In a video released on YouTube, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced that she will indeed be running to replace retiring U.S. Senator Kit Bond. Continue Reading

Sen. Kit Bond

It may be and end of an era in Missouri politics. Reports say the U.S. Senator and former governor Kit Bond may not be seeking re-election in 2010, leaving the door open for candidates from both sides in a campaign that starts… NOW!

According to the St. Louis Business Journal, John McCain has expanded his lead over Barack Obama in Missouri, a new survey says. The survey in question is an automated poll conducted over four days by Public Policy Polling, a firm out of Raleigh, North Carolina.

McCain’s advantage is 50-40, a seven-point increase from Public Policy Polling’s July poll, which showed him leading by three points.

Obama’s biggest issue is with white voters, who support McCain by a 56-35 margin, observers say.

“There aren’t enough black voters in Missouri for Barack Obama to win it if he can’t make things more competitive among white voters,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, in a statement. “That’s going to be his challenge if he wants to have any chance at winning the state.”

McCain leads across every age group and has the advantage with both men and women, the poll shows.

In the gubernatorial race, according to the poll, Democrat Jay Nixon leads Republican Kenny Hulshof 48-42. In other statewide races, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan hold double-digit leads, while in the open seats for attorney general and treasurer, Democrat Chris Koster and Republican Brad Lager each hold a narrow advantage.

In the 2010 race for the U.S. senate, it appears both Russ Carnahan and Dick Gephardt could give Kit Bond “a run for his money” if they chose to seek the seat, the pollster said. Bond leads Carnahan 46-43 and Gephardt just 44-43 in hypothetical match-ups. PPP showed a total of 750 likely voters were surveyed from Aug. 13-17.

Click here to see Public Policy Polling’s info packet.

It’s the fight against the flood.

A gaggle of bipartisan politicians are throwing down the gauntlet on the US Army Corps of Engineers who plan to go ahead with a man-made flood on the Missouri River. Dubbed the “spring rise,” the purposed flooding comes at pretty atrocious time considering Missouri is in the midst of a major flood crisis after a fierce storm last week.

Gov. Matt Blunt, Attorney General Jay Nixon and Senator Kit Bond are all feverishly calling for a cancellation of the flooding. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that Nixon filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the spring rise. Bond has written President George W. Bush and Blunt is appealing directly to Colonel Steven R. Miles with the Army Corps of Engineers.

“When I am getting several updates a day on our response to mother nature’s flood, man-made flooding makes about as much sense as fighting a forest fire with gasoline,” Blunt said in a recent press release.

Blunt also said the flooding has affected “tens of thousands of Missourians,” including five flood-related deaths and damages to property.

Missouri’s rivers have caused major flooding, impacting 70 of Missouri’s 114 counties as well as St. Louis city.

“It is unthinkable that just as we are beginning damage assessments and the recovery process, the federal government has authorized a man-made flood in Missouri,” Blunt said in the release. “The Army Corps of Engineers should stop this reckless action which will only aggravate the flooding that has already hurt many Missouri families.”

The spring rise is a scheduled flooding meant to encourage the spawning of the pallid sturgeon, an endangered fish, by fabricating natural seasonal flooding which will start at midnight tonight, lasting 48 hours and causing a 6 inch rise in flood waters. This is supposed to having every March and May under Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines, but it has routinely faced opposition from state politicians.