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06.27.2008 3:43 pm

Harris cites support from Maxwell, others around state

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

State Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia and among three Democrats running for Missouri Attorney General, made a point Friday to citing his own list of endorsements from the St. Louis and statewide.

Harris took note of his support, as contrasts to the endorsements for his Democratic rivals, state Rep. Margaret Donnelly of Richmond Heights, and state Sen. Chris Koster of Harrisonville.

Within the past week (and this is a Political Fix oversight), Harris snagged the support of former Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell, a lawyer from Mexico, Mo.

He also has the backing of former Govs. Roger Wilson and Warren Hearnes (those, we did report earlier), as well as 1988 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Betty Hearnes, former U.S. Rep.Harold Volkmer, and state Sens. Frank Barnitz and Chuck Graham.

His labor backers include AFSCME, ACORN, UNITE Here!, the Machinists State Council, and the United Transportation Union.

In the city of St. Louis, Harris notes that he has the endorsement of a number of city officials, including:

Senate Democratic Leader Maida Coleman
Sen. Harry Kennedy
City Treasurer Larry Williams
Former St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl
Sheriff Jim Murphy
State Reps. Tony George, Esther Haywood and Gina Walsh
Alderwoman Jennifer Florida and Dorothy Kirner
Alderman Stephen Gregali

Harris also has the endorsement of several city Democratic ward groups, and of the St. Louis Association of Retired Professional Fire Fighters.
 
His supporters include the father of the mayor: “I have been around Democratic politics for a long time. I have seen many of our Democratic Leaders come and go”, said Francis R. Slay, long time 23rd Ward Democratic Committeeman. “I believe that Jeff Harris has proved himself to be a leader for the Democrats in Missouri….”

“When this race began, some pundits tried to suggest that St. Louis was locked up by one of my opponents, but the incredible support we are building clearly tells a different story,” Harris said. “Our campaign is picking up steam in St. Louis, in Kansas City, and in every corner of the state.”

13 comments

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Former minority house leader and he only has three endorsements from house members in the metro area? Doesn’t sound like a big vote of confidence from the members he once led.

— turbo
6:10 pm June 27th, 2008

But Harris does have support throughout the rest of the state, unlike either of his two opponents in the primary.

Harris has been endorsed by some 47 elected officials and 2 former governors. For those keeping count, that’s more than either of his opponents COMBINED!

I’d call that a vote of confidence from loyal Democrats any day.

Here’s the full list of Harris’ endorsements since Jo didn’t seem to provide it above: http://www.electjeffharris.com/news/endorsements.php

— Nick
6:44 pm June 27th, 2008

Turbo

Did you compare the lists? Donnelly and Harris are comparable in St. Louis. Harris has both of the stae senators that have endorsed from the city. Donnelly doesn’t have any unless Jeff Smith has endorsed her. But Harris wins by a wide margin every where else. He has about double the total number of endorsements.

They are both good candidates but Harris is a better statewide candidate. To win we have to be able to cut our losses outstate.

— J
6:59 pm June 27th, 2008

J, it is not in fact close. Jeff Harris has a few St. Louis City and County endorsements, but Margaret Donnelly has most of them. Of the ward organizations that have endorsed, 10 favor Donnelly. Every one of the County townships have endorsed Donnelly except for Chesterfield, where a grand total of 9 people voted. Donnelly also leads by far in St. Louis area legislators, with 14 endorsements.

Margaret also has several endorsements outside of St. Louis, including Kiki Curls, Beth Low, and Jenee Lowe in Kansas City, and Sara Lampe in Springfield, and statewide endorsements in NARAL Pro-choice Missouri, SEIU, and Missouri Women’s Political Caucus.

http://www.donnelly08.com/endorsements

— Clark
8:42 pm June 27th, 2008

Clark

If you are the Clark from the Show Me Progres blog I love your work over there. But I am a little irritated. You are either been at math or work for Donnelly’s campaign or maybe both. That was maybe a lame attempt at humor.

These are the two lists:
http://www.electjeffharris.com/news/endorsements.php
http://www.donnelly08.com/endorsements

I can count and it is about 100 to around 60 in Jeff’s favor. Donnelly is a good candidate. Don’t get on the blogs and tell me she has more endorsements when she is pretty far behind. I guess tell me endorsements don’t matter that much and she is a better candidate.

Not to be picky here either but Jeff would have even more if he was doing the Koster’s trick of listing every local when you have been endorsed statewide. If you count them that way the Koster actually beats Donnelly in eondrosements and she is third. If you count them the way they should be counted Koster is behind both Harris and Donnelly. http://chriskoster.com/campaign/endorsements/

You say Jeff isn’t close to Donnelly in St. Louis. I think having seven ward organizations and two sitting state senators versus ten ward organization is pretty close but I guess that is a matter of opinion.
Donnelly doesn’t have hardly anything outstate. This is by your own admission. You had one person and that was Sara Lampe.

They are both good candidates but Jeff is the better one. To win statewide we need to cut our losses outstate. It is difficult for someone from St. Louis to get elected and Donnelly has virtually no support outstate. I think you came up with one endorsement (Sara Lampe). Jeff is strong across all democratic interest group and strong across the state. Donnelly has very little support from labor, law enforcement or outstate.

— J
10:24 am June 28th, 2008

Come on Clark, get real. Donnelly doesn’t have “several endorsements outside of St. Louis.” She has a handful. Literally a handful. Harris’ support in the St. Louis area far out-paces Donnelly’s support anywhere else in the state. Is she doing better in St. Louis? Of course. But she was supposed to have it “locked up” like Harris said. That hasn’t happened.

Will Donnelly still win the metro area? Probably. It would be humiliating for her if she didn’t. But Harris is going to take a sizable chunk, and he’s going to trounce her and Koster everywhere else. Donnelly’s entire case for why she was going to win was that she was from St. Louis and no one else was so she had some massive base of support. Guess what, Harris has made a tremendous dent in her base, and even Koster has racked up some support too.

Meanwhile, Harris has support from two former Governors, a former Lt. Governor, and a former Democratic nominee for Governor. He also has two of the most prominent state senators from St. Louis, a former mayor, one of the most liked city public figures in Treasurer Larry Williams, and now he’s also got Slay Sr., which is a pretty big score. Harris has even built his own base of support in South St. Louis with his ward endorsements. And we all know South St. Louis will come out pretty big in the primary. Yes, Donnelly claims 10 Wards, but Harris has 7 of his own. A 10-7 showing is an incredibly strong outcome in an area that was supposed to be your opponent’s home court and ace in the hole.

You don’t actually think Donnelly is anywhere near that close to Harris’ level support anywhere else in the state, do you? Get outside of I-270, and Donnelly has barely made a ripple. Do you honestly want to play the who has more support game? Cuz it’s a loser for Donnelly. Seriously, Clark, get outside of I-270. There’s a whole state out there and it’s lining up behind Jeff Harris not Margaret Donnelly.

— shecky
11:08 am June 28th, 2008

Why would Harris brag about support from Schoemehl, Murphy and Gregali? I would be ashamed of those associations.

Koster will win the Dem primary with a plurality, with the two progressive candidates splitting the anti-Koster vote. Whoever finishes second will accuse whoever finishes third of being a spoiler ala Nader. But the fact is, both Donnelly and Harris are legislators who could have fixed that problem by passing instant runoff voting (IRV), but they didn’t. How fitting that they both lose because they didn’t lift a finger to pass such legislation.

— St Louis Oracle
12:56 pm June 28th, 2008

shecky, I do travel around the state and talk to Democrats. Donnelly is strong around the state, a lot more even in strength than Harris or (especially) Koster. She doesn’t have the endorsements (yet) to make it more visible, but I’m confident that she’ll come out on top on August 5th.

— Clark
1:18 pm June 28th, 2008

Oracle, what makes you think that things will shake out that way? There are plenty of examples from political history where primaries didn’t break down ideologically at all, most recently when John Edwards ran a firebreathing populist progressive campaign and ended up taking votes mainly from Hillary Clinton.

— Clark
1:23 pm June 28th, 2008

Golly. I’m not sure who’s more wrong on here.

I’m confident that Oracle’s prediction WON’T come to pass. They usually don’t. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t you also predict Claire would lose to Talent? Seriously, how often can you be wrong before they revoke your license to oracalize?

As for Clark, he’s well intentioned, but he’s also working for Donnelly, so it’s hard to know how much of his bluster is talking points versus reality. Didn’t you post somewhere that Sara Lampe was the only elected Democrat from Springfield? And you’re going to pontificate about Missouri politics?

Go get ‘em, tigers, you’re killing me.

— shecky
1:41 pm June 28th, 2008

No, shecky, I didn’t predict Talent over McCaskill. I’ve been wrong about as often as most of the pros.

There is no license that can be revoked; it’s just a gift!

— St_Louis_Oracle
3:32 pm June 28th, 2008

I posted on Arch City Chronicle that Sara Lampe was the only elected Democrat in SW MO, and I was incorrect. I posted in a hurry without checking my facts. Regardless, Donnelly has one of two Democratic representatives in SW MO endorsing her. The commenter I was responding to claimed that Donnelly had zero support outstate, which is false.

I don’t think it’s bluster to say that Margaret Donnelly is more qualified for the Attorney General’s office than her opponents. I wouldn’t be working for her otherwise.

— Clark
5:18 pm June 28th, 2008

Oracle smoracle! Get real… Koster has to spend all that R money to say I am sorry for what I have done. Real Dems won’t vote for him. Donnely doesn’t have the stick in the ole Lou like she thinks she does. Harris has cut deep into the StL area and will win with the added support in rural MO.

— Yellowdog Dem
10:06 am June 30th, 2008