Club for Growth

Politico's Dave Catanese continues to lead in pro-Sarah Steelman reporting: "The conservative anti-tax Club for Growth is lauding former state treasurer Sarah Steelman's decision to jump into the 2012 Missouri Senate race."  CFG says Jim Talent has "a record of support for government expansion and outrageous earmark spending." 

Missouri's Club for Growth is funded (mostly) by Rex Sinquefield, and is now lead by outgoing Rep. Allen Icet . Discuss.

UPDATE: Blunt has now signed the pledge.

Chuck Purgason put a little pressure on Roy Blunt yesterday by signing a Club for Growth pledge to seek the repeal of federal health care legislation expected to be approved this year by Congress, if he's elected to the US Senate. Blunt, in response, said he'll vote against the compromise health care bill (shocking!) -- but stopped short of signing the Club for Growth pledge. 

Blunt has long been at odds with the CFG, which has a history of slash-and-burn tactics in support of it's very conservative platform on taxes and spending.  They've been especially critical of his support for earmarks, and have consistently given him low marks in their annual "RePORK Cards" they say "measure the dedication of their representatives to changing the culture of corruption that surrounds pork-barrel spending."

In 2009, Blunt received a 48% RePORK rating, and in 2007, Blunt received a 22% RePORK rating.

This might explain why there isn't much enthusiasm for tea parties outside of Fox News and talk radio:

(h/t to Matthew Yglesias)

Sarah Steelman is in Washington today, trying to curry the favor of all those DC insiders she hates so much. Last month, those insiders were easy targets, but this week, well... um... she needs their cash.

One stop on her Inside-the-Beltway Tour will be with the Club or Growth, a (very) conservative organization with deep pockets. Steelman clearly needs some fundraising help to take on the Roy Blunt/K-Street juggernaut, and is hoping to demonstrate that she's crazy enough to spend their money.

I guess maybe taking a bunch of Club For Growth money isn't the best way to win a Democratic senate primary.

So long as Peter Kinder's going to "change the dynamic" by "working together" with web-surfers by having his DC-based web consultant David All post on Kinder's blog (curious way of having a discussion with the public, no?) and correspond with the rabble, I've got one he can chew on...

Kinder has been an open supporter of the presidential candidacy of GOP actor Fred Thompson, going so far as to record creepy handycam videos of himself urging Thompson into the race, and posting them to YouTube. 

So it's come to this. A long-overdue raise in the state's minimum wage is on the November ballot and enjoys overwhelming support, so conservative pundits turn to ridiculous arguments and partisan front-groups for a last-ditch defense against the encroach of common sense and good policy

Take David Nicklaus for example, who thinks that Missouri voters should vote against raising the minimum wage --which hasn't been raised in nine years-- because of what he calls the danger of "temptation."

The Kansas City Star's Steve Kraske uses his Sunday column to put yet another nail in the coffin of the myth of the "liberal" media. The piece, headlined "Pulling punches at primary time," reflects nothing so much as it does the mainstream media's pathological willingness to create stories which feed into its favorite trite, tired theme: that Democrats can't win no matter what.

Kraske's offending bit comes at the end of a fatuous column in which he makes the case that primary candidates ought to be slamming one another much harder than they currently are so that voters can distinguish between them with no greater effort than watching television attack ads. Even more ludicrous is a tossed-off curiosity that Kraske appends to his offering, apparently intended merely to push his piece over the 600 word mark rather than add any insight. He writes: