Archbishop Burke and Claire McCaskill equal deserve credit for last night's result in Missouri. Burke and his fellow travelers (which the Pope refers to as "sects" and fundamentalist Jews for that matter) made the difference in statewide Missouri races. That's to be expected and as this election is analyzed those of us who honor our family traditions but don't believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale are going to find ourselves consistently up against these Bible and Torah bangers. Missouri has a lot going for it-location, water and even climate but compare it to California with its diverse population, open minded electorate which voted for Kerry and Schwarzenegger and now will become the world leader in stem cell research while our world class scientists at Washington University will migrate to greener pastures. We ought to change our motto to the "Douchebag State"

As for Claire there is a saying in German "Jedem der Seine"- "You get what you deserve". The final nail in her coffin were the obnoxious but expected anti-Joe Sheppard mailings and TV ads regarding his nursing homes. The money and time that was wasted beating up on Bob Holden in the primary could have been used by the party to beat Blunt-with Holden as the candidate-yea he might have lost also but, maybe just, maybe we would not have been slaughtered statewide. At least Robin Carnahan put a stake in Hanaway's heart or we would have her to deal with for the next decade. As such we've got mini Blunt to deal with and a new Missouri house speaker so far to the right that he lead the charge to remove Judge Rick Teitelman a charge that lost but won in several out state counties where they could have filed "Deliverance."

When Bob Holden lost the primary Democratic Party May Scheve was replaced by Roger Wilson. Now its time for him to take his leave.

No I'm not saying that Holden/Sheve would ahve won- they may have done better and they may have done worse-but Bob Holden was a decent moral loyal hard working guy. The progressive Democrats wasted $12million in a primary that got us nowhere-some of that money may have helped in the general and may have gotten Beki over the top. Party loyalty is important and I find it very interesting that after 12 years of Carnahan/Holden support of women including the appointment of many to the bench (a lasting legacy) many of them are the first to abandon him for their personal gain. Had Claire run against Bond she would have given him a run for his money and made it easier for the rest of the ticket.

We need Claire here in Missouri, not in Washington. Can you name any other Democrat that would have a better shot at standing up to and maybe even working with the extremists in the General Assembly? Too bad Emanuel Cleaver chose to run for the House instead of challenging Bond - but they're friends, so that was no surprise.

Now is not the time to abandon Claire or Roger Wilson. That's one problem with Dems, when we lose we cast our people aside and find someone else. The Republicans rally around them and try again, more aggressively. It's important to note that Claire had more votes than the Dems in 1996 and 2000. She had 150,000 more votes than Holden did in his last campaign. That's not a failure, it's an improvement. Sadly it still wasn't enough to win.

Who can we look to now, besides Claire, Roger, and especially Robin. Over here in KC, Kay Barnes and Terry Riley look promising for higher office. Hopefully Jamie Metzl and Jason Klumb run again. What about in St. Louis and other parts of the state? Who are the up and coming people that we should be suppporting?

Test Test

Perhaps you forgot Jay Nixon who needs a promotion.

Robin is also a good candidate.

I contrast nancy farmer who fell on her swrod for the party-to Claire who did what she could to advance herself. I don't care much either way about Roger Wilson.

We have a party system. I know this will shock you but I virtually never vote for the best candidate. I vote for the party (that's why I voted for Claire). Individuals have little chance of makign a difference that's why we have parties.

Thirty years aog my first wife vote for Kit Bodn over Ed Dowd I because he seemed like a nice young man and would be a good governor. He was probably both and might well have been a better candidate and a better governor-but look what happened-we are stuck with him.

We would have been better off if Holden had lost and we had no primary fight. At least Claire would have been our leading candidate for the future. Now she is toast.