Republican Blunt wins open Mo. Senate seat
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Roy Blunt was a 23-year-old high school history teacher when an appointment from Missouri Gov. Kit Bond gave him a start in politics. Nearly four decades later, Blunt will be succeeding the retiring Bond in the U.S. Senate.
In a swing state accustomed to close elections, Blunt’s margin of victory Tuesday over Democrat Robin Carnahan was large. He got more than 54 percent of the vote — winning everywhere except the Democratic strongholds of St. Louis city, St. Louis County and Kansas City — compared with less than 41 percent for Carnahan.
A congressman from southwest Missouri, Blunt won a promotion to the Senate by stressing the economy and his opposition to many of President Barack Obama’s policies, including the health care overhaul, stimulus funding and climate change legislation. He spoke against the growth of the federal government and traveled to more than 900 campaign events around the state — many in a big blue RV plastered with the message: “The choice is clear. Roy will fight for jobs.”
It was a message that resonated with voters.
“Government has assumed more responsibility than was ever intended,” said Rich Germinder, 27, of Columbia, a state government legislative aide who voted for Blunt. “We entrust our leaders not to expand government.”
Blunt, 60, of Springfield, was appointed Greene County clerk in 1973 and served there a dozen years before winning two terms as Missouri secretary of state. After losing a bitter Republican primary for governor in 1992, Blunt became president of Southwest Baptist University.
He made a political comeback by winning election to Congress in 1996 and quickly rose through Republican leadership ranks to become the House whip. He temporarily served as House majority leader after Tom Delay stepped down in 2006, but Blunt ultimately lost the majority leader’s election to Rep. John Boehner of Ohio.
Carnahan, Missouri’s secretary of state, portrayed Blunt as “the very worst of Washington” because of his connections to lobbyists, corporate interests and former GOP leaders who got caught up in scandals.
But Blunt emphasized his humble roots, noting he was born into a home with no running water that was heated by a stove in the center of the floor. He was the first in his family to graduate from college and the first to win political office — though his father later became a state lawmaker and his son, Matt, served as Missouri governor from 2005 to 2009.
“People want to hold on to who we have been,” Blunt said in a victory speech Tuesday night. “My mom and dad were dairy farmers. They taught me that we live in a country where with hard work and education anything is possible. But they never suggested that anything was guaranteed.
“We need to create opportunity,” added Blunt, who has suggested Obama’s policies are doing just the opposite.
Exit poll data suggests Blunt gained support from rural voters, independents and people worried about an intrusive federal government. Nearly six in 10 Missouri voters participating in the exit poll said they disapproved of Obama’s job performance. And nearly eight out of every nine of those voters preferred Blunt.
When Obama appeared with Carnahan at a Kansas City fundraiser, Blunt quickly turned it into an effective TV ad against Carnahan. He contended she would have been a “rubber stamp” for Obama’s policies.
Carnahan also attributed her loss partly to Obama, as well as an influx of ads by outside interest groups that targeted her at a higher rate than Blunt.
“I think in the end it was a difficult year when you have this much unemployment and a president whose popularity in this state is not very high, and running in that president’s party,” Carnahan said at her election night gathering in St. Louis.
