the greatest thing russ has going for him is that he is not bill federer...

Just enough underinformed voters. The credit/blame could belong to Russ' superficial endorsements from Planned Parenthood, PROMO and the St. Louis American, all of whom belonged in Jeff's camp but weren't.

As I noted might happen in a pre-election comment, Russ didn't win a single county, but he won the district by finishing a consistent 2nd everywhere (3rd in StL County). The casual, uninformed voter that I described many times helped Russ get over 22% in every jurisdiction.

Jeff won StL City and County, but was in single digits south of the Meramec. His mirror image was Stoll, who won Jefferson and Ste Gen big time but was in single digits in City and County. Favazza outhustled the unions and ward healers who endorsed Barry in the City, probably costing Barry the victory. Russ actually won it in Jefferson County, where his 22.3% 2nd place finish vs. Jeff's 8.2% 4th gave Russ a 4473 vote margin over the opponent that mattered (Jeff).

I was mildly (and pleasantly) surprised by the strength of Jeff's vote. The biggest bust of the night was Stoll: only about 4% in StL city and county, in spite of endorsements from teachers, Missouri Right to Life (albeit not usually important in a Democratic primary) and the overrated 9th Ward organization.

The district will stay in Democratic hands thanks to Joyce Aboussie's 2001 redistricting plan.

Steve didn't understand the ward politics. He thought the 15th machine mattered too when the reality is that Greg is a political hack and lazy to boot. Spending time in the 9th, people handing out the ward ballots were pushing Barry--but really not doing that hard even.