By Joe Hadsall

Globe columnist

Missouri’s lack of campaign contribution limits continues to generate conversation — this time at a recent gubernatorial debate.

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Columbia, and Attorney General Jay Nixon, D-Jefferson City, spoke about the recently passed law, which removed campaign limits and required that any donation greater than $5,000 must be reported electronically with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Interestingly enough, both suggested that reinstating the limits is a good idea.

Hulshof said he prefers a plan to reinstate the limits with greater reporting requirements. However, he also said that if he had been in Blunt’s chair when the bill was sent to the governor’s desk, he would have signed it. Huh?

Nixon said he favored the limits, and would push to reinstate them if elected. During the debate, he called out Hulshof for his apparent double-speak.

It’s interesting that both candidates would like to see the limits reinstated, despite the General Assembly’s insistence that the limits had to be repealed. Supreme Court judges, supporting legislators argued, found such limits in violation of the First Amendment.

But the statements show that both of them want to carry out the will of the public. We’ve mentioned in this column, many times, the 1996 vote in which about 70 percent of Missourians favored campaign limits.

Truth be told, both of them were double-speaking. Since the campaign law was passed on Aug. 28, both Hulshof and Nixon have raked in more than $5 million in donations of more than $5,000.

Granted, they both have to raise money in seeming defiance of their stances on campaign limits. A gubernatorial race is competitive, and we’d expect candidates to raise money in order to fund a competitive campaign.

Nixon leads the race: He has filed reports for $2,941,150 over 19 days. Hulshof, who started the very first day with donations of $1,324,556, has filed reports for $2,121,456 over 12 days. (Stay tuned to this column for a breakdown of where all that money is coming from.)

So far, Nixon has a 15-17 percent lead in major polls conducted among Missouri voters. Rasmussen Reports on Sept. 12 reported a 54 to 39 percent lead for Nixon; SurveyUSA on Sept. 25 reported 54 to 37 percent edge for Nixon.

But there’s still more than a month to go. Hang on.