Purgason Has "Extra Spark" After MA Special Election, Picks Up New Support as "The True Republican" in Senate Race

Emboldened by the success of Scott Brown's outsider campaign in Massachusetts, State Sen. Chuck Purgason's campaign appeared to be picking up a little steam at a stop in St. Joseph last night.  In his report on Purgason's visit to St. Joseph, News-Press reporter Ken Newton writes that Purgason's campaign "carried an extra spark" because of Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts Tuesday. 

Indeed, Newton reports that Purgason now has the public support of two area legislators -- Reps. Jim Guest and Rob Schaaf.  

“Maybe he’ll be the Scott Brown of Missouri,” said state Rep. Jim Guest, R-King City, referring to the Massachusetts senator-elect...

State Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, offered Mr. Purgason his endorsement. “He’s the true Republican in this race,” the representative said.

Purgason has relentlessly criticized Roy Blunt straying from "the principles of our party" in Washington, especially for Republicans' deficit spending, support for earmark spending, leadership in passing the TARP bailout and support for the Cash for Clunkers stimulus program. 

Republicans, [Purgason] said, had the White House and congressional majorities in 2001, along with a $30 billion budget deficit. By 2006, Republicans still had the presidency and Congress, but also a $566 billion deficit. The GOP lost Congress and the White House in the election cycles that followed.

“We got our spanking because we didn’t follow through on the principles of our party,” Mr. Purgason said in St. Joseph Thursday night. “We got caught up in spending for everything. We forgot where we came from.” [...]

Mr. Purgason, 49 and a resident of Howell County, which abuts the Arkansas line, has as the centerpiece of his campaign a “Contract With Missouri.”

The contract includes a balanced budget, no earmarks and a promise not to vote for any bailout or stimulus programs. He pledges that no member of his family would be a lobbyist, that he will take no campaign funds from bailed-out companies and that he will hold no fundraisers outside Missouri. A self-imposed limit of two terms is also included.

He voiced particular contempt for the congressional passage of the TARP bailout, saying it involved the government “picking winners and losers in the free-market system.” Further, the state senator mocked the Cash for Clunkers program: “We paid people to destroy a working asset. ... Is that a role of government?”

The now-public support of Schaaf and Guest may be a sign of things to come. I obviously wish Scott Brown was still posing naked for Cosmo magazine, but he has shown that state Senators can be successful as outsider candidates taking on the establishment.  We'll see.