If Gov. Matt Blunt thought moderate-thinking residents of Missouri supported or were unmindful of his misguided Medicaid budget cuts and other reckless legislation he and the GOP-dominated House and Senate pushed through the Legislature, he was proven wrong in Kirkwood on Tuesday. Jane Bogetto, a former Kirkwood school board member, soundly defeated Moira Byrd in a special election for the open 94th District House seat.
Byrd was heavily favored because the district has traditionally leaned toward Republican candidates and because she is the widow of the late state Rep. Richard Byrd, who died suddenly last May.
Byrd stood steadfast with Blunt in her campaign, while Bogetto said she opposed Blunt’s callous budget cuts. Bogetto obviously won votes from moderate Republicans because she captured 58 percent of the vote and breezed to an upset victory in a race that was labeled too close to call.
Even though the election for governor doesn’t come until 2008, Bogetto’s win should send tremors through Missouri Republicans concerned that Blunt’s and President Bush’s low approval numbers may drag party candidates down in the 2006 election.
Bogetto’s big win will add momentum to Attorney General Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon’s anticipated bid to oust Blunt in 2006, as well as state Auditor Claire McCaskill’s campaign to unseat Republican Jim Talent in their probable U.S. Senate race next fall.
Republicans should worry that Bogetto’s victory was not the result of poor, minority or urban voters. Affluent whites were the key to her win. She also withstood desperate late campaign attacks on her morality and faith, common Republican wedge issues that have paid off in past elections.
Along with Democratic gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia, and the resounding defeat of all ill-conceived proposals brought to the ballot by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, there are strong signs that swing voters are not looking at polarizing issues, but are looking for more constructive leadership.
There is still much work to do to end Republican domination at both the state and federal levels. But Tuesday’s election results in Kirkwood, New Jersey, Virginia and California are a bad political omen for Republicans and could help force Republicans to review their stealth legislative agenda.
There is an egregious Republican budget bill being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives that U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay rightly tells us would slash $12 billion from Medicare in order to pay for huge new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.