Organized labor continues to support Koster. Add this to the endorsements from police and firefighters plus the endorsements of people like Jimmy Hoffa and Bob McCulloch. Koster has the most support across the board from the core of the democratic party.

In about 5 mins, however, some waco from the Harris or Donnelly campaign will put up a post calling Koster names and discounting his accomplishments as Prosecutor and State Senator. Notice, however, they attack Koster but never say why their guy should be AG. Donnelly and Harris should try to put forth a message about why they are the right person for the job, not why Koster is not.

Look at the organizations that support Koster - long term democratic organizations. Look at Koster’s 14 plus years of experience as an elected official in an extremely democratic district and look at his ability to raise money (the same way Jay Nixon raises money - so please no smoke screens on this issue).

Koster has the support of the party, the experience to do the job and the money to beat Gibbions in November. A lot of Democrats think Koster is the right man to be AG. I suggest that Harris and Donnelly BEGIN to run respectable campaigns which are about thier ideas and not ONLY about Koster.

I don’t call candidates names, it’s immature. All I will say is that it was nice to read recent posts on Missouri’s fine media without seeing comments from “Jack”.

Oh wait, I will take a moment to question what you call Koster’s “accomplishments” as a State Senator. Here’s what I recall:
- aiding House Speaker Rod Jetton by filibustering the Village Law
- repeatedly supporting the abolishment of Missouri’s campaign finance limits
- voting in favor of the disenfranchising Republican voter ID legislation
- voting to cut hundreds of thousands off Medicaid
- shaking hands with neoconservative numero uno Dick Cheney
- etc., etc., etc

Anyways, you get the point. What you call accomplishments I would call cruel, strikingly Republican-like actions.

kostertheimposter.com/

Jack

Koster has done some things right but I really doubt Koster wins because he voted with Blunt on nearly everything. Some of this he admits is a mistake but most of his Republican positions positions like MOHELA, the removal of campaign contribution limits, the CAFO bill, the foundation formula or banning the teaching of sex ed in schools he hasn’t reversed. I think it is too many bad votes for democrats to support him.

Jack keep fighting the good fight but let me also tell you what people say about the man. It may be not be fair but very few people close to him trust him. So if you are an attorney out there wanting a piece of the 2nd injury fund or a hopeful kid wanting to got to law school and subsuequently work for Koster just keep an open mind because I hear bad things about his character.

Politics isn’t often fair and conventional wisdom may not be fair. We may look back on these days and say why did so many people have such a negative view of the Senator.

I respect the fact that you are one of the few people that defends the Senator on the blogs. Keep on fighting but also please keep an open mind especially if you are expecting him to help you in some fashion.

Hmmm… Just as I said, not a mention of your candidate or his/her attributes. Attack, attack, attack.

Just one question, if (per your assertion) Koster does not represent the values of the democratic party, why does Koster have so many more endorsements the Harris and Donnelly from long standing demorcratic organizations?

Because I am nice, I will give you the answer so you won’t have to guess. Koster does represent the views of the democratic party. Koster has always been a strong supporter of unions and organized labor. Koster was an excellent prosecutor for 10 years and everyone but Harris and Donnelly know that experience matters. Koster has statewide support and the organization to raise real money. AND as we all discovered at the recent debate, Koster has the best understanding of the issues…don’t take my word for it ask Mr. Kraske of the KC Star.

So, Nick either your wrong or all the organizations like police, fire fighters, labor, Jimmy Hoffa, Bob McCulloch and sooo many others, that have stepped up and endorsed Koster (over Harris and Donnelly), are wrong.

Gotta tell you Nick…I’ll take Hoffa’s and McCulloch’s opinion over yours.

Doubting Koster,

I understand your comments and appreciate your position. I believe, however, Koster is the best person for the AG’s office and will be the best candidate for the democratic party.

The fact is, the Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer for the state. Koster is far and away the best qualified Democrat running. The other two candidates spend all their time trying to besmirch the sincerity of Koster’s change of party because they cannot possibly measure up to his law enforcement and prosecutorial credentials. They should stop embarassing themselves with those tactics. As far as I’m concerned, I’m impressed that Koster had the ball to leave the Republican Party when he realized they were hopelessly under the thumb of right wing extremists. Koster is a moderate and that fits Missouri just fine. I’m glad and proud that he’s a Democrat.

I definitely think Mr. Koster has the temperament that is best suited, of the three primary contestants, to be the kind of attorney general Jay Nixon has been. And Jack is right about the other campaigns being firmly entrenched in attack mode from the beginning and seemingly unable to articulate much vision for holding the office. Also, Mr. Koster may have struck a deal to fillibuster the village law at the end of the session, but there were a couple of other excellent reasons to do it - the voter ID and abortion bills. While I know he didn’t explicitly cut a deal with any republican to launch a fillibuster to keep those bills from coming back, the mission was accomplished all the same. I am no less grateful for the effort, regardless of what he had to tell Jetton to get it done.

Yes, what is it with the Harris and Donnelly campaigns finding time to do nothing but attack Koster?
Yes, he used to be a Republican, but doesn’t anybody give him a chance to admit that he’s made mistakes and has whole heartedly embraced the Democratic party and their ideals?
From what I’ve seen in Jefferson City this year, the Democrats haven’t all embraced him…yet. But, they are fast realizing that Koster is going somewhere and they ought to hop on board.
The Democrats who spend their time bashing Chris Koster are soon going to wish they’d spent their time advancing his cause, because they’ll find out that he can do more for the Democratic party and ideals than nearly anyone else who’s currently in state politics.

Truedem

My thoughts on a Friday when I should be doing real work !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t think that the attorney general is the chief law enforcement of the state. My experience with that office has been that very little of what they do has anything to do with criminally prosecuting people so I hope that is not a big part of Senator Koster’s platform. I think my opinion here is mainstream. Most of us that work in Jefferson City be they Republican, Democrat or nothing would share this opinion. This doesn’t mean Koster won’t do a good job. He may be a great attorney general.

I also think it is unfair to say the other candidates are unqualified. Jeff Harris is well liked here and was considered a very effective minority leader. His people like to say that he led democrats to their greatest gains in 30 years. A little hyberbole obviously but true. He certainly has more experience in this town than either Nixon or Jack Danforth did when they were elected attorney general. I think almost everyone here feels that managing a caucus of 70 or so diverse interests is more relevant than serving as a county prosecutor. Harris also worked in the office under Nixon which means he may know quite a bit of how the office actually runs and the strnegths and weaknesses of the people there. My guess is that working in the office under Nixon is the strongest bit of experience that any of the candidates have. Again this doesn’t mean Koster won’t be a good attorney general. But you can certainly understand people wanting someone that knows what the office does from experience.

Donnelly wasn’t in leadership but she was the dominant presence for House democrats on the budget. Again I would say more of a player than Jay Nixon was when he was in the Senate. She is well liked here, smart as heck and fought Blunt every step of the way.

I hope the Koster people can understand a lot of hardcore democrats anger towards Koster. Listening to the House debate you basically found Harris and Donnelly taking target practice at Matt Blunt. For good reason. I knew personally that the Blunt people hate Harris for the way he dogged them at every turn. I would think they feel the same way about Donnelly. If you don’t like Blunt and respect the leadership of Harris and the contributions of Donnelly for getting Blunt to give up than you would have a problem with someone that supported a lot of what Blunt did. This may not be fair to Koster but you can certainly understand it.

What I have noticed about endorsements is a split between Koster and Harris on labor with Donnelly getting SEIU. I think you will notice that the endorsements Koster is getting are from group that endorse on both sides of the aisle. The hardcore democratic groups like AFSCME, NEA, AFT, SEIU, ACORN, and the choicers just really don’t like Koster and are going with Harris or Donnelly. Koster support from these middle of the road groups is helpful to him in a general but is of less value in a primary.

All and all this thing is about as interesting a primary in a down ballot race as I can remember.

If you all don’t mind, I’m going to send this pic to Conan O’Brien for the eerie resemblance; he’ll get a kick out of it!

BecomingAKosterFan-

You are so correct in everything you say. Especially that “they’ll find out that he can do more for the Democratic party and ideals than nearly anyone else who’s currently in state politics.”

I understand that a party switch is a difficult thing for people to understand, but shouldn’t we just be happy that a star came to see the light? Which should we prefer: Someone who never realizes their errors and fights the bad fight forever, or someone who figures it out along the way and chooses to make a difference?

On another note: If he’s so bad for the Democratic party in Missouri, then why are all the Republicans so up in arms about the switch? I don’t think I’ll ever understand that one…

The Republicans are up in arms just like so many Democrats because they know Koster’s only out for himself. It’s all about getting Chris elected and raising Chris some money. The guy only has one principle, and that’s a willingness to do whatever it’ll take to get elected.

As for the other candidates, both Donnelly and Harris have been strong, reliable Democrats. I’m supporting Harris because he has been a strong leader against Blunt and the GOP agenda, he’s whip-smart, he’s the only one with the best kind of experience — working for a Democratic Attorney General — and he’s ready to do the job. The guy has real convictions and is someone you can trust.

As for this inane contention that we should all just be happy that such a swell guy has finally joined our party, you’ll have to forgive our skepticism. Maybe if Koster actually bothered to prove himself to us before asking for a promotion, we’d trust him and would support him. If the guy had run for re-election, I’d have gladly cut him a check. But as my Attorney General? There’s not a chance in hell that I, or an awful lot of Democrats in this state, are willing to blindly trust a guy with his record.

By this same rationale, if Matt Blunt suddenly announced he he was a Democrat, does that mean that we choose him over Jay Nixon? Should we dump a guy we know and we can trust just because Blunt can raise more money? We’ll accept his apologies for his bad votes and his lousy record, but we won’t promote someone who hasn’t earned it.

Harris has earned it, and he’ll do Missouri and Missouri Democrats proud. FYI, in cased anyone on the St. Louis side of the state missed it, Harris just picked up a major endorsement from the Jackson County Democratic Council for Progress. That’s a huge endorsement, and it’s just more proof that Democrats across the state are recognizing that he’s the right candidate for the job.

Doubting Koster,

With respect, it really isn’t a matter of opinion about whether or not the AG is the chief law enforcement officer of the state: he/she is. That’s an unquestionable fact. That is the primary duty and function of the AG in any state including Missouri.

To be brutally honest, what people in Jefferson City think of someone running for state office is of no importance whatever to me personally, nor do I think it of any importance to the average voter. What difference does that make? Does it mean state bureaucrats like or dislike someone? It’s of no consequence except insofar as those unfortunate enough to live and work in that hapless little burgh we call our state capitol have something to chat about.

Being minority leader is fine, but not terribly relevant to being AG. Fighting Blunt on budget matters is also fine, but not terribly relevant to being AG. Being an experienced prosecutor and litigator is highly relevant to being AG. Koster is the only one of the three with that experience. Being an elected prosecutor also means that he knows how to manage numerous ongoing cases at once out of a small office, he understands the issues associated with that in terms of administration of the office, etc… Neither of the other two have any such experience. In fact, neither have much experience in the courtroom at all and none as a prosecutor.

Koster, as has been mentioned in this thread, is also a political rising star whose conversion from the Republican Party is something Democrats ought to celebrate instead of condemn. Donnelly and Harris have spent their entire campaigns carping about what everyone already knows which is that Koster used to be a Republican. Okay, they’ve made their point, we get it, but they still make no case for themselves as being better at the position of AG. They have very little positive to say about themselves or their ability to carry out the duties of AG for the state because they focus on sqwauking about Koster not being a “real” Democrat.

Koster spends no time at all dissing either of his opponents for two reasons as far as I can tell: A) he’s the best qualified, and B) he’s going to beat the other two in a walk so he is focused on letting voters know who he is and what he wants to do as opposed to trying to smear the other two who have little to offer and even less to say in terms of being AG. Koster is also just smarter and a better, more appealing candidate than the other two.

I’m going to enjoy listening to the crescendo of sniping and nasty digs coming from Harris and Donnelly as we approach the primary when Koster will whip them both like old mules. When he becomes one of the most outstanding AG’s in the nation, the complaints of Donnelly and Harris about his Democratic bona fides will end up (as well they should) in the dust bin of history.

Man, the Koster Love is getting knee deep in here.

1. The Attorney General may be the “chief law enforcement officer” in the state, but he or she is NOT the “prosecutor in chief.”
2. If being a prosecutor is such a big deal, then clearly you’re suggesting Jay Nixon (not a prosecutor) was unqualified. Very few Missouri Attorneys General have come from the prosecutorial ranks. Why? Because it’s largely irrelevant to managing and running the office successfully. Or are you suggesting Jay Nixon has done a bad job?
3. The AG’s office does a lot more than just prosecute court cases, but if that’s the best card Koster has to play, who can blame him for playing it. If I were him, I’d rather talk talk about being a prosecutor than my votes to cut Medicaid, for photo ID, and for just about everything else Matt Blunt has supported in his one term.

And being Minority Leader has a lot to do with being Attorney General, in that Harris has successfully rallied and led a group of Democrats behind a unified agenda and on behalf of issues that Democratic voters care about. Voters know exactly where he stands and what he’ll do as Attorney General. We’ve seen him fight the good fight on behalf of the little guy, which is exactly what most folks will tell you they want to see in their Attorney General.

Of course Koster wants to talk about being a prosecutor. What’s he got left? I worked for Bill Webster or I was a Republican Senator. So every time you spout ad naseum that Chris Koster was a prosecutor, what you’re really saying is “I don’t want to talk to you about how Chris Koster was a Republican.” Them’s the facts.

Oh, and by the way, did you know Chris Koster was a prosecutor?

Shecky, sorry for repeating myself but….Hmmm… Just as I said, not a mention of your candidate or his/her attributes. Attack, attack, attack.

Shecky,

Your logic is convenient but not applicable. Among the three candidates running for the post Koster is clearly the most qualified for the post in large part because yes, he has a prosecutorial background just like Tom Eagleton did when he was running for AG. Nixon is not running and I don’t believe he had any real opposition when he first ran from anyone. Your analogy is not a good one.