This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 25, 2011 - Washington's battle over the debt ceiling has begun to trickle down to Missouri's top two contests on the 2012 ballot: for U.S. senator -- and governor.
The jockeying over the Senate seat isn't surprising, as U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and her two Republican rivals -- U.S. Rep. Todd Akin and former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman -- have all stacked out positions somwhat in line with their respective parties.
The gubernatorial angle is somewhat unexpected, as Democrats take after a weekend debt-ceiling tweet from Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican expected to challenge Gov. Jay Nixon.
Akin, R-Wildwood, went on the attack late Sunday, by citing McCaskill's opposition to the GOP-backed "Cut, Cap, and Balance" bill that passed the U.S. House but died in the Senate.
Akin had been one of the co-sponsors of the bill, which would have cut federal spending, capped future spending so by that 2021 it would be under 20 percent of the nation's gross national product and proposed a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget.
Said Akin in his statement, in part: "McCaskill's votes make clear her willingness to grant President Obama an increase in the nation's credit card with no strings attached. ... Once again proving her talk of an 'independent streak' is little more than that: talk."
As for himself, Akin added, "I will not support any proposal to raise the debt ceiling unless it includes a real solution to the problem we face."
UPDATE: Akin was even sharper in his attacks at a Republican barbecue in Springfield, Mo., telling his audience that the debt-ceiling battle was fueled, in part, by the fact that President Barack Obama is "a flaming socialist." Click here to read the account of Springfield, Mo., blogger Eli Yokley (PoliticMo).
McCaskill has sought to portray the Republicans as irresponsible, portraying their opposition to a debt-ceiling increase as a refusal to pay debts that the country already has incurred.
(Steelman, by the way, has sought to carve a middle ground. She recently compared the debt-ceiling fight to football. "I think it's time to find leadership that doesn't put us on 4th and 10, backed up against our own goal line time and again. ... We must broaden the tax base and incentivize domestic investment. Erase the carve outs and subsidies for special industries that have been forced through by Washington's best lobbyists.")
In Missouri's expected-but-not-yet-announced contest for governor, the state Democratic Party is calling for Kinder to apologize for one of his Sunday tweets in which he blamed the "rapidly growing nat'l debt'' on "spending levels never before seen in peacetime."
Said state Democratic Party spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki: "There are thousands of military families in Missouri who would probably disagree with Kinder that this is a 'peacetime.' Kinder should do the right thing -- correct the record and apologize for being so careless."
She was referring, of course, to the current U.S. military activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Kinder's frequent -- and occasionally controversial -- tweets on Twitter have been a longstanding Democratic target.
Meanwhile, Democratic incumbent Nixon has been circumspect on the matter of the federal debt and the debt ceiling.
During an interview Friday, the governor acknowledged that Missouri's AAA credit rating might be threatened if the federal government defaults by failing to raise the debt ceiling.
Although emphasizing that Missouri "pays its bills" and must balance its budget, Nixon observed that all states are somewhat linked to the federal government's credit rating.
As for the battle in Washington, he added, "It's my best hope and expecttion they will reach a fiscally prudent and responsible solution."
