We regret to inform our loyal readers that MPNblog.com's operations will be suspended indefinitely effective immediately.
Despite our growing overall readership, the underutilization of this website has continued to present a problem given the large amount of time this type of operation engulfs. Although our contributors receive no compensation for their efforts, the audience is simply insufficient to justify our continued operation at this time.
We are proud of our work in bringing increased economic analysis, campaign finance analysis and legislative voting record analysis to our readers and hope that these resources will continue to be of use to Missourians interested in learning more about their state and the candidates who seek to represent them.
Again, it is with profound regret that we announce the MPNblog.com website will not be updated in the foreseeable future. For updates on Missouri political news please visit one of the websites listed below:
Today Gov. Matt Blunt's press shop issued a release citing figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency. Those figures lend themselves to another issue of MPN's Fact Check series.
Claim: In a Labor Day press release, Blunt's press team writes "According to the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency there are 29,696 minority firms in Missouri, which have gross receipts of $4.2 billion and employ more than 39,000 employees." The quote is immediately followed by the usual tidbit of what Blunt has done since 2005, but there's at least one major problem...
Fact: The figures Blunt cites are from 2002, three years before Blunt even assumed office. Granted more recent estimates are not yet available, Blunt seems to use the numbers to bolster the case that his administration has not only been a resounding success but that his administration actually had something to do with improving minority business establishments in the state.
At best the Blunt press team made an inadvertent error in omitting the date for the data; but at worst it was a calculated, deliberate action intended to mislead the press and constituents. Our guess, sadly, is that latter is true.
Fact: Blunt's press release also omits the more telling statistic from the document it cites - that just 5 percent of all Missouri firms are minority-owned. That's despite the 26.1 percent of Missourians who fall into an ethnic minority status, according to the US Census Bureau. Consideration of business ownership along with demographics reveals Missouri's minorities still have a long way to go before real equality in business ownership is achieved.
MPNblog.com is proud to announce that readership in August reached its second highest level since operations began in January 2007.
Readership exceeded August levels only in July, the month preceding the state selection primary.
On a quarterly basis, the number of visitors to MPN in July and August reached such high levels, the numbers surpassed any previous quarter's totals with one month in the quarter still remaining.
Don't let anyone tell you money doesn't matter in politics, because it does. This year's Democratic Attorney General primary is perhaps one of the finest examples of the effect money can have on election outcomes even more so than policy papers and gender.
Take for instance the fact that Chris Koster raised $1 million more than his opponents. Or the fact that he spent $1 million more than his opponents. Koster proved that money sells a candidate and buys votes (not to mention a few endorsements).
MPN's analysis of campaign finance records from the Missouri Ethics Commission (8 day before election reports) and election results from the Secretary of State's website produce an interesting finding: Koster spent more money per vote received than any other statewide candidate on the ballot. That includes both Kenny Hulshof and Sarah Steelman in the hotly contested Republican gubernatorial primary.
Koster's $16.33 spent for every vote received was comparable only to Jay Nixon who faced no serious opposition but spent $14.12 mostly on general election items.
Koster's opponents didn't even come close to matching his expenditures. Margaret Donnelly reported spending $988,000 one week before the election and had $8.38 spent per voter when all was said and done (or almost done). Jeff Harris spent $749,000 total and $8.65 for every vote received.
The average outflow among statewide candidates was just $6.56 per voter, skewed downward by the Lt. Gov., Treasurer, and Secretary of State races.
So in the end the candidate who raised and spent the most money won this race, but barely. Donnelly came in a very close second and while the recount results are not yet official, we can expect the final results to remain the same.
The result isn't unexpected since we saw the same outcome in every other contested statewide race, regardless of political party.
What have we learned? It doesn't matter where your money comes from or even how you get it. All that matters is how much money you have.
If this remains true in the future, the next 60 some days will be very interesting under Missouri's new campaign finance system that holds no limits for candidates. None except for the sky.
Editor's Note: The analysis conducted for this story relied on unofficial election results from the Missouri Secretary of State's office. All campaign finance data was obtained from the Missouri Ethics Commission using reports filed 8 days before the primary election, the last complete report submitted with receipts and outflows prior to the election.
As Hurricane Gustav heads toward the Gulf Coast just 3 years after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt announced he is mobilizing 600 members of the state National Guard.
Blunt ordered 500 guardsmen to New Orleans earlier this week to assist in evacuation orders and to help secure the city.
“Missourians know firsthand the destructive forces of Mother Nature. As our neighbors to the South prepare for Hurricane Gustav, Missouri is doing its part to assist in those efforts to help the people of Louisiana,” Gov. Blunt said in a press release today. “Today I am announcing that we are sending an additional 120 Missouri National Guardsmen and women to Louisiana to support the response to Hurricane Gustav.”
Attorney General Jay Nixon added $241,000 to his campaign warchest Friday, according to a report made available today on the Missouri Ethics Commission's website.
The donations came from 11 donors and averaged $21,900.
The largest donor was from St. Louis-based Gray, Ritter & Graham, which donated $100,000 to Nixon on Friday. The firm is now also Nixon's largest donor since campaign contribution caps were removed last Thursday.
This new report from Nixon brings the total raised among statewide candidates since last Thursday to $2.09 million from just 68 individual donations.
Nixon's total raised from donations larger than $5,000 still remains much lower than his general election opponent Kenny Hulshof. While Nixon has now raised a total of $362,250, Hulshof has raised $1.16 million.
The new list of donors since last Thursday for all statewide candidates is available here.
US Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have raised relatively little cash from the Show-Me-State for their presidential campaigns so far, according to a geospatial analysis conducted by CNN of fundraising data from the Federal Election Commission.
Even when considering all candidates that ran in the primaries for both parties, the grand total is still relatively low.
Consider this, of the $1.7 billion donated to presidential candidates in the past two years through July 28th, just six-tenths of one percentage point came from Missouri donors - $6.5 million.
Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, raised $1.98 million to date in Missouri. More than half of Obama's in-state funds came from St. Louis County, but he also pulled in donations from 56 of Missouri's counties.
John McCain, the soon-to-be official Republican presidential nominee, raised a total of $1.36 million in Missouri so far, $618,000 less than Obama. McCain's contributions are concentrated in St. Louis County as well, which accounts for 54 percent of his total Missouri fundraising. Geographically, McCain's contributions come from 62 Missouri counties.
Joe Biden, who is now Obama's vice presidential pick, raised just $38,258 before he bowed out of the primary earlier this year.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof is attacking Jay Nixon with a new television ad that began airing in several Missouri markets, including St. Louis, this weekend.
We're not sure how this ad really strays from the 'dirty politics' Hulshof's campaign claims to be avoiding, but you be the judge.
Statewide candidates for political office were able raise $1.85 million in 48 hours after Missouri's old campaign finance laws were been replaced by a system that allows unlimited contributions last Thursday.
Because of Hulshof's reliance on the unlimited contributions, the new law seems to already be disproportionately benefiting Republicans who brought in 88 percent of the contributions greater than $5,000 in the first 48 hours of the new law taking effect.
Only two Democrats reported any such contributions, Jay Nixon and Sam Page. Meanwhile, four statewide Republicans were able to attract the large donations including Kenny Hulshof, Peter Kinder, Mike Gibbons, Brad Lager.
The full list of contributions and their recipients compiled by MPN is available here.
Gov. Matt Blunt donated $10,000 to Republican Mike Gibbons' Attorney General campaign Friday, according to a new report filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Altogether, Gibbons raised $47,500 in the 48 hour period after Missouri's campaign contribution limits expired, courtesy of a law Gibbons supported and that Blunt signed earlier this year. His likely Democratic opponent Chris Koster did not report receiving any donations greater than $5,000 during the time period.
Political committees are now required to report all contributions received greater than $5,000 to the Missouri Ethics Commission within 48 hours of their receipt. The downside - there's now a lot more paperwork to sift through for race watchers and Jefferson City bureaucrats.
The majority of Missourians think the country is in a recession according to a new survey released by Survey USA earlier this week.
Fifty-nine percent of Missourians surveyed insist we are in a recession including 68 percent of Democrats, 44 percent of Republicans and 58 percent of all independents.
Twenty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that the state is not yet in a recession, but is heading for one while just 7 percent of the respondents indicated the economy is currently thriving.
An actual recession can only be officially declared by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which usually makes the declaration two to three years after it actually occurs due to the lag in obtaining comprehensive, reliable data.
Survey USA polled 600 Missourians between Aug. 15th and 17th. The poll was commissioned by KCTV5 in Kansas City.
Missouri lame duck Gov. Matt Blunt was silent on Thursday's repeal of changes to the state's campaign finance laws.
The changes effectively removed caps on contributions enabling donors to contribute unlimited amounts of money to candidates they support.
Blunt, who is not seeking re-election, was silent despite issuing a broad ranging press release mentioning other legislation that took effect last Thursday.
Rep. Sam Page's campaign for Lt. Gov. is circulating a memo from a consulting firm that suggests Page's chances of winning this fall's election are good.
The memo, from Illinois-based Fako & Associates, suggests Page's opponent Peter Kinder is weak and will be defeated for several reasons including low name recognition, Gov. Matt Blunt's low approval rating and the Democratic ticket's strength this year.
"Half (51%) of all voters do not recognize Peter Kinder, despite holding a statewide office and his long tenure in Missouri politics," the memo says.
Senator John McCain's presidential campaign is in seeming disarray leading up to Sunday's rally in O'Fallon.
Numerous reports of widespread confusion and disorganization by McCain's Missouri staff in Maryland Heights and St. Louis have been sent to MPNblog.com, many of which centered on difficulty even obtaining reserved tickets to McCain's Sunday event.
On top of the difficulties obtaining tickets, a Virginia-based consulting firm has been calling Republicans in Missouri four or more times this weekend to ask people to come to the event, MPNblog.com has learned.
McCain is scheduled to appear at Hughes Ballpark Sunday with former opponents Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. McCain lost the primary in St. Charles County to Romney by more than 1,000 votes. Huckabee came in third.
McCain will also present his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, to St. Louis voters.
The new law removing Missouri's capped campaign finance system took effect earlier this week, but already the cash is rolling in for some political candidates.
Candidates are now required to report contributions larger than $5,000 within 48 hours of their receipt.
The biggest surprise (or not) is the small fortune accumulated by Congressman Kenny Hulshof's gubernatorial campaign. In just two days Hulshof raised $1.16 million from 22 donors.
The largest donation came from the Republican Governors Association which gave $600,000 to the campaign. Two $100,000 contributions also came from Republicans Howard Ward (Chairman of Cequel III, LLC) and Jerry Hall (Jack Henry & Assoc Executive).
Hulshof's opponent Jay Nixon has not yet reported any contributions over $5,000 since the new law took effect Thursday.
In the Treasurer's race, Brad Lager accepted $7,500 from Nodaway Valley Bank.
No other reports have yet been filed by statewide candidates with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
