Vote Counting

There is a lot of arm twisting going on in the Capitol this morning over the senate minority leader position. Sources say that current leader Senator Maida Coleman from St. Louis is confident of six solid votes (Coleman, Bray, Days, Callahan, Wilson, and Justus), one short of the seven needed to win. She has yet to get commitments from two senators representing parts of St. Louis City: Jeff Smith and Harry Kennedy. But assuming that her other commitments hold up and one of those two breaks her way, she'll be re-elected leader.

One argument her allies are making: the likely house minority leader, Jeff Harris, is from Columbia. If Harris and Graham claim both minority leader posts, will the University of Missouri-Columbia will get the spoils while UMSL and other institutions will be overlooked?

The Caucus meets at noon. Just the Senators. No press, no staff. The vote is not secret ballot. One Jeff City insider tells ACC to expect the meeting to last about an hour.