Jay Nixon

"The bottom line is, I don't support raising taxes on groceries and other critical things that families need. I mean, making families pay more for bread and milk doesn't seem like a solid step forward for our economy."

Gov. Jay Nixon on Rex Sinquefield's Everything Tax

While the republican controlled General Assembly finally put a nail in the coffin of its failed not-so-special session, Governor Nixon headed to China to work on trade deals that will benefit Missouri.

While republicans have wasted time and critical Missouri resources throwing tantrums and playing political games, Governor Nixon has been closing no fewer than three trade deals with the Chinese to the tune of $4.6 billion.

But republicans would rather watch nearly $300,000 in taxpayer funds go down the drain to fund their childish tantrums and political games.  Notably, the economic development deal which they trumpted as being all but signed, sealed and delivered over the summer took a nose dive into a fiery crash and was a casualty of republicans' inability to do much of anything aside from fight with each other, and most definitely not work to create jobs for the people of Missouri.

If you're looking for business incentives and job creation, look no further than Governor Nixon working to ensure that the work gets done, and that the job creators have the resources to put Missouri workers back on the job.

If you are Governor Jay Nixon, life is pretty good for you these days. Plus, when the margin is 19 points, pointing out the poll was done by a “Democratic” firm doesn’t really seem to do much to change the awful narrative for Republicans. 

* Nixon up big on Kinder – Peter Tomark, Public Policy Polling

“If Republicans really stick with Peter Kinder as their candidate for Governor in Missouri it looks like Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon may waltz to reelection.”

* Poll: Nixon strong, far ahead of challengers – Eli Yokley, PoliticMO

“It’s early, but Gov. Jay Nixon is polling strong against his Republican challengers ahead of next year’s elections.”

* Campaign cakewalk for Jay Nixon – Barb Shelley, Kansas City Star

“The latest numbers from Public Policy Polling are in, and they’re not going to cause Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon any sleepless nights.”

There were no attempts to override Governor Nixon's vetoes. Republicans were working on getting Democrats to switch their votes, but ultimately they were unsucessful. 

Here are some of the vetoed bills that they couldn't find the votes to override:

SB 282 – ELECTIONS BILL

* WOULD HAVE REQUIRED SPECIAL ELECTION FOR STATEWIDE VACANCIES, REGARDLESS OF TIME REMAINING BEFORE NEXT SCHEDULED ELECTION. Special elections are estimated to cost $7 million.

SB3 – ONEROUS VOTER PHOTO ID BILL

* UNECESSARY, POTENTIAL DISENFRANCHISEMENT: Missouri already has a commonsense voter identification law that ensures that eligible voters are who they say they are on Election Day. As many as 230,000 Missouri registered voters – mostly elderly, disabled, poor, and minority voters -- lack or cannot get the government issued photo ID this law would require Missourians to present at the polls.

HB430 – INCLUDES CONTROVERSIAL BILLBOARD LAW

* KC STAR on the Billboard Law: "The provisions would bar cities and counties from restricting billboards on certain commercial and industrial properties. They would also permit freer use of distracting digital billboards. Missouri has too many billboards already. Although House Bill 430 has some worthwhile provisions, it deserves to be vetoed."

Peter Kinder is now down by 19 points. But, hey, that's two points better than Bill Randles. 

If Republicans really stick with Peter Kinder as their candidate for Governor in Missouri it looks like Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon may waltz to reelection.  He leads Kinder 50-31 in a hypothetical contest, up from 48-34 the last time PPP polled the race in May.

Hank Waters rehashes Peter Kinder's many missteps and sees Jay Nixon's reelection as a safe bet in 2012:

As a nonpartisan who cares not a whit about Kinder’s visits to the strip club, I do see trouble on the horizon for his gubernatorial chances — or for any other Republican. If you want about as safe a bet as one can get in the political casino, put your money on Nixon in 2012.

"The bottom line is that Jay Nixon looks very hard to beat. Not only has he mostly avoided the embarrassing mistakes that vex Kinder, he’s been very disciplined to stay in the political center."

The Beacon's Jo Mannies reports that Ron Richard and John Brunner shant be running for governor in 2012.  

In a National Journal story about races for governor in states all over the country, Missouri is singled out as a potential bright spot for Democrats in 2012. 

Gov. Jay Nixon, D-Mo., appears to be in solid shape for reelection against Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

There's plenty of time left, but Missouri's race is developing on a parallel track to the one in Kentucky—with a Democratic governor running ahead of the odds in a Republican-leaning state, thanks to his charisma and likability and his opponent's early stumbles.

It offers yet another reminder that governors' races are about a personal comfort level with the candidates. That truism is giving Democrats some optimism in what otherwise is shaping up to be a difficult year.

Governor Jay Nixon’s spokesman Scott Holste released a statement to various news outlets today indicating a special session will be called to pass legislation aimed at promoting job growth in Missouri.

“By working together in a bi-partisan way, we’ve taken another important step toward passing a major job-creation package in a fiscally responsible manner.

“From day one, Gov. Nixon’s priorities have been creating jobs and keeping our state’s fiscal house in order. The Governor intends to call the General Assembly into special session to focus on passing this bi-partisan jobs package and moving our economy forward.”

"I wish I could sit here and tell you there was a good Republican alternative. I'm not convinced there is right now, which is very frustrating."

KMOX's Mark Reardon earlier today, wishing that Missouri Republicans had a better option than Peter Kinder to challenge Jay Nixon

 In his most recent ranking of competitive Governor's races around the Country, Chris Cillizza noted that Jay Nixon will be "tough to beat" and Peter Kinder has "stumbled out of the gate". In fact, he even noted that it might soon be off the list all together. 

Read the excerpt here: 

5. Missouri (Democratic-controlled, 2012): Nixon’s solid response to the tornado in Joplin, Mo., last month solidified the picture of a popular incumbent who will be tough to beat. Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder (R), meanwhile, has stumbled out of the gate. About the only thing that suggests Kinder has a chance is the presidential race. (Obama lost the state in 2008 and isn’t likely to win in 2012.) But as we discussed above, that may not be worth much. If Lynch retires in New Hampshire, this one may fall off the list soon. (Previous ranking: 4) 

Gov. Jay Nixon today stood up to the national GOP effort to skew elections by creating unnecessary hurdles to voting:

This new mandate would disproportionately impact senior citizens and persons with disabilitiees, among others, who are qualified to vote and have been lawfully voting since becoming eligible to do so...Disenfranchising certain classes of persons is not acceptable.

"I don’t think he has a chance to beat Gov. Nixon. Every single person that I’ve talked to feels the same way...Everybody loves Jay Nixon and I have to say he’s done a pretty good job. The people I’ve talked to are just resigned to the fact that [Kinder’s] going to run and lose."

An unnamed GOP state senator in an absolutely devastating Politico article on how Peter Kinder is "already being privately written off by members of his own party"

"Even our universities have become targets of partisan extremists and gotcha journalists...That is toxic to our lives.”

Gov. Jay Nixon at Missouri Southern State University, as quoted by PoliticMo

Here's a fact that won't show up in many campaign mailers from tea party Republicans next year: Despite all of the hot air about the evils of government spending, Republican legislators have once again passed a budget that exceeds the spending recommended by Democratic Governor Jay Nixon.

This happened in 2009 and 2010 too.

I think the Governor and General Assembly could be doing a lot more to reduce tax expenditures and increase tax revenues with a more fair, progressive tax code (the horrors!).  They could also be working to make multinational corporations pay their fair share, increase cigarette taxes to a reasonable level and collect online sales taxes from huge online retailers. 

But no matter what the revenues actually look like, the state still needs leaders to keep the state's fiscal house in order.  And that leadership has once again come from the second floor of the Capitol, and not the third.  Can you imagine what type of fiscal shape our state would be in today if Gov. Nixon had simply signed the budgets passed by the MO GOP the last few years and spent that money?  We would make Illinois look downright thrifty.

More data from the Public Policy Polling survey conducted April 28 - May 1.

Jay Nixon continues to look like a solid favorite for reelection as Governor of Missouri, and his lead over his most likely opponent has expanded over the course of the last two months...

Nixon leads his most likely opponent for next year, Peter Kinder, 48-34 in a hypothetical contest. That's up from 45-38 on PPP's last poll of the race. Even though the Democratic base is not in love with Nixon they'll still vote for him over Kinder by an 85-5 margin. Nixon also picks up 13% of the Republican vote and leads Kinder by a 46-27 spread with independents.

Missourinet reports tonight that Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed HB209, a bill that would limit the rights of people who own land near large factory farms to recover damages from foul odors and other problems created by huge animal-feeding operations.

Last month, the Post-Dispatch called the bill "one of the most noxious pieces of legislation to land on Gov. Jay Nixon's desk this session."

From the Office of the Governor: "Gov. Jay Nixon today vetoed House Bill 193, the Congressional redistricting plan sent to him this week by the General Assembly. The Governor urged the General Assembly to work quickly to send him a new redistricting plan in the two weeks remaining in the session. 'I am hopeful that in the next two weeks the Legislature can produce a map that will reflect a better representation for all regions of the state, and deliver it to my desk,' Gov. Nixon said."

Politico's Dave Catanese has declared that the 2012 race between Jay Nixon and Peter Kinder will be the most competitive gubernatorial race in the country. 

You may find this preposterous, but you're not as smart as Dave Catanese. 

Implicit in this brilliant bit of Politico analysis is the assumption that Kinder's disasters will stop long enough for him to actually make an official campaign announcement.