So to be clear over the past year

Jeff Harris has skipped more then 33% of the votes in the Mo. House, Why??

and

Margaret Donnelly has missed more then 25% of the votes in the Mo. House, Why??

Again, why vote for a person that does not show up for work??? Why did they miss so many votes?? In a job that only is in session fro 5 months a year, why did these 2 miss over 400 votes? Why?

Why in Gods name, would somebody vote for a person that had a job which was only for half the year and then that person skipped a third of the time they were supposed to be working.

Chris Koster has real experience AND shows up for work. Harris and Donnelly like to sleep in.

I am voting for Chris Koster.

When Senator Chuck Graham went to his hometown boy Jeffrie Harris and told him he had rounded up the votes to elect Jeffrie as House Democratic Leader, Jeffrie whimpered that he wasn’t sure he could go for it because he was expected to be home at night. I saw Graham soon after and he was amazed and furious but got across to Jeffrie that you don’t screw your friends who have gone out on a limb and made commitments to get you elected as a chamber leader with the influence it is supposed to bring to your hometown, even if your candidacy is a weak compromise. Politics is a full time job. Happily, that is why us lobbyists have full time jobs. Jeffrie eventually learned to play ball. Koster is a better player.

Jeff is leading in the polls. Donnelly is refusing to release her poll. You know what that means.

You can say that Jeff is the spoiler but you know he has every newspaper endorsement outside of St. Louis.

Donnelly has two personal endorsements outside of Kansas City and St. Louis. Tough to win when that is all you have. When was the last person a democrat not named Farmer from St. Louis won a statewide. Twenty years ago.

We have to stop Koster. Where is the evidence that Donnelly has any kind of momentum going. Jeff has been trouncing Donnelly in fundraising also.

Donnelly is great but she is the spoiler.

quoting from a prior post: “When was the last person a democrat not named Farmer from St. Louis won a statewide. Twenty years ago.”

How soon these good Democrats forget Claire McCaskill. She has a lovely home in St. Louis County. She also has lived in KC, Columbia, Jefferson City, Lebanon and Houston. But she settled in St. Louis County and that has been her official residence for several years. Claire has helped build the network of committed Democratic, progressive and moderate women that is going to elect Margaret Donnelly as AG.

You could say that Claire McCaskill was St. Louis. She has a home there, and she lives there now. But Claire was also from Columbia. From Houston. And from Kansas City. Claire transcended being “from” any one place, which is helped her compete statewide.

Margaret Donnelly is only from St. Louis. The minute she opens her mouth and speaks, you can hear it. And unfortunately for her, that’s where all of her support is too. Even more unfortunate for her, both Koster and Harris are going to get sizable votes in the metro area. She simply cannot win.

The PD poll had it right, and Harris has ALL the momentum right now. Koster is canceling events. Donnelly is still barely dipping her toe in the water outside of I-270. Anyone who knows Democratic activists outside of St. Louis knows Harris has huge support. No one disrespects Donnelly (they mostly laugh at Koster), but they love Jeff Harris.

“I am voting for Koster. He has the most experience and he shows up for work.”

This is downright laughable. How exactly is ducking debates showing up for work? Koster’s going negative because he knows he’s going to lose.

Shecky wrote: “Anyone who knows Democratic activists outside of St. Louis knows Harris has huge support. No one disrespects Donnelly (they mostly laugh at Koster), but they love Jeff Harris.”

I AM a Democratic activist outside of St. Louis. I know and love Democratic activists from courthouse to courthouse. We have shared car rides and hotel rooms at conventions and even babysitting on the weekend before campaigns. And we love and are helping Margaret Donnelly and we are statewide.

You fling around terms like “sex baiting.” You focus on a candidate’s vocal inflections. Tell it to Hillary Clinton’s 16 million supporters, including dedicated women who are proud of her for breaking new ground. Or do you really want to alienate women voters with this nervous preoccupation with the superficial, such as Margaret’s voice, which is not at all unpleasant? You should hear that voice as she gently soothes a confused and frightened child while serving as guardian ad litem in a family case. It is a voice of comfort and reassurance and experience.

All right, I will address your preoccupation with superficiality and bring some much needed perspective.

It is a fact Margaret is a woman. It is a fact she was practicing law when Harris and Koster were on the school playground practicing their macho postures.

It’s a fact Margaret has the inflections of a metropolitan area that delivers the most Democratic primary votes, and why not - she has been working to protect families from a St. Louis base for decades. It is a fact that I sound more “country” than Margaret and I have been introducing her to other country folks and they don’t need a translator to understand that she stands strong on issues they care about.

It is a fact in political culture that a great candidate who happens to be female will tend to accrue support when the rest of the competitive field is male. All of your nervous defensive comments will not diminish this cultural tendency.

You say Democratic activists mostly laugh at Koster. I am not laughing. With all of that money, he is to be taken seriously, even if I do not think he is the best candidate and even if I personally question his newfound commitment to our party or to any party.

So Democratic activists are spreading the word that Margaret is the one to support on Tuesday. GO MARGARET GO!

Holly, yet again, you are trying to portray Koster and Harris as crazed “macho men” who shouldn’t be elected. No one from either the Harris or Koster camp have tried to bring the sex issue into this race. You are the one who has done that. And I could be wrong, but I think shecky brought up voice inflection to point out Donnelly’s St. Louis connections, not the fact she is a women. Calm down a little. No one is attacking Donnelly because she is a women. Instead, you seem to be attacking Harris and Koster because they are men.

Donnelly has a great background. She has done great work and I have a great deal of respect. However, she isn’t the best candidate the Democrats can field in this election. Jeff Harris is the best candidate. He has the broadest base of support. He has experience in a variety of legal fields. He not only has experience in the legislature, but he has experience leading in the legislature. He also has an extensive plan and vision for the office.

Oh, and the problem with St. Louis politicians getting elected statewide is a real political phenomena. I love St. Louis, I’m not trying to attack it, but its true. Claire doesn’t count. While she might currently live there, very few people around the state actually identify her as from St. Louis. Other than that, who has won recently? For some reason there is a stigma around St. Louis candidates. I don’t now what it is, but it is there. We can see it in this race. Where is Donnelly’s support? Predominately in St. Louis. Harris has support from all across the state, and according to the Post-Dispatch, he even has more in St. Louis than Donnelly.

Holly, I didn’t use the term “sex baiting,” someone else did. I don’t have any issue with any candidate’s gender. I proudly voted for Hillary in the primary because I felt she was the better candidate. I like Obama too, and I’m happy we have a candidate of his caliber as our nominee. All that said, I do think it’s just as wrong for someone to vote for a candidate because of their gender, whether it’s voting for a woman because she’s a woman or voting against a woman because she’s a woman. The motivations may be different, but either way it’s sexist. The best candidate gets my vote, and there’s nothing superficial about my support for Jeff Harris.

It’s nice that you’re involved with Margaret’s campaign, but it’s also obvious that you’re probably standing a little to close to have any real perspective here. Do you think it’s accidental that Margaret isn’t campaigning anywhere outstate on this tour but Columbia and Springfield? She’s not even going to Jefferson County. Meanwhile, Harris is going to places like Chillicothe and Moberly and Cape and Poplar Bluff. Cities and towns where the Democratic nominee will need to compete.

Harris could drive to these places blindfolded because he’s put in years working with Democrats in these areas, helping local candidates win elections, going to events, helping them raise money, etc. Donnelly would probably have a hard time finding Chillicothe even with a map. You see, Jeff Harris doesn’t need people to introduce him to Democrats in outstate. They already know him, and they know him well.

Also FYI, Donnelly’s experience isn’t nearly as deep as you apparently believe it is. She and Harris have roughly the same number of years in law. I believe she has only a couple more years practicing than he does. Plus, much of his experience trumps hers. He handled major cases in the Attorney General’s office, as well as the kind of complex litigation in private practice that is very much like what the A.G.’s office does on a regular bases. I honestly respect Margaret. I wish she were running for some other office so I could vote for her. Unfortunately, she’s running against Jeff Harris, a stronger candidate who is better prepared to lead the A.G.’s office and who has plain and simple out-worked her.

You can choose to dispute that if you want, but their final tours pretty well tell you all you need to know. Who wants it more? Who has the energy to lead the office? Who is going to work harder at the job? Harris is going to more than 20 places, while Donnelly is going to 4. Enough said.

Energy??? Have you met or talked to Margaret Donnelly? I have been working on her campaign for over a year, and have worked on her State Rep campaigns, too. She spends almost every waking minute travelling, attending events, and getting out, meeting the people she wants to help and protect as Missouri’s next Attorney General. To imply that she does not have the energy to do the job well, or that she’s somehow “lazy” about getting around Missouri, means that you just don’t know Donnelly.

Ask her how many nights a week, on average, in the last year, she has spent in St. Louis and you will see how much energy she is putting into this race.

And we’ll see it pay off when the results are in on Tuesday…