If GOP is in trouble, Missouri will reflect it

[Judi Lynn]

If GOP is in trouble, Missouri will reflect it
Senate race likely to mirror national view of Iraq war
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Sunday, September 24, 2006

(09-24) 04:00 PDT Licking, Mo. -- Deep in south-central Missouri, where wooded cattle farms mingle with Wal-Marts, Jesus billboards dot the highways, radio runs from Rush Limbaugh to Dr. Laura and carrying a concealed weapon is legal, a rebellion is brewing -- against Republicans.

"I've been basically a Republican, but I don't plan to vote for any Republicans this year because I'm so disillusioned with the Bush administration," said Dan Hatch, a biology teacher and landowner who lives with his wife, Cookie, near this tiny speck of a town on Highway 63. "It was the rush into the war above all else."
(snip)

The best test of whether such sentiments will translate into Republicans losing their House or Senate majority in November is right here, in a toss-up Senate race that pits two smart, seasoned politicians -- incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent and Claire McCaskill, Democratic state auditor and a former prosecutor -- in a contest considered a barometer of whether Republicans can survive Iraq.

"This race is the purest test in the country of any tidal wave against Republicans in general, and President Bush in particular," said Dave Robertson, a political scientist at the University of Missouri in St. Louis.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/24/MNGSSLBPJ11.DTL&type=politics

[Auggie]

1. Read it this morning, 9-24

Nice piece by the San Francisco Chronicle.

[Auntie Bush]

2. What are the polls saying now?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Haven't heard anything recent, but the last word was they're even.....

You may remember Talent ran a dirty race to get the job from the widow of the previous govenor, Mel Carnahan, who was killed conveniently right before the Senate election, when he was running against John Ashcroft.

Claire McCaskill has many admirers in Kansas City and St. Louis, while Talent appeals to Bucolic-Americans.

[samsingh]

4. early indicators?