Ike Skelton

The MDP catches Republicans saying outrageously nice things about Ike Skelton.

A Republican proud to support Ike Skelton

The Pulaski County Daily News has the story today of a big scandal amusing brouhaha about whether or not an Ike Skelton for Congress sign is on private property, or on property used for the county fee office.  The story goes into great detail about all the hand-ringing and work done to establish the legality of the sign -- probably far more detail than is necessary for one yard sign -- but I enjoyed this paragraph.

“Darrell Nickels said it was on his property, and he is not going to take it down, and he’d love for the caption on a photo to say that he [is] a Republican is proud to support Ike Skelton,” [Presiding Commissioner Don] McCulloch said.

Sadly, the Daily News failed to honor Nickels' request.  But I'm here to serve.

The Missouri Democratic Party has some fun with Vicky Hartzler's complaints about Ike Skelton's leadership and Missouri's diminutive naval presence.

This is an interesting damage control tactic for campaign spokespersons.  Admit that your boss looked silly, but also criticize your opponent for being confused by your candidate’s dumb comment.

That’s the spin by Vicky Hartlzer spokesperson Steve Walsh in response to questions about Hartlzer’s bizarre complaint that “we [Missouri] have the smallest navy here that we have had since the early 1960s.”  Understandably, Ike Skelton was confused by this attempt to make it seem like he’s been a lousy Ranking Member and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. But Walsh takes comfort in Skelton's confusion, and complains that KSHB's Chris Hernandez unfairly asked Skelton to respond to Hartler's concerns regarding Missouri's small naval presence.  

Via Show Me Progress, here's Ike Skelton's latest television ad, which focuses on two incredible votes cast by Vicky Hartzler in the House of Representatives.

Politico reports this morning that the National Republican Congressional Committee "will invest in 40 districts around the nation in its first wave of television commercial reservations" -- and none of those targeted races are in Missouri.

As noted by NBC News' First Read, this means other allegedly viable GOP challengers like Vicky Hartzler and Ed Martin will be "banking on outside groups" and/or "a wave" to help their chances for November.

The Ike Skelton for Congress campaign unveiled its first television ad of the cycle this afternoon in a blast email -- it's called "The Soldier's Congressman."

Two new videos from Rep. Ike Skelton's YouTube channel from this week's floor discussion on H. Res. 1385, a resolution "recognizing and honoring the courage and sacrifice of the members of the Armed Forces and veterans."

UPDATE: It looks like there's a new version of this article, but the incorrect version is still up at News-Leader.com, and I'm told the incorrect version ran in the print version of today's Star.

The Associated Press: 

Federal campaign finance reports show Skelton reported raising $159,000 during the first quarter this year. Former state lawmaker Vicky Hartzler raised $94,000 from January through March, and state Sen. Bill Stouffer raised $43,000.

All three campaigns reported they had about $300,000 available in their bank accounts. Hartzler has $296,000 on-hand, which is about $10,000 more than Skelton and $25,000 more than Stouffer.

Ike Skelton actually raised $432,673 in the first quarter of 2010.  He has $1,232,078 cash on hand.