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Nixon, McCaskill Speak At Union Rally

All the Missouri Democratic players were in St. Louis Tuesday, speaking to hundreds of rallying union members. Senator Claire McCaskill joined Governor Jay Nixon and numerous other Democratic candidates onstage.

The incumbent Senator used her stage-time to take a couple of shots at her opponent, Republican Congressman Todd Akin. Akin made national headlines for his comments concerning “legitimate rape,” a statement McCaskill is trying to make sure Missouri voters don’t forget.

“I gotta tell you, I’ve got a really complicated campaign strategy we’re implementing over the next few weeks: it’s called keep Todd Akin talking,” McCaskill told the crowd.

This week, Congressman Akin is campaigning alongside Janet Huckabee, the wife of 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, in an attempt to improve Akin’s image with women.

Governor Nixon, on the other hand, used his time to talk about Right to Work.

Right to Work refers to a law that would prohibit union members and employers from agreeing to make union dues a requisite of employment. It’s been a contentious issue in the gubernatorial race – and one that Nixon was eager to bring up to the union members.

“My opponent has said the first thing he would do is sign Right to Work, okay?" Nixon said, encouraging the crowd to boo. “Right to work will not happen on my watch."

Nixon’s Republican opponent, businessman Dave Spence, gave tours Tuesday of Alpha Packaging, a business Spence was CEO of for over 25 years. Spence says he’s proud that workers at Alpha Packaging are not unionized.

Follow Chris McDaniel on Twitter@csmcdaniel

  • See more stories on issues and elections from St. Louis Public Radio, the St. Louis Beacon and Nine Network of Public Media at BeyondNovember.org.