Randy Turner, MPNblog Have Blunt's Press Strategy Pegged

Two recent posts from Missouri political blogs do a bang-up job hammering home a theme that we explored recently here and here.

Randy Turner's Turner Report takes issue with the Blunt administration's juvenile use of his official megaphone:

Personally, I would like to see the governor spending his time using
his office to help Missourians. If he wants to campaign for one of
Nixon's rivals and make those remarks on the stump, I have no problem
with that, but for a governor, especially one who couldn't even be
troubled to run for re-election, to indulge in these playground games
at our expense is a mockery of our system. Of course, he may not have
anything else to do in these final months, since he said he has already
accomplished all of his goals during his first and only term.

And the MO Political News Blog has a quantitative analysis of the Blunt Administration's use of official releases and press statements for political purposes:

Here's a breakdown based on Keywords from the title alone:
- 12 attacked political rival Jay Nixon
- 61 announced grants or project funding
- 4 addressed Blunt's greatest political goal for the session, Insure Missouri, which ultimately failed
- 9 mention immigration
- 4 cover jobs (apparently not much to say these days)
- 11 laud something or other (e.g. tax holiday, John Buck, DARE program, MSU's marching band, an attack submarine)
- 4 with the same title: "Change is working for Missouri's economy" (by most accounts it's not)
- 29 statements (e.g. the great 2008 earthquake, gay marriage, confirmation of appointees)

Both of these bloggers make important contributions to the growing discussion of Team Blunt's descent into undisguised hackery. 

Particularly as the inevitable march toward a Blunt endorsement of Kenny Hulshof continues, the current GOP gubernatorial candidates should be called to answer on whether they believe Matt Blunt is using his office appropriately and whether they would use the governor's press shop in the same way if they are elected. 

The attention given to Team Blunt's actions by MPNblog and the Turner Report strengthen the drumbeat for those questions to be asked by the mainstream media and, as such, are welcome voices in the chorus.