haas, whose only prior political
experience was as a member of the St. Louis School Board. Akin won
with a 62.3/35.4% margin over Haas, wtih the Libertarian candidate
picking up the rest, despite the fact that much of St. Louis County
strongly favored Obama in the POTUS race. However, most of Akin’s
district falls in the more wealthy and more Republican precincts on
the west side of the county. His district also extends into St.
Charles County and farther north into Lincoln County. Both St.
Charles and Lincoln are traditional GOP strongholds, but even they
trended farther left in this election. While Obama’s huge rally in
October was widely covered as drawing nearly 100K of his
acolytes fans, it was not widely reported
that a
rally for John McCain and Sarah Palin drew over 20K in a small
minor-league ballpark in O’Fallon, MO, shortly before the
Republican Convention…another sign of the strength of the GOP in
my neck of the woods.
Akin was elected in a close race for former Rep. Jim Talent’s
House seat in 2000. However, in the subsequent elections, he has
seen relatively little competition. And we hope it remains that
way.
Akin is one of the House’s most reliable conservative votes. The
American Conservative Union has awarded Akin a 97.4% lifetime
rating, and 100% in 2007. He is a strong social conservative who
votes consistently pro-life. He has a Master’s of Divinity degree
from the Presbyterian Church in America’s Covenant Seminary in St.
Louis, and he is a member of the PCA…which is fairly indicative
of his social conservative credentials. He is what I consider a
solid 3-legged stool Republican - strong in all three key facets of
conservatism (social, fiscal, and defense).
Just this afternoon, I heard Rep. Akin on KMOX radio, describing
his opposition to the GM bailout proposal (listen to the interview
here). Akin believes that Chapter 11 is the only way to remedy
the structural issues with the GM corporation (expenses,
governmental regulations, labor problems, etc.). Contrast Akin’s
position with that of US Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R), who
supports
the bailout package. Note: This is not a slam on Sen. Bond - while
I don’t particularly agree with him on this one, his conservative
record with the ACU is over 80%, which isn’t perfect, but it’s not
bad - much better than the Leftist Senator from MO, Claire
McCaskill (8% rating from the ACU).
I have been fortunate enough to have good, solid GOP
representation in MO during the time we’ve lived here…until the
2006 election, when McCaskill won James Talent’s Senate seat
(Talent had served out the remainder of the term of the late Mel
Carnahan). It has been quite nice to not have to worry about the
vote of my House rep! Unfortunately, the MO governor seat was won
by Democrat Jay Nixon, the current Missouri Attorney General - a
position given up by current MO Governor Matt Blunt. He will be
another one sorely missed by conservatives in Missouri. (One bit of
good news from this year - Kenny Hulshof was running against Jay
Nixon for the governorship, and his seat was up for grabs. Blaine
Luetkemeyer held Hulshof’s seat in District 9 for the GOP, despite
the fact that the lefty stronghold of Columbia is in the district.
This was a key one for the MO delegation and for the House
Republicans.)
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