Treasurer runner-up Powell praises winner Zweifel
Arnold Mayor Mark Powell offered hearty congratulations today to Florissant State Rep. Clint Zweifel, who defeated him in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for treasurer. 
“I’d like to take this opportunity to encourage you to give your full support to Clint in his efforts to become the next state treasurer,” Powell wrote to supporters. “I will do whatever I can to help. He is a tremendous young man with unlimited potential.”
Powell also extended accolades to the other Democrats in the race, former Kansas City mayor Charlie Wheeler and Andria Simckes of Creve Coeur — “I will help them in any future political ventures they should undertake,” Powell said.
For his part, Powell — who was the Democratic nominee for treasurer in 2004 – has plenty reason to be proud.
On a shoestring budget, Powell garnered 92,850 votes, coming in second to Zweifel, who was buoyed by support from the Teamsters and other unions.
Powell did very well, perhaps inexplicably so, outstate, winning by wide margins in places like Dunklin and New Madrid County in the Bootheel.
Maybe being first on the ballot goes a long way?
It is explicable if you read a bit of recent political history.
Mark Powell traveled the state in a van for his 2004 race, campaigning county by county as he won the Democratic primary for State Treasurer. In the 2006 general election, he rolled up 1,213,769 votes, good for 46.4% but still falling short to Republican Sarah Steelman. This year Powell brought his good name and fine resume to the treasurer’s race a second time. He isn’t a household name, to be sure, but quite a few Democratic voters were impressed by him.
I beg your pardon, I meant to refer to the 2004 elections, not 2006. Mark Powell is a class act and he would make a fine deputy state treasurer for Zwiefel. The deputy is usually a person of rock solid business and accounting and investment credentials and Powell would be a fine choice if he’s willing.
Not to discount Mr. Powell’s popularity, but the cynic in me thinks the “inexplicable” margins in the hinterlands may be due,in part, to Mr. Zweifel’s “funny” last name and Ms. Simckes’ skin color. I hope I am worng.
I hope you are wrong, too, Jane, but shamefully I suspect there is truth in what you say. My point was, Powell isn’t a total unknown in rural Missouri because many of us met him and liked him in 2004. I supported Zwiefel, by the way, and I agree with the classy Mark Powell that Zwiefel has really great potential.
Mark Powell might have had a shot at winning 2004 if he eschewed his self-righteous campaign strategy of trekking across the state in his mini-van, raised some money, and worked with the coordinated and mounted a real attack. Then we wouldn’t have had to deal with Sarah Steelman over the last four years.
Also, I’m pretty sure there’s some truth in Jane’s observation, too.
Mark Powell worked hard all over this state to meet as many voters as possible. He did well outstate both elections because those voters had a chance to meet him and he was the only candidate in either primary that had any type of substantial finance background.
The comments about outstate voters not liking an African-American or a “person with a funny name” are ignorant. The problem for Powell is that voters in the Metropolitan area voted for the winner because he beat up on Blunt in his T.V. ads. The party activists liked this message (although it had nothing to do with being the Treasurer) and voted accordingly.
I wish Powell would have decided to raise enough money to run his own ads but I think he showed that you can be competitive with a truly grass-roots campaign. His loss is our loss.
I agree with Holly. Mark should be deputy treasurer. He and Clint would make an unbeatable team. They should run as a team. Lager could not beat two of them! I wonder if there have ever been two people run as a team for treasurer and deputy treasurer.
As an afterthought, somebody should contact Zweifel and give him the suggestion to run with Powell as a team against Lager. There is no way they could be beat. With Mark’s contacts in outstate, and Clints connections with labor and the insiders of the Democratic Party, they’d be one heck of a team.
Chris, you don’t run for deputy state treasurer. The folks who have held the office, at least prior to Sarah Steelman, were highly regarded professionals. One was a gentleman named Price Hatcher who worked for several treasurers of both parties. Another was Richard Hanson, who worked under several administrations, including Mel Carnahan’s time as state treasurer. Mr. Hanson was so well-regarded that Governor Carnahan put him in charge of the State Office of Administration, where he excelled as a guy with zero ego and personal ambition and a highly professional approach. When the secretary of state was impeached back in 1994-95, Governor Carnahan named Mr. Hanson as interim secretary of state, earning him a footnote forever in the Blue Book, until the appointment of Bekki Cook as permanent replacement. Thus was the type of professional who held the job. Mr. Powell would be of the same type of efficient businesslike top deputy in the treasurer’s office, in my view. However, they do not run as a ticket. More’s the pity.