Without the panelette debates, the Republican primaries just get weirder and weirder. Miss Liberty knows you have missed these entertaining evenings, and Newtie has really missed his opportunity to do a smack down on stage. So, Suits Santorum has surged to the top – winning 3 for 3 on the 7th and polling as number one nationally. (Full disclosure, Miss Liberty proudly voted for Suits.) Flip flopper Mitt has seen his flips boomerang and catch him in the headlights. Newt was barely a blip, and Ron Paul, thrilled with his second place in Minnesota, may be joining the also runnings soon.

Endorsements have been rolling in for Mitt, but does he want witchcraft supporter Christine O’Donnell and serial bankrupt “I’ve got more money than you” Donald Trump on his side? Really, both Ann and Mitt looked as if they had just swallowed castor oil while on stage with The Hair at the tasteful, Las Vegas style endorsement announcement. Yes, tasteful and Las Vegas is an oxymoron.

Santorum picked up the support of Tom Tancredo, a retired Colorado congressman who really, really, really doesn’t like immigrants or terrorists. Newtie, surely disappointed by The Donald’s defection, roped in Governor Good Hair Perry,  the Hermanator, and Half a Governor Sarah Palin (sort of). Rumor is that Newt’s Vegas Sugar Daddy Sheldon Adelson is giving no more money and is under investigation for illegal dealings (yes, he is a casino owner) in Macau. Just why is it that religious conservatives seek out gambling money for their campaigns?

Corporate front group Stand Up Missouri had an astro turf "rally" Wednesday in Jefferson City. The keynote speaker for the event was Missouri State Represenative Don Wells (R- Kwik Kash). His Pro-Payday Loan Industry speech mostly equated the highlights of legal loan sharking to tired empty sound bites such as "free enterprise", "small business", and emboldening references to the Declaration of Independence. The crowd wore matching blue Stand Up Missouri hats and jackets. Paid for with money sucked out of our local economy by out-of-state bankers no doubt.

Excerpt from his speech:
 

Burried in the St. Louis Beacon's coverage of Rex Sinquefield's latest venture into public is a genuinely jaw-dropping anecodate about the alleged origins of the American public school system.  

You know what. There was a column written and I hope I don’t offend anyone.  There was published column by a man named Ralph Voss, who was a former judge in Missouri. He now owns and writes for a newspaper in Central Missouri called the Unterrified Democrat -- what a name -- and it's in Osage County, Missouri. And he starts off, something like this, he said a long time ago, decades ago, the Ku Klux Klan got together and said how can we really hurt the African American children permanently? How can we ruin their lives? And what they designed was the public school system. 

As you can see in the video above, this wasn't presented as a joke or as an example of what totally crazy people think.  It was presented by Sinquefield as food for thought at the end of a rant about why public schools and public school teachers are bad for kids. 

Truly unhinged stuff.  

"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

Wannabe senator, John Brunner, wants you to think he's a job creator.  He ran a business - that he inherited from his family; and he earned lots of money - so much that he bought a vacation home in the Caymans (no word on if he pulled a Romney and left some of his untold millions there).

Anyway, his flacks have been talking about what a great guy he is, what a great senator he'd make, how many jobs he created, and blah blah blah, but the fact of the matter is that last year, the same month he declared his candidacy for the Senate, his company laid off 36 workers.

Care to tell me how laying people off makes you a "job creator?"  I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of creating jobs, but I've been known to be wrong.

Anyway, Brunner's campaign - I'd say Brunner himself, but he refuses to talk to voters, or seemingly anyone else for that matter - has been trying to distance him from the layoffs, saying he wasn't involved in the day-to-day decisions being made at the company.  But when you look at the campaign disclosures showing that Brunner took nearly $400,000 in compensation last year, that excuse just doesn't hold any water:

"Job-Killing businessman John Brunner's involvement in Vi-Jon's layoffs is impossible to deny, so now Brunner's campaign is trying desperately to deflect blame for his shameless behavior," said Caitlin Legacki, Missouri Democratic Party spokeswoman. "The truth of the matter is that John Brunner took nearly $400,000 in salary and filmed ads calling himself a "job creator" on the same factory floor where he was about to lay off an untold number of workers. Missourians deserve to hear directly from Brunner, not his campaign mouthpieces, about his involvement in these layoffs and why a man worth more than $100 million needs a $400,000 salary when these workers are being put out on the street."

Mittens' Missouri backers are less than happy with their candidate after his disastrous showing in the Missouri primary earlier this week.  Sen. Roy Blunt didn't mince any words:

Blunt said Wednesday he was disappointed that Mitt Romney did not put any time or money into Missouri’s presidential preference primary.

“No money and no effort,” Blunt, R-Mo., said when asked about the results of Tuesday’s vote, in which ex-Sen. Rick Santorum won 55 percent of the vote to Romney’s 25 percent.

Those are some pretty harsh words coming from Romney's own congressional liaison, the point person who reaches out to other congresscritters and senators and encourages them to join in backing Mittens' (now-flailing) campaign for president.  Maybe Blunt is sore about the fact that Mittens flip-flopped on the commitment he made after Blunt was named the liaison: "I look forward to working with Roy as I bring my plan for job creation to Missouri and the rest of the country," and then never showed up.

Funny new video from American Bridge via Political Wire...

Associated Press: "The number of people seeking unemployment aid fell to nearly a four-year low last week, an encouraging sign of continued improvement in the job market.  The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits fell 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 358,000. That's the second-lowest level since April 2008.  The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 366,250, the lowest since late April 2008. The figures come a week after the government reported that employers added 243,000 net jobs last month."

From BarackObama.com: "Just as he criticizes federal health reform based on the law he passed in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney is attacking the President for providing women with the same access to contraception and preventive health care services Romney did as governor. Our new infographic takes a look at how contraception coverage compares under the Affordable Care Act and the Massachusetts law Romney stood behind."

Upon the invitation of Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, the expected republican winner of today's Missouri Beauty Pageant will be heading to beautiful Cape Girardeau next month.  From the Southeast Missourian:

Santorum to speak at Cape Lincoln Day next month

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has scheduled a trip to Cape Girardeau next month, where he is to be the featured speaker at the local GOP's Lincoln Day event.

Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, was invited by U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, who confirmed Monday that he had accepted.[...]

"He really understands blue collar, Middle America," Emerson said. "He has the best overall, well-rounded understanding of some of the challenges in a state like ours. I am so happy he accepted my invitation."

While this might not seem totally out of the ordinary given that congresscritters regularly invite presidential candidates of their own party to campaign with them in order to get national attention, raise money and get a photo-op, what makes it interesting is that Emerson is refusing to state who she's voting for or make any formal endorsement, even though she's already received a nice chunk of change from Romney.

Last night, Jay Leno chimed in on Dave Spence and his lies about his academic background, furthering Spence's tenure as a national laughing stock:

Brian Nieves' latest Facebook rant, preserved here for posterity: "Veterans, Patriots, Members of our Disabled Community as well as any and all reasonable people .... All I ask is for you to read, and see with your own eyes, the extreme HATRED the missourian and the Miller family have spewed about me and then read my reasoned comment that starts out 'Is it Easy to Visit Our Capitol.' When you read the Extreme, Hate Filled Blathering of Mr. Miller who happens to own the missourian, you'll see why our Disabled Veterans and friends who are disabled in general, may never get sufficient parking made available to them. The Extreme Hatred and Immaturity, the downright loathing you'll read in Mr. Miller's attack piece absolutely makes my point! Don't mess with the High and Mighty Press or you will be CRUSHED! I am proud to stand with our Disabled Veterans and I, for one, believe our Disabled Veterans in particular, as well as our disabled community in general, should get the close up parking over the Elite Press! If you agree, let the missourian know! Cancel subscriptions, write letters to the editor etc etc etc..."

Missouri Roundtable for Life: "Tim Jones Accpets $10,000 From Cloners, Passes $5,000 To Silvey"

Originally posted at ProgressMissouri.org

Senate Appropriations Chair Kurt Schaefer and Representative Chris Kelly this morning told Rex Sinquefield directly that they oppose his radical Everything Tax ballot initiatives.  The two members of the General Assembly were the headline speakers at a Show-Me Institute event in Columbia moderated by Sinquefield himself.

“It scares the bejesus out of me what's going to happen if we phase into this and we have a substantial dip in general revenue,” said Senator Schaefer, who also said he was “intrigued” by the concept of a higher sales tax, in general. But “I'm very concerned about what happens when it phases in, especially during the phase in, and whether or not we have a substantial dip in general revenue because we cannot take it right now.”

The Everything Tax “cannot pass and...is bad for the state of Missouri,” said Representative Kelly. “It's bad for the state of Missouri because it would produce less revenue and because it moves the burden so substantially downward.”  

With 257,000 jobs added by private businesses, January was the 23rd consecutive month of private sector job growth:

Sen. Will Kraus (R-Lee's Summit), quoted by Eli Yokley of PoliticMo at a Rick Santorum for President event last night: "Moms and dads don’t want that urban flight into our school districts."

Rep. Wanda Brown (R-Lincoln) blasted out the following screed late last night about how "illegal immigrants are receiving more welfare benefits than American citizens." 

Dear Colleagues,

Please read this email completely and in its entirety, because it has very important information about our state’s budget and our country’s budget.  I don’t normally send out emails like this, but I think everyone should know this is happening, so it can be stopped.

I have always received emails and calls from my constituents asking me, as a Representative, to look into welfare fraud and illegal immigration.  Upon doing some research, I discovered that illegal immigrants are receiving more welfare benefits than American citizens. Last Tuesday I called the Department of Social Services and asked, “Do illegal immigrants receive more food stamps than Americans?”

The initial answer I received was, “No, that isn’t happening.”

After further questioning of the Social Services contact, I asked her to show me the “Formula” that determined how many food stamps a family with NO illegal immigrants received versus the “Formula” that determined how many food stamps a family WITH illegal immigrants received.  After still being assured that there was no problem, I persisted in requesting this information.

Within a few hours, the Department of Social Services called my office and requested a meeting the next afternoon.

Trying out a new column idea on the happenings in Jeff City -- let us know what you think!

Lisa of the Week:
Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal
Kudos to Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal for leading a 14.5 hour filibuster in the Senate in defense of the egregious SB592/"Workplace Discrimination".  This bill would turn back time in Missouri's workplaces, circa 1950s; eliminating whistleblower protections, repealing the Missouri Human Rights Act and making it harder for discriminated employees to seek damages.  While all Democrat Senators pitched in to block this scary bill, Sen. Chappelle-Nadal stood and spoke for 10 hours without food or breaks.

"I truly believe that individuals who have been harassed and who have been wronged in their employment should have an avenue to go through where they do have a trial by jury," Maria Chappelle-Nadal said after the Senate vote. "I do not believe that one individual should make a determination based on the facts and have the ability to throw out a case."