Kinder: Last Man Standing

After
stepping out of today’s meeting of the Senate Republican caucus and
agreeing to an interview, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder immediately jotted off
election results from his successful re-election bid.

Kinder noted increased margins of victory in Greene County and
first-time plurality in Buchanan County. Although he didn’t mention it,
he actually performed pretty well in Boone County – losing to Democrat
Sam Page by only three percentage points.

He also mentioned that he got 20 percent of the vote in St. Louis
City – a predominantly African-American part of the state. Kinder said
he had spent time reaching out to the minority community, which he said
paid off on Tuesday. “My efforts to return the Republican Party to
being true to the party of Abraham Lincoln are being shown to be
successful,” he said.

Kinder’s decision not to run for governor this year could have
actually enhanced his position within the Republican Party. Not only
did he get re-elected, but his political apparatus likely contributed
to gains in the Missouri Senate and U.S. Rep.-elect Blaine
Luetkemeyer’s victory in the U.S. Ninth District congressional race.

As the only statewide official left who is a Republican, Kinder said
that he wants to party to go into a posture where no vote is conceded
in any part of the state. But whether he’ll seek to topple Gov.-elect
Jay Nixon in 2012 is not known, as Kinder said he hasn’t decided on his
future plans to run for governor.

Kinder also said that Nixon needed to meet the GOP-controlled
legislature halfway on issues - especially what could be a difficult
budget year.

“The elections are over. And the people expect us to work together.
And I… intend to do that,” Kinder said. “We’re in tough economic times…
a budgetary downturn that began I guess in June is continuing. It’s not
going to be easy to craft a state budget. But we’re all going to have
to work together and I’m pledging him my assistance in doing that.”

Filed under: Blaine Luetkemeyer , Missouri Senate , Peter Kinder

Posted by Jason Rosenbaum at 07:40 PM |

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