‘Sitting back’

Annetta St. Clair, a government teacher at Missouri Southern State University and longtime observer of Missouri politics, said this year’s Republican primary is as rough as the primary in 1992, and that Nixon will benefit from the irritation people have with negative campaigning.

“Voters say they do not like negative campaigning. They say it is bad, but it works. As long as it works, the candidates will keep using it,” she said. “Nixon and the Democrats appear to be quiet at the moment but they are really sitting back with glee watching the damage that is being done to Steelman and Hulshof.

“The very ads they are using against each other will be used against them this fall. That’s been done many times in the past,” she noted.

Nixon spokesman Oren Shur said, “Gas prices are skyrocketing, health care is unaffordable and Missourians are worried about losing their jobs. But instead of offering real solutions to move our state forward, Congressman Hulshof and Treasurer Steelman are embracing the same failed policies that have hurt Missouri families.”

Economy foremost

Both Steelman and Hulshof said economic security is the foremost issue on the minds of voters.

Hulshof, a resident of Columbia, said, “What’s driving the show are pocketbook issues. People are anxious about gasoline prices. There’s anxiety about the job climate. Hundreds of people have lost their jobs with the closing of the Chrysler plant in St. Louis. The cost of doing business, including energy prices, has increased significantly.

“That’s why I am so focused on talking about the creation of quality jobs and improving the state’s business climate. Education is the key. We have to have a workforce that is ready and capable of taking these knowledge-based jobs we are trying to attract,” he said.

As governor, he said he would take steps to remove the obstacles and hurdles that make Missouri’s business climate uncertain.

Steelman, who hails from Rolla, said, “The voters are talking about the economy, the high price of gas and the increasing cost of food. People are worried about the future, their jobs and their economic security.

“I agree with them. I am worried about it, too. It’s tough for Missouri families right now. I have to go to the grocery store myself. I know.”

Steelman said her energy plan for the state would help lessen the insecurity. She said she would repeal the state’s ethanol mandate.

“Numerous economic studies show that the mandate is causing food prices to go up. I am all for the developing of new sources of energy, but this government mandate does not accomplish what we want to accomplish,” she said. “I want to use the state’s economic-development tools to get an oil refinery here in Missouri.”

Also challenging Steelman and Hulshof are two relatively unknown candidates, Scott Long, a vocational-agriculture teacher from Mountain View, and Jennie Lee “Jen” Schwartze Sievers, a retired grocery-store owner from Jackson.