Who is that running past Russ Carnahan?

Ed Martin.

Go Ed Go!

(Thanks to The Tim Man for alerting me to this video.)

Scott Brown Election-Night Watch Party

Ed Martin, a Republican candidate hoping to unseat Russ Carnahan for Congress in October is hosting a Senate Watch Party tomorrow night from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at 1921 South Brentwood Boulevard in Brentwood.  Here's a link to the events page at Martin's website.  The establishment is only identified by its street address at the site but, since the address matches, I'm assuming that the party will be at O'B. Clark's.  

The party is, of course, organized to watch the election reports from the special election in Massachusetts where Republican Scott Brown is gaining momentum in his bid to end the Democrats' super-majority in the U.S. Senate.

Go Scott Go!  And, in October, Go Ed Go!

If you've got the time and inclination, head to Brentwood tomorrow night and lend two fellow conservatives your support.

Mr. Smith is, indeed, going to jail

As expected, and despite the pleas for leniency from his fellow Democrats (like Attorney General Chris Koster), former State Senator Jeff Smith has been sentenced to prison.  (Link to story here.)  (Link to backstory here.)

Democrats nominate tax delinquent with bad grammar for General Assembly

Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat, plead guilty in September to federal bribery charges and resigned his seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.  (Link to prior post here.)

Wouldn't you think that the Democrat power-brokers in the City of St. Louis who met yesterday to pick a replacement candidate would choose somebody without baggage?

Instead, they nominated Hope Whitehead, who had to rush to City Hall on Friday "to pay hundreds of dollars in outstanding taxes."  (Link to Jake Wagman's story in the Post-Dispatch here.)  Apparently, she was delinquent in paying her personal $1,155 in property taxes and only paid because tax delinquents are not eligible for election ballots in Missouri.

Whitehead acknowledged that since she'll be in the public eye she needs to do a better of paying her taxes.  She's quoted as saying "I've got to do that different now."  First of all, note that she's only going to bother paying her taxes when they're due because she's "got to" and, second, instead of doing it "different," shouldn't she be doing it "differently?"

My kingdom for a grammarian.

Vote "Yes" on Tuesday in St. Louis County

I've never met a tax increase I liked.  Trust me on that one.  Generally, I would prefer that people keep and spend their money as they see fit . . . but some things can't be done privately.  One such thing is emergency response.

And, right now, emergency responders in St. Louis County aren't being given modern tools to do their jobs.  Instead, they're working with antique communications equipment and if disaster strikes, lives will likely be lost because of it.

But passing Proposition E-911 on Tuesday's County ballot will provide a modern communications system for radio communication, give emergency call centers the ability to trace the location of cellular calls to 911, and add or repair tornado warning sirens across the area.  These upgrades would be paid for by a 1/10 of 1 cent sales tax (that's 1 dollar on every thousand spent) on purchases in St. Louis County.

For more detail, check out Nancy Larson's article in the St. Louis Beacon.  (Link here.)

It is worth it.  I'm voting "yes" on E-911.  I hope you will too.

Can Mr. Smith get to Washington anymore? Nope. But he can get to jail.

In 2004, Jeff Smith ran in the Democratic primary against Russ Carnahan (and others) for the congressional seat vacated by the retirement of Dick Gephardt. His effort was became the subject of a documentary titled "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?". The movie, apparently, is a behind-the-scenes look at how this novice, upstart, idealist nearly defeated a member of a Missouri political dynasty. I suspect that the filmmakers weren't given access to all the action going on behind the scenes like when Smith "authorized 'a close friend' to raise money for a committee that paid for fliers with an anonymous attack against Carnahan." (Link to Post-Dispatch story here.)

Today, that same Jeff Smith, the underdog idealist (who parlayed his failed run for Congress into a State Senate seat) plead guilty to two felony conspiracy charges of obstruction of justice relating to investigations into those anonymous fliers. He's now facing 15 to 21 months in federal prison.

Does anybody know if there is a federal prison in Washington?

McCaskill Healthcare Forums

Claire McCaskill issued this press release today announcing three more town hall meetings on healthcare "reform."

Senator McCaskill calls these events "Listening Forums."  Missouri conservatives from Hannibal, Moberly, and Kansas City (or those who can get to those locations) should turn out in force to make sure Claire hears what she ought to hear.  Unlike many of her liberal colleagues, McCaskill seems like she might actually be willing to represent her constituents.  Let's make sure she knows what that means on Obamacare.

This fight isn't over.  Far from it.  Keep up the pressure.

Is Claire McCaskill becoming Jean Carnahan?

Does anybody else think that Claire McCaskill is looking more and more like Jean Carnahan lately?

Maybe the Missouri GOP should line up Jim Talent to run against McCaskill in 2012.  It would be like deja vu all over again.

Post-Dispatch profiles Blaine Luetkemeyer

Bill Lambrecht penned this piece for Monday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch on freshman GOP Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer.  It paints Luetkemeyer as a true conservative, willing to stand up for what he believes in and vote against what he doesn't.

It looks like voters in the 9th District elected the right guy.

A sad day for America . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the newest member of the U.S. Senate . . . Al Franken.  (Link to story here.)  And the sixtieth member of the Senate's Democratic caucus.  Sixty votes, of course, ends a filibuster and the only procedural weapon that the Republicans had.  

Cap-and-trade anyone?  Let's hope not.  Dick Morris was on Jamie Allman's show this morning on 97.1 FM Talk touting his new book, Catastrophe.  Morris identified Claire McCaskill as a Democrat who could be swayed to vote against the measure.  Use this link to send her an e-mail voicing your opinion.  Hopefully, Senator McCaskill will listen to her constituents' voices.

The Reuters story linked above did contain one hopeful factoid . . . "the last time either party had a filibuster-proof 60 senators was 1979 when Democrats held 61 and Democratic [sic] Jimmy Carter was president."  Why is that hopeful?  Just a year after the Democrats had their last super-majority, the American people rebelled against liberalism and Ronald Reagan was elected president.

Here's hoping for another rebellion against liberalism in the 2010 elections.

The fix was in

State Senator Jeff Smith, a St. Louis Democrat, was charged with a misdemeanor for using false identification to enter a Missouri casino.  He, reportedly, used the I.D. of State Representative Joe Aull, a Marshall Democrat, who was also charged.

All charges have been dropped against both men reports the Associated Press and Tony Messenger's blog at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which, in this case, is appropriately named . . . "Political Fix."

Liberal Democrat pleads guilty to vote fraud in St. Louis

In a "shocking" development, someone who worked for the liberal, pro-Democrat, Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition pleaded guilty to submitting false voter registration cards before last years elections.  (Link to St. Louis Post-Dispatch story here.) 

Are these folks our own local version of ACORN?

Poverty in St. Louis - but no change in leadership

St. Louis plays a role in a commentary posted by Glenn Beck today at CNN.com.  (Many thanks to regular reader Dameon for alerting me to Beck's commentary.)  Hit the link here to read the entire piece - it is well worth it - but here is the gist of it . . .

America's cities are becoming increasingly impoverished.  Nearly one third of the residents of Detroit and Buffalo live beneath the poverty line.  Those two cities have the highest percentage of people living in poverty but St. Louis isn't too far down the list at No. 6.  

And despite the state of our cities, Democrats who year after year, decade after decade, offer the same old tried and failed "solutions" to poverty keep getting elected to big city halls.  Detroit hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1961.  Buffalo hasn't since 1954.  And St. Louis hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1949.  1949!

As Beck puts it, "if the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, the asylums in those cities must be as full as the soup kitchens."

Would it be too much to ask for "change" and new leadership in St. Louis (and the country's other big cities) sometime this century?

If Prospect Bend Doesn't Work Out

Back in March I suggested that current congressional candidate and - hopefully - future voter Brock Olivo run for mayor of Prospect Bend, a Florida community where they held an election and nobody voted.  Brock would fit right in.

Apparently such a move wasn't in the plans.  But, ever watchful, I've found a new spot that's just perfect for Olivo . . . Pillsbury, North Dakota.

According to the Associated Press, that small community held an election for mayor and the board of aldermen and nobody showed up to vote there either.  Not even the folks running for election.

Brock, it seems like there are several communities all around the country who are looking for your kind of leadership.

In all seriousness, Brock Olivo may be a good man and a good conservative.  In fact, he might even make a good congressman someday.  I just think that he's aiming too high for his first run for public office.  This self-described recovering apathetic should gain a little experience of involvement before taking this leap.

Inspiration for Brock Olivo

Yesterday, the voters of Muskogee, Oklahoma, elected John Tyler Hammons to be their mayor.  Like 9th District congressional candidate Brock Olivo had never before voted.  

If it is good for Oklahoma, why not Missouri?

Well, first, serving as Muskogee's mayor isn't quite like serving in the U.S. Congress.  And second, unlike Olivo, Mayor-elect Hammons has a good excuse for not voting previously . . . he's just 19 years old and wasn't old enough until now.

Brock, I admire your ambition.  But I think you're starting to high.  You should be running for mayor of Columbia - not congress.  If you were looking to start in an "entry level" position, I wouldn't be so hard on you.

(Link to Muskogee Phoenix article)

Luetkemeyer for Congress?

Until now, the only Republican candidate to garner much media attention in the race to replace Kenny Hulshof in Congress has been former football player Brock Olivo.  Today, a candidate with some actual experience (and one who has presumably voted in an election before) announced that he's throwing his hat into the ring . . .

Blaine Luetkemeyer is currently director of the Missouri Division of Tourism and before that he served for six years as a state representative from St. Elizabeth.

In a Columbia Tribune article, Luetkemeyer proclaims himself to be pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-gun rights and supportive of a continued military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He's also quoted as saying "I believe that the money that's in your pocket is your money and not that of the federal government."

I don't pretend to know enough about Luetkemeyer yet and I know next to nothing about his GOP rivals for the nomination (with the noted exception of Olivo) but so far this candidate is sounding like a good candidate for the job.

Brock Olivo Should Run For Mayor!

There was an election held Wednesday night in the Prospect Bend neighborhood of Broward County, Florida.  But no votes were cast.  None.

It sounds like the perfect community for local congressional candidate, Brock Olivo to take up residence.  Prospect Bend is a community of like-minded people.  He'd fit right in.

(I'm not making this up.  See link.)

Go Brock Go?

Former Missouri Tiger running back Brock Olivo has announced that he is running for congress in the district Kenny Hulshof serves now.  Hulshof is vacating the seat to run for governor.

Is Brock a conservative?  I have no idea.  But this is Missouri, Brock, so you'll need to show me.

Original Post-Dispatch article

February 25, 2008, Update:  Brock Olivo might not know if he's a conservative either.  What he does know, and now the rest of us do too, is that he's never bothered to cast a vote in his life.  

New Post-Dispatch article