This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 5, 2008 - After months of campaigning, the battle for the Democratic nomination for attorney general came down to 786 votes -- a difference of only .2 percent that had state Sen. Chris Koster a former Republican from Harrisonville claiming victory over Democratic state Rep. Margaret Donnelly of Richmond Heights and the right to take on Republican Michael Gibbons in November.
Donnelly has yet to concede victory. With 117,862 votes, she won 34.1 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary to Koster's 118,648 votes (34.3 percent).
By mid-morning, according to Daniel Nava, Donnelly's campaign manager, 500 votes from St. Louis County were yet to be tallied. But by mid-day, the St. Louis County Board of Elections said that all votes have been counted. The state's largest county gave Koster 17,973 votes and Donnelly 33,133 votes. The newest tabulations reduced the gap between Koster and Donnelly, but all counties now have to interpret and count provisional ballots before the secretary of state can certify the results. Due to a deadline, the entire process must be finished within two weeks.
Donnelly's team is waiting for the secretary of state to certify the election's results. Following certification, Donnelly's team will weigh its options and consider requesting a recount. (State law allows candidates who lose by less than 1 percent to do so).
"This is the most competitive down-ballot race in Missouri history," said Richard Martin, an adviser to the Donnelly campaign. In part because of that, Nava said he believed that the presidential election could infuse the statewide race with a new base of Democratic voters. "Since the primary was so heated, new voters have emerged," Nava said. "The Democrats have a huge advantage because of the hotly contested primary."
If Koster, 43, is certified as the winner, he still has obstacles to overcome. Koster became a Democrat last year, citing philosophical differences with the Republican Party over issues such as stem cell research and workers' rights.
Marvin Overby, professor of political science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said it will be interesting to watch how Democratic voters respond to Koster in November should he be the contender against the GOP candidate, Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons of Kirkwood.
"People have a natural cynicism about party-switching,'' Overby said.
Politicians often have a tough time convincing voters that they shifted their alignment because of true conviction and not because they believe they have a better chance of winning on another ticket. And as a newcomer to the party, Koster will need to be gracious in his victory, Overby said.
"In November, in the type of election where you attract Democratic voters who would vote a straight ticket, they may have to hold their noses to vote for Koster,'' Overby said.
A key factor will be whether Jay Nixon, the Democratic candidate for governor, embraces Koster, Overby said.
Koster is a former Cass County prosecutor and also served as an assistant attorney general under William Webster. He was born and raised in St. Louis, the son of the late Rich Koster, a St. Louis journalist who regularly appeared on "Donnybrook,'' the public affairs show on KETC, Channel 9.
Koster, who won the endorsement of U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, has also received support from organized labor because of his vow to enforce the prevailing wage law.
Donnelly, 54, an attorney who has specialized in family law, is in her third term in the Missouri House of Representatives.
House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, 43, who has represented his hometown of Columbia since 2002, came in third in voting. The fourth Democratic candidate on the ballot was Molly Korth Williams, a Kansas City school teacher, who didn't campaign.
Gibbons, 49, an attorney, is a lifelong resident of Kirkwood whose first elected post was to the Kirkwood City Council. He served eight years as a state representative before being elected to the State Senate. Efforts to reach Gibbons were unsuccessful.
The attorney general nomination was a pricey contest for the Democratic candidates, costing an estimated $3 million. The Associated Press reported that Koster had moved money among several committees to avoid contribution limits. He denied that his campaign did anything illegal. On Wednesday, the Missouri Ethics Commission dismissed complaints against Koster.
But, in a possible harbinger of a bitter fight ahead, in the waning days of the campaign, Koster's ex-wife supported an anti-Koster third-party ad campaign to the tune of $200,000.
The McCain-Obama factor
In a presidential election year, it is particularly difficult for state down-ballot candidates to attract attention, so much will depend on the campaigns of Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, Overby said.
For example, the November race for state treasurer between Republican Brad Lager, a state representative from Savannah who ran unopposed in Tuesday's primary, and the Democratic winner Clint Zweifel, state representative from Florissant, may play out below the public's radar. Efforts to reach Lager were unsuccessful.
Most voters won't go to the polls specifically to cast a vote for treasurer and so straight-ticket voting becomes critical, Overby said.
Zwiefel, 34, claimed the Democratic nomination for state treasurer with 31.8 percent of the vote. Mark Powell, mayor of Arnold, placed second with 28.6 percent. Andria Simckes, a lawyer from Creve Coeur, was third with 21.7 percent of the vote.
A tired but happy Zweifel who celebrated Tuesday night at a party at the headquarters of Teamsters Local 688 was already looking ahead to November.
"Nationwide, Democrats are inspired and excited right now, and that's a good thing for our party, but we as candidates still have to go out and make our cases," Zweifel said.
Zweifel said his campaign would need to "retool" financially to get ready for November, "and you need to start all over from scratch again."
Zweifel, who would like to see an expanded role for the treasurer in state policy-making, had been running against the Republicans more than his Democratic rivals throughout the primary campaign.
"I'm running to fix the things that Matt Blunt's broken,'' he said in one 30-second spot.
Zweifel criticized current Republican treasurer Sarah Steelman for not speaking out against the governor's decisions to sell the assets of MOHELA, the state student loan agency and for cuts in Medicaid.
"I think more than at any time Missouri really needs leadership. We need statewide officials who are willing to take stances on tough issues and are willing to propose real solutions to tough issues," Zweifel said. "Having a treasurer who understands the fiscal impact on Missourians when you raid the college student loan program, when you cut health care for hundreds of thousands of Missourians, when you refuse to do anything to address the mortgage crisis in the state. I think it's important to have a treasurer who understands the impact on Missouri and who is willing to fight for those issues."
Zweifel, the first person in his family to attend and graduate from college, said he is committed to improving the access of Missourians to quality education and health care that is also affordable.
"Those are basic tents I think everybody should be focused on providing. That's the best way we can not only help people but also move the state forward long-term economically,'' he said.
Zweifel raised $300,000 and had the best-funded campaign. He was endorsed by Pro-Vote, a coalition of labor unions and community groups. Before seeking office, he was research and education director for Teamsters Local 688, where his campaign party was being held.
Zweifel was elected to the House in 2002, by a margin of 67 votes (of 13,000 votes cast); was re-elected two years later with 70 percent of the vote and ran unopposed in 2006.
Simckes, 37, was an economic development aide to the late Gov. Mel Carnahan and was executive director of the St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone. She would have been the first African-American to serve in a statewide office.
"I believe my team and I ran a hard race,'' Simckes said. "At the end of the day, we did our best and that's very comforting."
Simckes focused her campaign on economic development and on expanding children's services and education. She said the major challenge she faced was visibility in a political world where the attention is already on Obama and McCain.
"It is such a high profile presidential race that it was very difficult getting the visibility for the local issues," Simckes said.
Charles B. Wheeler, 81, a pathologist and former Kansas City mayor, was also on the ballot, but he did not campaign actively. Neither did Powell, 57, who won the Democratic nomination for treasurer in 2004 but lost to Steelman.
Temperatures in the high 90s melted voter turnout in St. Louis city and county, but that didn't faze Zweifel who campaigned all day and concluded his 12-hour marathon outside Laclede Elementary School in the city's 22nd Ward, where just before 6 p.m. he was still handing out brochures titled "Fiscal Competence We Can Count On'' to some of the day's last voters.
"Obviously, the heat makes it difficult for everybody, but there is something about an election day that really gets the adrenaline moving. It allows you to work off the heat and not let it bother you so much,'' Zweifel said.
A quiet race for lieutenant governor
Tuesday's races for the lieutenant governor nominations were relatively quiet for both parties, though there were many runners in the field.
Incumbent Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, 54, took 78.3 percent of the vote, after facing little opposition from Paul Douglas Sims, 48, a disabled firefighter and rancher from Lecoma, Mo., and Arthur Hodge Sr., 62, a retiree from Springfield.
State Rep. Sam Page, 43, a physician from Creve Coeur, won the Democratic nomination with 40.2 percent.
Kinder said he will be running on his record in November and stressed his work on behalf of senior citizens and his outreach into minority communities.
One of the jobs of the lieutenant governor is to serve as the state's official senior advocate. Kinder pointed to his efforts to expand the state's meals program for seniors without raising taxes dollars and his role as chairman of the commission that oversees the MoRx plan, which assists nearly 180,000 needy seniors with their prescription costs.
"And my outreach into the minority community is not limited to an election year,'' he said.
Kinder, who describes himself as "a different kind of Republican,'' said that unlike some out-state politicians, he is committed to the city of St. Louis and the regional economy of St. Louis because he recognizes that "as St. Louis goes, so goes the state."
Page (right) said his campaign faced different challenges than his fellow Democrats because he was not facing significant opposition within his own party.
"I think the outcome was consistent with what we were hoping for," Page said. "We're going to take Missouri in a different direction than in the last four years."
Page said that the quality and affordability of health care and access to higher education are his priorities. "We want to make sure that every child in Missouri can go as far as their mind and ambition will take them," Page said.
Overby said the November lieutenant governor's race will also hinge on the national elections and straight-ticket voting and on a commonly held view that a state's governor and lieutenant governor should be from the same party.
"Matt Blunt will be a huge factor in the general election because everyone running on the Republican ticket has declared he's done the right thing, and I can tell you that the rest of Missouri doesn't agree," Page said.
Kinder said that neither Blunt nor President George W. Bush will be on the ballot this November and that elections are about the future. "My view is that we paddle our own canoes,'' he said. At the same time, Kinder said that enthusiasm for Obama in urban areas of the state will make this unlike any previous election year.
Page served on the Creve Coeur City Council before being elected to the General Assembly in 2003.
Others Democrats running were: Michael E. Carter, 36, a St. Charles attorney; Richard C. Tolbert, 63, a Kansas City businessman, C. Lilliam Metzger, 84, a retired paralegal from Troy, Becky L. Plattner of Grand Pass and Mary Williams, 51, of Jefferson City.
Teddy Fleck, 46, of Springfield was the lone candidate on the Libertarian ticket.
Joy Resmovits, Bill Smith and Amelia Flood contributed to this story.