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08.08.2008 12:51 pm

Surprise, surprise: Farm Bureau backs Hulshof

Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau
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The votes are counted and Republican Kenny Hulshof has won the endorsement for governor from the Missouri Farm Bureau’s regional political action committees. He got 96 percent of the vote.

Both Hulshof and Democrat Jay Nixon made speeches and took questions at Farm Bureau headquarters this morning. While Nixon’s reception was cordial, it was clear that Hulshof was among close friends.

“I’ve stood with you not just because of the policies but because I’m one of you,” said Hulshof, who grew up on a farm that he still manages in Bertrand, Mo.

Nixon noted that he got the Farm Bureau’s endorsement the first time he ran for state Senate — 22 years ago. But he was a realist, telling reporters afterward: “They’re going to support the Republican establishment, we all know that. But I have deep respect for the farm families of our state.”

The two men showed their differences on issues ranging from the nonpartisan court plan to health care to utility rates. More to come in tomorrow’s dead-tree edition.

12 comments

Comments are closed.

I’ll go out on a limb and say the SEIU will endorse Nixon.

Hulshof can borrow this line from Nixon when the do….”They’re going to support the Democrat establishment, we all know that. But I have deep respect for the workers in our state that being hoodwinked by their unions.

— Amazedbythelunacy
1:25 pm August 8th, 2008

Looney….If union members are being “hoodwinked,” they should have the brass to change it, run for union office, or get out…It’s called “one-man, one vote”. It’s democracy in it’s simpliest from…

The Farm Bureau basically consists of 240 families that live on Wall-Street. They run the show….
Union members make up 1.6 million Missourians. They live next door.

— Garrison
3:07 pm August 8th, 2008

I guess it will also be a big shock when the Post Dispatch endorses Nixon??

— terrib11
3:15 pm August 8th, 2008

“Union members make up 1.6 million Missourians.”…….Garrison

Damn Garrison, you are a pathalogical liar.

In 2007, the number of workers in Missouri belonging to a union was 275,000, little changed from the prior year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that union members accounted for 10.7 percent of wage and salary workers in Missouri in 2007, similar to the 10.9 percent posted in 2006. This year’s union membership rate was the lowest recorded in the 19 years of the data series. At its peak in 1989, the first year for which comparable state data were available, the State’s union membership rate was 15.5 percent. (See chart A.)

http://www.bls.gov/ro7/mounion.htm

— Amazedbythelunacy
3:46 pm August 8th, 2008

The Farm Bureau represents the interests of the Republican establishment, not the farmers that make up their membership. Perhaps the membership should express their dissatisfaction through a refusal to join.

— Woody
3:59 pm August 8th, 2008

Woody, replace Farm Bureau with Union, replace farmer with worker, and you have the exact same damn thing on the democrat side.

— Amazedbythelunacy
4:05 pm August 8th, 2008

Amazed,

I have never been hoodwinked by my union. I read and do my homework and I sure know which political party helps my cause. Its definitely not the Republicans as a whole. I work hard and I am very involved in the causes that I feel are important to me and to my community.I respect your views but they are your views and they are wrong.

— reddog
8:07 pm August 8th, 2008

The insurance industry always backs Republicans. There is no bigger insurance company in Missouri than Farm Bureau.

— MissouRick
8:40 pm August 8th, 2008

Garrison: Get out? What-of the union, or the workplace? Remember, Missouri doesn’t have right-to-work laws, so it’s perfectly OK for it to be mandatory to be in the union in order to work there (of course, this promotes the workers’ right to choose!).

— SMC
11:24 pm August 8th, 2008

I have wondered all my life why farmers will support the Republican party. Ever since the great depression when my Grandfather voted Socialist to keep from voting for Roosevelt. He knew he could not vote for Hoover again or he would probably lose his farm if he were elected. I had always thought it was the independence thing farmers are so proud to hold. But reguardless they do need help in tougher times and they have grown quite accustomed to having federal support and certainly accept it. If only they would look at who supports them mostly in the government they would find they usually vote against themselves. I guess if voters would look past the political rhetoric and actually do some serious work in looking to how our candidates vote and support the issues we find important they may change their thinking but since we have become a country of 10 second sound bites it is so much easier not to do a little research to actually find out something real about the candidates and not vote for who just says the things that make us feel good.

Woody

— Woody1291
9:09 am August 9th, 2008

3 dollars and a Farm Bureau endorsement is worth about 3 dollars. They have lost all of their influence and this just doesnt matter to anyone. Not many years ago people did care about what farm bureau thought but that day has come and gone. They have lost all creditability in the capitol from what people there tell me. And that is often republicans.

— Crazy
8:20 pm August 9th, 2008

Woody, you may be a challenge to Garrison for biggest liar. Unless your grandfather enjoyed sharing his voting record with you, I highly doubt you know a damn thing about which way he voted.

Reddog, tell me one way that the democrats have helped your cause in life as a union member.

— Amazedbythelunacy
9:28 am August 11th, 2008