BRANSON, Mo. –Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating — a native of St. Louis, by the way — appealed to hundreds of Missouri GOP faithful at the Friday night gala kicking off the party’s convention this weekend.

Keating’s chief aim was to bolster support for the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Afterwards, in an interview with reporters, Keating said that Missouri is crucial to McCain’s success.  He emphasized that he wasn’t just delivering the usual talking points.

“Missouri is just hugely important…We have to have it to win the presidency,” Keating said.

One of the reasons, he explained, is that Missouri is in better economic shape than some other swing states — he cited West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania — where there have been deeper job losses.  Keating indicated that such states may be harder for a Republican to win in November.

But more important, said Keating, is Missouri’s role as a bellwether. If McCain’s messages on global warming, the economy and terrorism play well in Missouri, they’ll likely play well in other states, he said.

All that aside, Keating said he was optimistic about McCain’s chances. “Democrats may well be on the verge of making a terrible blunder in nominating Barack Obama,” Keating said.

He called Obama “an ultra big government liberal…A product of a Chicago machine” who won’t play well with voters in many key states.

However, he wasn’t too complimentary of Obama’s remaining Democratic rival, Hillary Clington. Keating accused her of “pandering to the unions and the ultra left of her party.”