This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 24, 2011 - U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill has postponed -- but not cancelled -- a visit to Boeing Co.'s manufacturing plant by Lambert Field to laud the F/A-18 strike fighter plane, and the thousands of St. Louis area workers who help build it.
Aides blame bad weather in Texas for knocking out today's planned stop. McCaskill was flying in from Dallas, where she had attended Sunday night's World Series game between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals.
As the Beacon reported earlier, the Democratic senator appears to be engaging in a bit of undisguised political gamesmanship with the visit, which her staff says will allow McCaskill to "meet with managers and employees about the value of the F/A-18 Super Hornet and its sustainability as a major job creator in Missouri."
McCaskill, D-Mo., made no secret in her office's news release that the visit just might be linked to the Republican-led misstep in the state House earlier this month, when legislators overwhelmingly approved a resolution that called on Congress to fully fund production of the F/A-18's rival, Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
The resolution also jabbed at the F/A-18, although not by name, as being an "aging and obsolete aircraft."
Republican legislative leaders contend that few were aware, until afterward, that the resolution was a slap at the F/A-18 and the 15,000 workers in the St. Louis who help build it.
A bipartisan parade of officials -- led by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat -- swiftly issued statements blasting the House's action.
Republican House leaders issued public or private apologies to Boeing, and moved within two weeks to adopt a new resolution praising the F/A-18. (Boeing also fired its longterm lobbyist in Jefferson City.)
But McCaskill -- who is running for re-election in 2012 -- is the first politician of either party to hold a post-resolution event on Boeing's turf to highlight the virtues of the F/A-18 and those who build it. (One of her Republican rivals, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, was among the politicians who issued statements critical of the House's initial pro-F-35 action.)
McCaskill sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and pointedly notes that she -- unlike legislators in the Missouri House -- has been "an outspoken, consistent support of the F/A-18 program'' and has never been a fan of the rival F-35.
In her announcement of her visit, the senator also resurrected her earlier disparaging comments of Lockheed's F-35 that it is the "poster child of a bloated, out-of-control, over-budget, behind schedule aircraft."
McCaskill praised the state House's decision last week to pass a pro-Boeing resolution, but asserted that -- despite the GOP's portrayal of resolutions as worthless -- the original resolution could have had dangerous consequences.
She contended that it "could have helped opponents of the F/A-18 justify trying to bring an end to its production, which would cost Missouri thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue."
McCaskill's decision to stop by Boeing and highlight her support contrasts with the tensions of a couple years ago, when a top local labor leader complained publicly that the senator wasn't doing enough in Congress in support of Boeing's F/A-18 and C-17 cargo plane production lines. McCaskill sharply disagreed with the characterization. But since then, she has undeniably been more upfront about her support for Boeing.
McCaskill's latest action also underscores that she may become an even more important congressional player on behalf of Boeing, as a result of the retirement of the aircraft giant's former No. 1 cheerleader, former Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo.
His successor, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., hails from southwest Missouri. Blunt hasn't said much publicly about the flap over the state House's anti-Boeing resolution. But he also doesn't sit on the Armed Services Committee.
Another dynamic also may be at work. Although McCaskill now resides in Kirkwood, she spent much of her political life in Kansas City, Mo., where she has occasionally crossed political paths with Republican consultant/lobbyist Jeff Roe, who does some work for Lockheed Martin and played a role in the original House resolution.
In any case, McCaskill's visit today could pay political dividends for her -- and perhaps add to the headaches of her Republican critics, some of who may have wished they had thought of holding a pro-Boeing event first.
