The St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Talent Out Of Touch With Missourians

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Talent Out Of Touch With Missourians

August 31, 2005

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Jo Mannies

HOUSTON, Mo. -- Standing in front of her family's old feed mill in rural Missouri, State Auditor Claire McCaskill declared today that she is running for the U.S. Senate to bring "common sense and some kind of sanity to Washington, D.C."

McCaskill, a Democrat, contended that the incumbent Republican, Jim Talent, has a long history of being too closely tied to lobbyists, oil companies and other insiders and too distant from average Missourians like those who live in her hometown of rural Houston.

"Washington has lost it .... They've lost good, old-fashioned Missouri common sense," McCaskill said. She said that is the only way she could explain why Talent and the Republicans who control the government have ignored skyrocketing oil prices, the loss of health care coverage, disappearing jobs and the need for an exit plan from the war in Iraq.

McCaskill, who has been state auditor since 1999, was joined by her husband and children and a few other relatives for her announcement. Her campaign said she had intentionally made it a low-key event, without politicians and crowds of supporters.

The state Republican party already has attacked McCaskill as a politician who lacks Washington experience and is running simply because she narrowly lost her bid for governor last fall to Republican Matt Blunt.

Responded McCaskill: "I think it is a very good thing that I don't have experience in Washington.... I will come with independence and a fresh perspective."

She said Talent had failed to use his experience of more than a decade in Congress to aid Missouri. She contended that he has stood silently by while tens of thousands of Missourians face Medicaid cuts imposed by state Republicans. But she noted that the result is sending hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching funds "back to Washington to be used in other states."

She also said Talent had done little to block the base-closing commission?s decision last week to move 3,000 military-related jobs out of the state, most of them from the St. Louis area.

McCaskill said she would be more aggressive. " I think we've had all the Washington experience we can handle," she said.

No other Democrats are expected to run, but if anyone else enters the race, a primary would be held in August 2006. No Republicans are expected to challenge Talent.

A spokesman for Talent said the senator was focused on his official duties but declined to comment further.

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