With one of the most widely anticipated presidential races in U.S. history at the top of the ballot and a hotly-contested governor’s race just below it, it’s safe to say that the race for Missouri treasurer isn’t a top-of-mind concern for many voters.

In any general election, the hardest job for candidates in so-called “down ticket” races is to gain attention for themselves. They find it hard to get news coverage, and their TV spots get buried under the avalanche of ads for higher profile candidates and issues.

In addition to governor, Missouri elects five other statewide office holders. With the exception of lieutenant governor, a “God forbid” office for government continuity with few other official responsibilities, statewide office holders perform important government functions.

Unofficially, the offices also serve as the “bench” for their respective parties. Since World War II, every Missouri governor first served in one of the other five state offices.
The state auditor is elected in off-year elections; the four others are chosen in presidential election years. Here are our recommendations in those four races:

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:

Republican Peter Kinder, 54, of Cape Girardeau, is seeking a second term against Democratic state Rep. Sam Page, 43, of Creve Coeur.

Mr. Kinder styles himself as a “different kind of Republican,” one who breaks with his party’s social conservatives to support for embryonic stem cell research and with his party’s rural power base to support urban development projects in St. Louis and Kansas City. As a state senator in 2003 and 2004, he supported state funding for a new ballpark for the St. Louis Cardinals. He helped push through a bill that would grant state tax credits to a massive project planned for north St. Louis. And the job of lieutenant governor makes him an advocate for senior citizens, and he works informally as a liaison between state government and business interests.

But in most other ways, Mr. Kinder, a lawyer, is a highly partisan, low-tax, pro-business, rock-ribbed conservative.

Dr. Sam Page (an anesthesiologist who has pledged to give up his medical practice if elected) says he would be more active than Mr. Kinder as the state’s advocate for senior citizens, particularly in health insurance coverage. He criticizes Mr. Kinder’s support for Gov. Matt Blunt’s cuts in Medicaid services. He says he will use the office to lobby for improved health care services and on behalf of life science research.

“If Missouri gets the label as anti-science, why would anyone want to work here?” he asks.
Because health care will be a crucial issue for Missouri in the coming years, we recommend Sam Page for lieutenant governor. He knows the issue and will use his office to advocate for the interests of the state’s uninsured and underserved residents.

ATTORNEY GENERAL:

With Democrat Jay Nixon, who has held this office since 1993, looking to move up to the governor’s office, Republican Mike Gibbons, 49, a state senator from Kirkwood, is trying to recapture for it for the GOP.

Ironically, his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Chris Koster, 44, of Raymore, worked for the last Republican attorney general, Bill Webster. That was in Mr. Koster’s days as a Republican, a party affiliation that ended only 15 months ago.

Mr. Koster’s switch was a calculated political decision, based on his belief that his support for embryonic stem cell research would doom his prospects in the GOP. In most other ways, however, his record in the state Senate was identical to Mr. Gibbons’: strongly conservative and pro-business.

Mr. Koster has since disavowed his vote to go along with Mr. Blunt’s Medicaid cuts in 2005. But he still enjoys heavy financial and political support from conservative business interests.

Mr. Gibbons has countered that with $230,000 in political contributions from Mr. Koster’s ex-wife and her father. As intriguing a political tidbit as that may be, the key issue for voters is who is better qualified to be the managing partner of a large law firm, which really is what the attorney general’s office is.

“The historic role of the attorney general’s office is to step up for regular folks when corporations overreach,” Mr. Koster told us.

He has a wider and deeper experience in the law than Mr. Gibbons, having worked in the AG’s office and having served as Cass County prosecutor. Until recently, when he joined a large firm, Mr. Gibbons worked in a small Kirkwood law practice with his father. He acknowledges that he rarely saw the inside of a courtroom.

Chris Koster’s experience gives him the edge for our recommendation, but he will have to prove his bona fides as a protector of “regular folks.”

SECRETARY OF STATE:

Incumbent Democrat Robin Carnahan, 47, of St. Louis is seeking a second-term. Having done a spectacular job in implementing the Help America Vote Act, overseeing the updating of voter rolls, implementing new technology in both the corporate services and elections divisions of her office and cracking down on securities violations, she would be a tough opponent for even a well-funded and deeply-engaged candidate to beat.

There’s also the fact that she is the daughter of a former governor, the late Mel Carnahan, and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, and she is the sister of U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan. That’s a lot of legacy on her side.

All of that may explain why state Republicans didn’t field a high-profile candidate against her. Mitchell Hubbard, a restaurant manager from Fulton, won the GOP nomination in August almost by default and hasn’t been campaigning actively since.

Robin Carnahan is an easy choice, but also a richly deserving one.

STATE TREASURER:

Take two bright, energetic, likeable young state legislators. Make one a labor activist and an urban liberal. Make the other a conservative small business executive from rural Missouri. Toss them into the race for state treasurer and see what happens.

Democratic state Rep. Clint Zweifel, 34, of Florissant, and Republican state Sen. Brad Lager, 33, of Maryville, are almost mirror images of each other.

Mr. Zweifel, a former staff member for Teamsters Local 688, has an ambitious (and perhaps unrealistic) view of the treasurer’s office.  He wants to be a financial advocate for the state’s citizens and plunge deeply into legislative advocacy.

Mr. Lager, an executive for a wireless telephone company, wants merely to pay the bills on time and “make sure money is invested safely.” He wants to do whatever he can to make Missouri a good place for entrepreneurs to build their businesses.

The treasurer really is the state’s banker, moving money around and investing it — by law — in safe instruments backed by Treasury bills. That leaves treasurers with a lot of time on their hands; the last six treasurers have found time to run for higher office.

Either Mr. Lager or Mr. Zweifel would do a competent job with the day to day business of the state. The question is how they spend their spare time. Mr. Zweifel, for example, has been a vigorous proponent of aid for higher education, and he strongly opposed Gov. Matt Blunt’s cynical raid on the assets of the now-troubled Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.

On balance, we like Clint Zweifel for treasurer. Missouri’s citizens can use all the financial advocates they can get.