Last Thursday, the Dems running for attorney general came together in their first debate. That night state Rep. Jeff Harris almost immediately sent out an e-mail proclaiming victory:

“They say if you want to know where someone’s going - take a look at where they’ve been. I’ve spent my career going after the people who would do you harm - whether it’s a governor who thinks it’s okay to cut 89,000 people off the Medicaid rolls, the CAFOs that pollute near your property or the meth dealers who hang around your child’s school.”

Friday, Margaret Donnelly, also touted her performance in a release. From her announcement:

“The attorney general’s office is a place where law and policy intersect. When I talk about ‘protecting families’ it isn’t just a catch phrase, it is what I did day in and day out in my law practice. Voters will know I have a record of fighting for them.  Serving on the boards of two local government agencies, a large school board, and on a public transit system I have overseen budgets and staff larger than the Attorney General’s office.  From my work on the budget committee in the legislature I know the workings of the departments represented by the attorney general better than anyone in the race.  This all makes me uniquely qualified to put our democratic values into action.”

Then today, state Sen. Chris Koster claimed victory himself, in a very short release that cited the KC Star’s Steve Kraske who said Koster “displayed a depth of knowledge and a commanding rhetorical style.” 

Kraske gave Koster points for suggesting the AG’s Jeff City office be decentralized in favor of  boosting attorney staff in St. Louis and Kansas City.

Kraske also gave a bit of wrap on the debate, which took place at UMKC:

After the debate, [Koster's] rivals, state Reps. Jeff Harris and Margaret Donnelly, pounced.

Both questioned Koster’s account that a filibuster he led at session’s end was about standing up for Democrats to kill the much-hated voter-ID law. Instead, they said Koster’s talkathon was aimed at performing a favor for his buddy, GOP House Speaker Rod Jetton, on an unrelated bill.

Several Republicans backed up the story. “That is so full of baloney, I can’t believe it,” state Sen. Delbert Scott of Lowry City said of Koster’s take.

Kraske also noted that Molly Williams, the KC teacher/lawyer running a nonexistant campaign didn’t show.

The Dems will debate again May 30 in Lake Ozark. That one will be sponsored by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, at its annual Bench, Bar and Professional Development Conference.