The Common Touch

Under the headline "Signs point to 'yes' for McCaskill," Steve Kraske of the Kansas City Star predicts in his Sunday column that McCaskill has committed to running against Sen. Jim Talent in 2006. Writes Kraske, "In one of the country’s best political laboratories, Democrats would find out whether they have managed to forge a new direction following the 2004 presidential election, when they were crushed outside Missouri’s two big cities."

In 2004, McCaskill touted herself as a the Democratic candidate for governor who could appeal to voters in rural areas, but received a paltry 40.6% of the vote in non-urban Missouri. In rural counties in every region of Missouri, McCaskill was crushed: Barton (19.7%), McDonald (25.2%), Clark (31.3%), Putnam (26.2%), Holt (32.9%), Douglas (28.8%), Howell (34.0%), Moniteau (32.7%), Perry (34.8%). In fact, McCaskill's rural vote in 2004 was lower than Gov. Holden's percentage of the rural vote in 2000 (44.9%). Why Democrats think McCaskill will perform any better in rural Missouri in 2006 is beyond this blogger.

Aside from her record of support for higher taxes and increased gun control, and her opposition to banning gay marriage and partial-birth abortion, one factor that might have something to do with McCaskill's manifest unpopularity in rural Missouri is her image as a wealthy urbanite. Kraske mentioned in his Sunday column (much to McCaskill's chagrin, no doubt) that the state auditor recently took a summer vacation in Europe. Ah, Europe -- now that's what I call the common touch. Mercifully, Kraske did not mention the multi-million dollar home that McCaskill recently built in Kirkwood with her husband, Joe Shepard. Maybe the state auditor will bring her hero, Howard Dean, along with her to Cape Girardeau next year...

Despite her supposed connection with rural Missourians, in a radio interview with Steve Kraske following the election last November McCaskill betrayed her resentment towards the three-fifths of non-urban voters who lacked the good sense to vote for her. According to McCaskill, "There are bumper stickers that are out in out-state Missouri that say, 'Democrat or God, you choose.'" Your correspondent spent a lot of time on the road in rural Missouri in 2004, and he never once noticed any such bumper sticker. The fact that McCaskill expects to win votes from people whom she apparently regards as fanatics who believe members of the Democratic Party deserve eternal damnation is a testimony to the state auditor's own arrogance, and should give pause to Democrats who would put McCaskill at the head of the ticket in 2006.