Talent stacks crowds in campaign kickoff

Published Friday, June 2, 2006

SPRINGFIELD (AP) - Republican Jim Talent began the defense of his Senate seat today by casting himself as an agent of change who has made life tougher for illegal meth makers and better for struggling farmers and seniors.

Talent’s two-day, eight-city campaign kickoff was intended to highlight his accomplishments during a tenure that Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill contends has resulted in little real change except for an enhanced sense of public frustration with Washington.

With national polls showing sagging support for President Geeorge W. Bush and the war in Iraq, Talent emphasized his work on domestic issues. At each city, Talent’s campaign arranged for local residents to give testimonials about various initiatives he backed.

Missouri law officers who lead the nation in annual methamphetamine busts touted a Talent-supported measure that makes it more difficult for meth makers to buy the over-the-counter allergy medicines that they convert into the illegal drug.

Farmers who grow the corn and soybeans for ethanol and biodiesel were lined up to praise Talent’s support for increased production of the alternative fuels. Other residents were to tout such things as local water quality efforts, the new Medicare prescription drug plan and increased funding to treat the sickle cell genetic disease.

"I want to continue fighting to change Washington values, and that’s why I’m asking you to send me again to the United States Senate," Talent said in remarks prepared for his first event, in the conservative stronghold Springfield. "I believe my record shows I’ve been able to work with Republicans and Democrats to get things done for Missouri."

Although Talent has sponsored bills with Democrats from other states, his Democratic opponents in Missouri questioned his effectiveness.

"Washington hasn’t changed. In fact, in the 14 years Jim Talent has been there, it’s gotten worse, not better. On the other hand, Washington has changed Jim Talent," McCaskill campaign spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said.

After Springfield, Talent was taking his re-election tour to Joplin, Kansas City and Columbia today. He planned to visit St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, St. Joseph and Hannibal tomorrow.

Talent’s campaign already had amassed nearly $5.7 million at the end of March - almost three times the $2 million reported by McCaskill, who declared her candidacy nine months ago. But public opinion polls have shown an even matchup, and the Missouri election figures to play a pivotal role in Democratic efforts to win back the Senate from Republicans.

Despite their efforts to draw contrasts, Talent, 49, and McCaskill, 52, share several similarities. Both lawyers, they live only a few miles apart in well-to-do St. Louis suburbs. Both have spent most of their adult lives in elected office, each beginning in the Missouri House in the 1980s. And both first expressed a preference to become governor, losing close races for Missouri’s chief executive before setting their sights on the Senate two years later.

Talent was an incumbent U.S. House member when he lost the 2000 gubernatorial election to Democrat Bob Holden, then briefly taught college political science classes in St. Louis and lobbied for business interests in Washington. He defeated Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan in a 2002 special election to fill the final four years of the term to which she was appointed.

McCaskill, the current state auditor, knocked off Holden in the 2004 Democratic gubernatorial primary - marking the first time a Missouri governor was unseated by his own party. But she lost the general election to Republican Matt Blunt, then decided to forgo a third campaign for auditor this year under heavy party recruitment to take on Talent.

Talent benefits from Missouri’s conservative bent, has shown the ability to win rural votes although he’s a suburbanite and "hasn’t done some of things that would alienate voters," said political science professor Dave Robertson, of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

But McCaskill could benefit if voters are concerned about national issues such as the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices and believe generally that the country is moving in the wrong direction, he said.

Still Missouri’s junior senator to Republican Kit Bond, Talent also might be more at the mercy of national trends, Robertson said.

"The proof of that is when McCaskill declared in the first place," Robertson said. "He shouldn’t have - all things being equal - so experienced of a challenger running against him."