Richard Un-Denies Interest In Governor's Mansion, Decides A Week Late That Lincoln Days Statement Was Misinterpreted

In a short 24 hour-span last weekend, House Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) declared and then denied a desire to be on a "short list" of Republican candidates for Governor in 2016.  Such plans were not welcomed by Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, who fancies himself a viable challenger to Jay Nixon in 2012.

The story seemed to be over as quickly as it had come, until Richard was asked about it by reporters for his hometown paper, The Joplin Globe.  At the end of the interview, Richard deviated from the blanket denial he gave The Beacon last Saturday, and again said he was interested in running for governor.  But to make the math work (and not hurt Kinder's tender feelings again), Richard says the Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger made up the fact that he was thinking about running in 2016.

GLOBE: You are a straightforward shooter, so the next question is, what are your -- what are your aspirations beyond the second [state senate] seat?

RICHARD: Well, when you called the other day, there was -- When we was at Lincoln Days, one of the Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked, and, the question got a little bit mixed. He asked, "Is it ever a dream of yours down the road, what would you like to do?"

And I said, "Well someday, I'd love to be at the table on the short list running for governor if there's ever an opportunity." 

Well, he took that one step farther and kinda put in a date. That's probably not gonna happen. But, you know, I didn't ever think I'd run for House either or the Senate.  I'm very fortunate.

But, you know, it's always nice to be at the short list, at least you can say, "No."

Southwest Missouri is at the forefront. We have a large number of votes. We're conservative to middle-of-the-road people down here.  I think that's what Missouri needs and requires. And I think we need a gray-haired guy once in a while to run the show.  And I've got plenty of gray hair. 

Missing words in the original.  Listen:

Richard's accusation that he'd been misinterpreted would be a lot more believable if he'd clarified them for the Post-Dispatch last Friday, for the salivating reporters the next day, or at any point last week. 

Image credit: St. Louis Beacon