Missouri Republican kingmakers waited months and months for John Brunner to announce so this could happen. Yikes... 

John Brunner made a fortune from his family’s household-products company.

These days, he’s Missouri’s newest GOP Senate contender.

He swung through KC this week, and here’s my first reaction: Brunner’s not ready.

Not even close.

In an interview, he couldn’t articulate a clear vision or expand on even basic questions, such as on creating jobs.

Mr. Brunner, you need some more practice. Either that, or try it again some other year.

Chad Garrison from the Riverfront Times posted a pretty revealing item about Rex Sinquefield and his attempts to hide how much his tax proposals could cost the state. 

Let's take a look at the current fiscal note summary drafted by Auditor Tom Schweich for two recent versions and the fiscal note summary that Rex Sinquefield would like to have on the ballot. Sinquefield is suing to get the language changed.

Here is Schweich’s fiscal note.

Annual state government revenue under this proposal may increase by up to $300 million or decrease by up to $1.5 billion. The proposal is estimated to increase state operating costs by at least $15 million, and may accelerate tax credit redemptions. The fiscal impact to local governments is unknown.

And here is the fiscal not Rex Sinquefield and his lobbyist Travis Brown would like to see (emphasis added):

Annual state government revenue under this proposal may remain the same or increase by up to $300 million. The proposal is estimated to increase state operating costs by at least $15 million, which is less than expected new revenues. The fiscal impact to local governments is unknown.

Early this week a warm and sympathetic Herman Cain had some words of motivation for the unemployed and impoverished people in our country: 

Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed.

Uplifting stuff to be sure. It reminded me of State Senator Jim Lembke urging unemployed Missourians to lift themselves up by their boot straps so to speak.  

"People need to get off their backsides and get a job," Lembke is quoted as saying this week in the Kansas City Star. "Maybe they'll have to get two jobs or three jobs to make ends meet, but they need to quit stealing from their neighbors."

For these two staunch conservatives the only group they may dislike more than government workers are the citizens they claim to represent. 

Somehow, Matt Blunt's former chief of staff Ed Martin is now "anti-establishment." I guess that is a nice way to describe a losing campaign. 

One thing is for sure, nothing screams anti-establishment like being photographed with Roy Blunt. Look at these wild-eyed radicals. 

Peter Kinder's uncanny ability to find different reason for delaying his announcement that he is running for Govneror continues. The lastest reasons are a "wicked upper respiratory infection" and after that some "minor foot surgery." 

I would try to guess whats next, but it's not even worth it. Here is more from Jason Rosenbaum with the St. Louis Beacon.  

Kinder said in an interview that his "listening tour" to guage his election chances has been slowed by what he described as a "wicked upper respiratory infection."

"I’m on a Z-pack for it right now and cough medicine," Kinder said during the interview, as he was mingling Tuesday with tea party activists during a rally on Lindell Boulevard, across the street from Tom Carnahan’s house. President Barack Obama later held a fundraising event at the home….

Kinder gave no timetable for his decision, adding that he’s facing "some minor foot surgery later this year."

"We’ve got to work all that in while still touring the state and allow some time for recovery," he added.

Ouch. 

EDITORIAL: MOST AMERICANS ARE EAGER TO RESOLVE HEALTH CARE REFORM

Last week, the Obama administration decided to skip an intermediate step and ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review its health care reform law...

The U.S. Department of Justice lists 18 different federal court challenges to the Affordable Care Act, 10 of which already have been dismissed. The most ridiculous of these may well have been Missouri's own Kinder et al. v. Geithner et al., which U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel tossed out on April 26. His ruling suggests he was unable to detect in it anything remotely resembling facts or relevant plausible assertions in Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder's lawsuit...

"The only obstacle to Mitt Romney winning next year's Republican nomination is that, up until recently, he was the antithesis of everything Republicans stand for."

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.