This has got to be a parody. Nobody is that stoopid. Only an idiot would wade into a crowd of anarchists in the middle of a live broadcast. I swear I saw this in a fake newscast within a cheesy television show, you know, like The A-Team. I pity the fool. via Glenn Greenwald

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Chris Benjamin (left, he's in there) working the crowd at another Democratic candidate's event in Johnson County last night. I've covered this open seat race in the 31st Senate District a lot, and I'll continue to do so. The seat was previously held by Chris Koster (D). The republicans would dearly like to take it back and have tapped David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting) to...

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Since I didn't mention enough of these races, I figure now might be a time to make up for possible oversights. In the general theme of the post, it's easy to overlook these districts due to the Republican primary turnout tilt from St. Charles and St. Louis. But the reasons for curiousity. 9 open Republican seats (7 St. Louis and 2 St. Charles), 3 open Democratic seats. 7 Republican seats in STL...

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Joe Biden and Barack Obama at the "photo-op", Harkin Steak Fry, Indianola Iowa, September 16, 2007. Almost a year ago I scored my first press credential to cover the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa for Show Me Progress. Looking back through those stories and photos recently I was reminded of a brief encounter between Barack Obama and Joe Biden as their photo-ops overlapped: Road Trip! -...

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I'm off to the convention this afternoon. Sort of. I mean, I won't actually be attending the convention itself. Fired Up got the credentials for a state blog from Missouri (only one blog per state got them). It's OK with me, though, that I won't be on the convention floor. If I were, I could listen to the same speeches you can hear on TV. What I'll do instead is have breakfast each day with the...

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So by now you've head the news... Barack Obama has picked Joe Biden to join the ticket as the vice-presidential nominee. It's a good pick, especially considering some of the alternatives that have been floated. I can see some negatives against him, like his initial support for the war in Iraq and his sponsorship of the awful Bankruptcy Bill of 2005. But he is a senator from Delaware, the credit...

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Okay, not so briefly noted. Use this as an open thread. Meanwhile, the usual suspects are about their business in the State of Missouri. We have a state Supreme Court vacancy. The Appellate Judicial Commission has submitted three names. The probability is high that the governor doesn't like any of them because they're, you know, actual judges with judicial temperament and not right wingnut...

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Last night in our nightly news roundup at my home blog, we mentioned the new line of Gay Marriage cards that Hallmark has introduced, and said "Look for the wingnut freakazoids to call for a boycott of Hallmark any minute."   Well, we should have started a pool and offered a prize to the person who got closest, because it started this morning.   Donald Wildmon's American Family...

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Did you know that even if proof surfaces that a condemned inmate is innocent, the Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that he doesn't necessarily deserve a new trial? Seriously. I didn't make that up. And did you know that as of 2003, 115 countries had abolished the death penalty, leaving, among the major countries, China, Iran, and ... us, still putting people to death. Missouri, according to Sister...

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"Ils sont partis! (And they're off!)" Those are the words that the Cajun announcers of my youth would cry out at the race track as the horses left the gate. Now it's the voice that rang out in my head when I read this first general election matchup poll between Judy Baker (D-Columbia) and Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) for Missouri's Ninth Congressional District. Archpundit can vouch for...

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In the midst of the confusion as to exactly how many houses John McCain owns, Barack Obama nails him again with a new ad titled, "Out of Touch." And the DNC can't seem to find a single person who is unsure  how many homes they own:

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While we wait for the announcement, use this open thread to mull over the VP selection prognosticators and tea leaves.

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We've previously covered the extravagant (and minutely targeted) mail plan of those "independent" republican friends on behalf of David Pearce (r - advocate of automotive deer hunting): David Pearce (r) in the 31st Senate District - the republican money floods in Well, we've got more of that mail, most of it paid for by the republican "Majority Fund" and some of it paid for by Pearce's...

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I heard a rather surprising statement tonight about the primary in the 121st. (If it was about Johnson County, then I misheard it). But in the 121st, with David Pearce on the ballot. The Republican Primary did not have more votes than the Democratic primary. The totals were 1746 for the three Democrats (Jim Jackson, Arton and Alvarado) and 1723 for the two Republicans (Hoskins and...

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Oh, wait a minute. The republican nominee doesn't appear to have to worry about any mortgages. You wouldn't know that if you hung out with our useless and lazy old national media. Like at a cookout in Sedona, Arizona. It seems that McSame can't remember how many homes he owns. The Obama campaign has already fired up an ad: Welcome to the big leagues. And some thought that in this election...

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Andria Simckes would make a fine State Treasurer. So would Clint Zweifel. But it seems to be Zweifel snagging the endorsements. One would expect all the union endorsements, since he's a union man. But he's also been getting the media  the KC Star, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the Columbia Tribune. Now, with just three days left till the voting starts, Zweifel has picked up the...

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A Political Fix posting about Byron DeLear's new TV ad reminded me that Post-Dispatch writers and Show Me Progress writers live in parallel, but alternate, realities. Jake Wagman seemed bemused at Byron's tilting at windmills. One of [the five Democratic nominees foolish enough to challenge Akin] - Byron DeLear - even has a commercial out. (Who? Yes, I had to look him up, too.) Wagman is...

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Sarah jo has an excellent diary, "A Hug from Barack", about her encounter with Barack Obama at the bbq in Union, MO on Wednesday. I read it right after reading this letter that a Democratic friend of mine had received online and forwarded to me: Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an...

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There are a number of campaign radio ads running in the 121st Legislative District market. One such set of ads promoting the generic republican game plan and the anointed republican candidate recently aired, paid for by the "Missouri Club for Growth Committee". The Missouri Ethics Commission has the latest filings for the "Missouri Club for Growth Committee": Detailed Summary of Expenditures...

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As you may know, Barack Obama visited four towns in outstate Missouri yesterday.  I was one of about 25 volunteers at the Union bar-b-que assigned "credentials" (a name tag with "volunteer" on it.)  The Obama campaign staffers are all VERY polite and highly organized.  The young woman organizing the pavilion and agenda for our event recognized my superior talents right away and...

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