October 03, 2008 11:24 pm
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By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — Gubernatorial candidate Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon staked out plans for education and the economy Friday night while criticizing Republican policies at a rally in a traditionally Republican stronghold.
Nixon, the state’s longtime Democratic attorney general, called for programs that would allow more Missourians to go to a college or university tuition-free and for measures to revive the state’s auto industry before a crowd of more than 75 supporters in Neosho.
He also drew a contrast to his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, pointing out that Hulshof was attending a fund-raiser with President George Bush on the same night Nixon was speaking in Neosho.
“I’m running against the only guy in America who wants to stand next to George Bush,” Nixon told the crowd.
Nixon’s education plan, called “Missouri Promise,” would make it so that “every middle-class family in Missouri has a pathway to a debt-free” education after high school, and provide the state with a well-trained work force that would make it attractive to companies, he said.
The “Missouri Promise” proposal calls for the state to expand its A+ program and allow Missouri high-school students who meet the performance requirements to attend community college or technical school tuition-free. Those students, provided they meet certain academic, community service and financial requirements, could then finish their degree at a state college or university. The students would be granted a tuition waiver, provided that they earned good grades and completed 50 hours of community service per year of participation.
Nixon also called for the state to become energy independent via alternative sources, such as solar, wind, nuclear and biofuels while arguing that Missouri could become a center for the production of the next generation of energy-efficient and electric cars.
Nixon has proposed to use a mixture of tax credits, job-training programs and infrastructure improvements to achieve that end. The state of Missouri, he said, has lost more jobs in the last year than its eight bordering states put together.
Nixon said he has been campaigning in all four corners of the state and that the strategy “is paying off.”
Andy Wood, a Neosho attorney who attended the Friday night rally, said he thought Nixon would make inroads in Southwest Missouri — a traditionally Republican bastion — because of his background as the state’s attorney general and in education, and because of the policies of the Republican Party.
“I think the Republican Party has gone farther to the right than most people in Southwest Missouri are comfortable with,” Wood said.
Background
Jeremiah “Jay” Nixon was first elected Missouri’s attorney general in 1992. He has been elected to that office four times.
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