Maybe the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy didn’t hurt Barack Obama at all.

While Critical Conversations will host a discussion on a recent Obama speech at the Missouri History Museum later today, it seems his most recent speech on race in America may have helped soften the blow of some pulpit politics.

Agence France-Presse is reporting Obama’s positive ratings only slipped a little despite the fervor over Wright’s incendiary words, while Clinton’s plunged to a seven-year low. Clinton got a weak 37 percent positive rating, her bleakest since March 2001 when she first became a New York senator, so says the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

Obama was only down two points from 51 percent to 49 percent now. The poll was taken a week after Obama’s speech on race in America.

The Wall Street Journal quotes Democratic pollster Peter Hart saying the 3.7 percent margin of error is a “myth-buster” demonstrating that the fracas was “not the beginning of the end for the Obama campaign.”

The discussion on Obama’s speech will take place at the History Museum at Lindell and DaBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis. The event will take place 6-8pm, Thursday. For more information call 314.746.4599 or check out www.mohistory.org.

They’re China bound!

Gov. Matt Blunt, along with U.S. Senators Kit Bond and Claire McCaskill, are going on a bipartisan trade mission to China this week. The politicians will work on “creating new economic development opportunities between China and Missouri.” They will be heading to the People’s Republic of China with high-level members of government, business and civic leaders from the St. Louis area.

“Missouri businesses have shattered export records every year since I took office in 2005,” Gov. Blunt said in a press release Monday. “This bipartisan trade mission to China, one of our most important trading partners, will help strengthen business relations and help continue Missouri’s outstanding job growth.”

A who’s who of state and St. Louis politics are making the trip including: U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, former Gov. Bob Holden who serves as the vice chairman of the Midwest U.S.-China Association.

Business leaders making the trek include Richard C. D. Fleming, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA); David L. Steward, chairman and CEO of World Wide Technology; and executives with Pfizer, Peabody Energy, Unigroup, McEagle Properties, the World Trade Center St. Louis, and Lambert St. Louis International Airport.

The Fashion of Kacie Starr Triplett from PubDef.net on Vimeo.

Sixth Ward Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett, 27, is six feet of civil servant style.

She’s only been in office for one year, but her style of dress is classic, hearkening back to the days of Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and her grandmother, a seamstress who still makes outfits for Triplett today.

Pictured here in a mint green coat dress from The Time Boutique at 922 Washington Avenue and peak-a-boo black heels by Nine West, Triplett dresses for success with her shoulders back and head held high.

Triplett comes from political lineage. Her grandfather, John Bass, deceased, was a state senator, city comptroller and alderman.

“It’s in the blood,” she said. “Doctors breed doctors. Lawyers breed lawyers … I guess politicians make politicians.”

The same goes for her sense of style. Her grandmother has made Triplett clothes since she was an infant.

“She made all my prom dresses and special event suits,” Triplett said. “It’s been a blessing because she was able to do all that for stuff for free.”

It was also helpful to Triplett’s height. Being so tall, she can’t buy pants off the rack. When she was younger she was nervous about her height and slouched a lot, but now she holds herself with confidence and pride.

“It took a while, but I’m not shrinking so I might as well embrace it,” she said.

Despite her love of clothes, Triplett’s not a big fan of shopping and her public servant paycheck isn’t generous enough to blow the bank of designer duds, but she makes it work by focusing on the best quality garment, investing in clothing that is stylish and will last.

Triplett shops the downtown boutiques as well as Macy’s and Nordstrom. And while she cares about her clothes, she cares about the city and her constituents more.

“I want to make a difference,” Triplett said. “I love this city with a passion. I tell people all the time I will fall on the sword for the city of St. Louis.”

Photos by Antonio D. French

See more pictures from our photo shoot with Kacie Starr Triplett at our Flickr photo set.

You’ve got to give it to Ron Paul supporters – they never back down.

Despite the Texas Representative’s poor showing in the primaries, his supporters, determined to keep Paul’s agenda in the forefront, bum rushed the Republican county caucuses last weekend. The Kansas City Star is reporting that Paul supporters elected hundreds of delegates for congressional district and state conventions. And The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said pro-Paul Republicans may have finagled about a third of the 2,137 state Republican delegates.

These Paulites along with other Missouri delegates will set the state GOP agenda this spring and pick the presidential delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called the Paul rush a “political guerrilla attack.” Paul supporters swamped the St. Peters City Hall caucus and hijacked caucuses in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Springfield.

The Paulies caused a ruckus, sparking shouting matches and walk outs by frustrated caucus goers unable to deal with the zeal of the pro-Paul supporters.

Paul came in fourth place with only 5 percent of the GOP vote in the Missouri primary and state party leaders said the caucus results shouldn’t change the votes at the Republican National Convention. They are still likely to go John McCain.

Despite this there is still some cause for concern.

According to the Kansas City Star:

(T)hey’re a complication for McCain, the presumptive nominee, and an embarrassment for party regulars across Missouri. There are Internet rumors that Paul supporters have or will attempt similar actions in other states, though national GOP leaders say it does not appear to be an issue nationally.

Here, one Republican — the chairman of the Jackson County Republican committee — was so upset at the behavior of some Paul sympathizers that he led a walkout from his party’s caucus Saturday.

Independence attorney Bunk Farrington said he was angry that Paul supporters reneged on an agreement to divide the county’s 187 caucus delegates between those sympathetic to the Texas congressman and supporters of other candidates.

“We had a compromise,” Farrington said. “They broke the deal.”

The group is now pushing for a repeal of the Missouri Republican Party requirement that all of the states GOP presidential delegates, 58 in total, must back McCain. But Paul supporters say their en masse attack wasn’t about some quixotic bid for the White House.

According to the Post-Dispatch:

Carlson and other Paul supporters say their aim is to force the Missouri Republican Party to embrace Paul’s principles.

“We’re not holding out an illusion that Ron is going to win the nomination,” said Debbie Hopper, Paul’s national field director. “This is about calling the Republican Party back to its roots.”

Sen. Claire McCaskill said it’s unfair to hold presidential candidates accountable for “dumb things” their supporters say.

McCaskill, a vocal supporter of presidential candidate Barack Obama, was responding to the reaction in the media to what some deemed as anti-American statements by Obama’s former pastor and adviser Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

“People need to give all the candidates a break, because people who support them say dumb things sometimes,” McCaskill said. “I think some of the things this pastor said were pretty dumb.”

McCaskill talked to reporters today after an event at a south St. Louis senior center promoting awareness among senior citizens about the $600 stimulus checks coming soon to taxpayers. She said both Obama and his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, had supporters say things that both candidates later repudiated.

McCaskill said the anger seen in Wright’s sermon spoke directly to an anger that exists in the black community over racism and feeling they are not full citizens. She said an Obama presidency would help heal those old wounds and rid some black churches of some of the more divisive rhetoric.

The Obama campaign has been on defense since comments made by Wright after Sept. 11, 2001, as well as some more recent sermons, surfaced on the Internet. Wright stepped down last week from an honorary position on the Obama campaign’s African-American Religious Leadership Committee.