As .Sean noted earlier this morning, John Brunner received the normal policy questions from MissouriNet's Bob Priddy, but he was extremely vague with his answers. 

Specifically, he avoided giving in-depth details about his thoughts on reforming Medicare: 

He says he would not favor cutting Medicare but he is vague about how he would solve the program’s problems. “You bring all the people around the table and you say ‘we gotta treat this now serious and we gotta find a way to maintain our promises to our seniors and take care of the problem.’”

One of the Republican Party's most notable policy initiatives that has come about in the past year is Paul Ryan's plan to change Medicare as we know it. As Sarah Steelman can attest, giving vague answers on specific policy proposals like the Ryan Plan can be problematic. On the other hand, Todd Akin went all in on the Ryan Plan.

Most likely, if he is asked about it, Brunner will give some Hancock-drafted talking points that stop short of an endorsement but "praise" Paul Ryan for putting together an ambitious plan. Then it becomes a matter of whether or not reporters and, more importantly, Missourians think that is good enough. 

Here's what Missourinet's Bob Priddy had to say about his first interview with John Brunner as an official candidate:

NEW SENATE CANDIDATE VAGUE ON ISSUES (AUDIO)

The number of possible Republican challengers for Senator McCaskill has increased to three with the addition of Frontenac businessman John Brunner.  But he appears to be short on solutions to the problems likely to be major issues in the campaign.

Brunner used to head the company that makes Germ-X hand sanitizer.  He joins Sarah Steelman and Todd Akin in the Republican field. He says the federal government is suffering from a lack of direction. But when it comes to the specifics of his own platform, Brunner is vague about his own direction. 

[emphasis added]

Missourinet has posted audio of the interview here.

Courtesy of Jason Rosenbaum -- 

During their recent forum, Ann Wagner and Ed Martin both took shots at unions. Wagner said public employee unions should not be able to collectively bargain, and Martin suggested that public employee unions should be abolished completely. Unfortunately, this is not surprising and is an example of how their positions aren't that different on most issues.  

Wagner said, "I do not support collective bargaining for public employees." She added that it also was "a disgrace" that the National Labor Relations Board has challenged Boeing Co.'s decision to move a plant to a right-to-work state.

"I would support a (national) right-to-work law if I was in Congress," Wagner said.

Martin said he believed that "right to work" was best handled on the state level, but that it should be done legislatively, not at the ballot box. "It's very difficult to pass right-to-work" in a statewide vote, Martin said, adding that's why Wisconsin and Ohio have sought to curb union clout legislatively.

"We need to abolish public sector unions,'' Martin said.

h/t @sarahfelts

The infamous "pantless parties" at Verlin's Bar & Grill have ceased, despite Peter Kinder's ability to garner them lots of free publicity. 

For someone who hasn't launched his campaign yet, political chatter indicates John Brunner sure has lined up some prominent consultants. 

If these guys are on board, they don’t come cheap:  

Brooks Kochvar, General Consultant

Paul Curcio, SRCP, Media

Randy Gutermuth, American Viewpoint, Polling

John Hancock, Spokesman & Advisor

Miles Ross, Southwest Missouri Consultant

John Darkow's latest in The Tribune: 

The Post-Dispatch has the deets: Cynthia Davis is running to replace Peter Kinder as Lieutenant Governor of Missouri. 

Davis' new website is at VoteCynthia.com. 

Todd Akin is really mad that military chaplains can perform marriage ceremonies they choose to perform, so long as said ceremonies are legal under state and local laws.  

You might think this is a commonsense policy, and that the Pentagon has bigger things to worry about than which marriages Akin finds too icky to contemplate. But as everyone knows, the last people on earth God- and freedom-loving patriots like Todd Akin hould allow to make their own decisions about matters that have nothing to do with Todd Akin are clergy types and members of the military.  

Robin Carnahan announced today that she will not seek a third term as Secretary of State. Missourians will lose their strongest advocate for both voters’ rights and investor protection in our state.

However, her work protecting the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of Missourians, and the tireless work that was put in to return over $10 Billion dollars to investors who were taken advantage of, will live on long after she leaves office.

Read her e-mail to supporters here:

I’m proud of the success we’ve had in the Secretary of State’s office by staying focused on things that matter for Missourians.

We’ve saved taxpayers money, while still providing terrific services to Missourians. We’ve cut red tape and costs for small businesses so they can focus on growing their businesses and creating jobs. And we have helped consumers and investors learn how to better protect themselves, and recovered more than $10 billion for victims of financial fraud.

We’ve made Missouri history come alive by making our state’s precious historical resources available on-line to hundreds of millions of people all around the world. And, despite the efforts of some to let politics interfere with Missourians right to vote, we’ve protected the rights of voters and the integrity of our elections so that we can all have faith in the fairness of the results.

On September 27, Todd Akin sent out a fundraising email emphasizing the chaos that a government default would create: 

Every day, the possibility of a federal default seems more likely - an event that would produce chaos, suffering, and irreparable harm to America. It is a national imperative that the Obama-McCaskill team must go. This race is pivotal to change the direction of the U.S. Senate, and to get our country back on track.

However, on July 19, he thought a government default would be good for America and force the government to live within its means:

"I consider that to be a worse alternative than, for a month or two, for us to actually experience what it is like to live within our means, what every family has to do. I think it would shock us as a nation into saying that we really have to deal with this problem," he said.

Either he had a bout of amnesia or no one thought to double-check the crazy stuff he said two months ago when they were drafting the email. In any case, it's obvious he will change his position whenever it benefits his ability to blame others, eventhough he has been in Congress for over 10 years.

For months, John Brunner -- mostly through John Hancock -- has stated that he intends to get into the GOP primary for United States Senate. However, contrary to federal election requirements, he has yet to file as a candidate. 

The rules allow an individual who genuinely has not decided to run for office to "test the waters," and to defer filing until a decision is made. But he becomes a candidate if he or she takes actions that reflect actual candidacy – for example, by making or authorizing "written or oral statements that refer to him or her as a candidate for a particular office.”

Brunner has been clear in his intentions for months. For instance, in July he told polticmo.com that he was "ready to jump in" the senate race. 

View the full complaint here:

Brunner FEC Complaint

It looks like the Missouri Republican Party is content with keeping the presidential primary in February, which means Missourians would spend millions of dollars on a primary that doesn't count. 

Under current state law, a primary must be held in February. National party rules dictate that only Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada can hold presidential nominating contests before March 6. States that violate that rule have been threatened with the loss of half of their delegates to the national convention. Other penalties, such as fewer guest passes to the convention, have also been considered.

A bill moving the state's primary to March has become stalled in the state Senate, a victim of the stalemate over a massive economic development bill. In response to the Senate's failure to pass a bill, Missouri GOP Executive Director Lloyd Smith said the party would "explore all of our options, including those that do not require legislative action."

While state law mandates that a presidential primary be held, it does not specifically say that the results must be used to divvy out delegates to presidential candidates. It only says that the results of the primary must be reported to the state parties.

It looks like Cynthia Davis is going to announce her bid for an undisclosed statewide office this weekend. 

She holding press conferences in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield. She also compares her campaign to the civil war. I wonder if she remembers how it ultimately turned out for the rebels in that skirmish. 

Davis said she picked her three locations because she "believes that just as it was during the battle of the Civil War, the state and nation again faces a great turning point in our history. It is time for Missouri to rise to the challenges we face and to make our voices heard throughout this nation."

Looks like John Brunner is finally going to announce. No word on if it will be him or John Hancock delivering the actual announcement. 

St. Louis businessman John Brunner is expected to announce his candidacy for U.S. Senate next Monday.

Brunner would join U.S. Rep. Todd Akin and former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman in a Republican primary for the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in the 2012 election.

Brunner's political advisor, John Hancock, confirmed Wednesday to The Associated Press that Brunner "will be making a major announcement Monday morning about his political future."

In April, Brunner told the AP he was seriously considering a Senate bid and would be willing to put some of his own money into the race, though he did not say how much. Brunner has served as chairman of the health care products company Vi-Jon Inc., which makes Germ-X hand sanitizer.

Ann Wagner seems to be trouncing Ed Martin in the wackadoo primary if this picture is any indication. It's like a Christmas card from your aunt and uncle who forward you those chain e-mails using three different fonts all written in bright yellow. 

The problem is now she has to handle being associated with all the crazy postions they advocate for and espouse. For example, Jim Hoft recently pushed a report about the EPA spending $21 billion dollars on an expansion that Politico has said is untrue:

It’s a story too good to be true for the anti-Obama and anti-regulation crowd: The hated Environmental Protection Agency is looking to spend $21 billion per year to hire an additional 230,000 people to enforce greenhouse gas regulations.

One problem: It’s not true.

Should we expect anything less from a vitriolic blogger who blamed a reporter for a group of men beating and sexually assaulting her because is an "attractive blonde"?