U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, the Republican whip and southwest Missouri’s congressman, will conduct a conference call this afternoon to offer the GOP response to Wednesday’s southern state tour by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Obama’s tour begins Wednesday morning in Springfield, Mo., the state’s third largest city and Blunt’s home turf. (The congressman started out as Greene County clerk).

After a town hall in Springfield at Glendale High School, Obama is traveling up Interstate 44 to Rolla for a similar event at the University of Missouri-Rolla campus.

Then it’s on to Union, Mo., for a barbecue at the city park.

 Here’s from an e-mail that Franklin County Democrats are circulating:

Who would have thought last week when Sen. Barack Obama was speaking at the Victory Column in Berlin’s Tiergarten before a crowd of 200 thousand people that less than one week later we’d be flipping BBQ’d burgers with him right here in Union, Mo at the city park. But that appears to be just about to happen.

The e-mail goes on to say that the event will begin around 6 p.m., with gates opening at 4 p.m.

“It is free and open to the public. There will be 200 free tickets for a BBQ and a meet and greet. The tickets will be made available at the Democratic Headquarters in Union at 208 S. Church St. in Union on Tue. July 29 starting at 4 PM until they are gone (which won’t take long). One ticket per person please.”

His Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, is slated to be in Kansas City on Wednesday for a private fund-raising event.