MOScout Weekender: Wright in Senate 3? - WWTW - MOScout Poll - Hallway on Session and more...

Wright in Senate 3?

Rep. Dale Wright added $100K to his campaign committee, hinting that he will be leaping into the Senate 3 Republican primary.

Right now the only declared candidate is Kent Scism – who himself has put $250K into his campaign.

Wright raised eyebrows earlier this year.  He was speaking to the Ste. Genevieve Democratic Club (see it here) when he blamed the Senate’s Conservative Caucus for an unproductive legislative session.

"It was usually the Uber-Ultra-Right Wing Republicans against the more moderate Republicans. That’s where most of the battles were. Even in the Senate, there was what was called the ‘Group of Six.’ Those group of six held up so many bills that were good bills that we all agreed upon — both sides of the aisle — but they filibustered to high heaven. That kept a lot of good legislation from happening.”

Introducing the MOScout Headline Writing Contest…

What should the headline of this forehead slap be?...

Democrat Maite Salazar, who is challenging Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, apologized (on Twitter) after accusing Cleaver (on Twitter) of keeping a picture of Bill Cosby under his desk.  See it here.  The picture was actually of Al Jarreau. See it here.

@MaiteSalazar4MO

I would like to offer my deepest apology. I made a mistake by insinuating my opponent had a picture he did not have in his office.  I overstepped, when I should have left it alone. When you're when you are running a campaign of this magnitude, mistakes are made.

Remington/MOScout Poll: Pre-Files

I asked general questions – the same one I asked a year ago – to see how are Missourians feeling as we enter 2020.  They think the country is headed in the right direction; Trump has a higher approval rating; and they want action on climate change.  January 2019’s results are in parenthesis. See the full results here.

Survey conducted January 8 through January 9, 2020. 1,169 likely 2020 General Election voters participated in the survey. Margin of Error is +/-2.9%.  

Q1: Do you think the United States is headed in the right direction or is it going off on the wrong track?

Right direction: 50%  (41%)

Wrong track: 41%      (50%)

Not sure: 9%              (9%)

Q2: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Donald Trump is doing as President?

Approve: 53%          (49%)

Disapprove: 42%     (47%)

Not sure: 5%            (4%)

Q3: What do you think is biggest problem facing our country today?

Federal debt: 10%                          (9%)

Rising healthcare costs: 21%         (21%)

Illegal immigration: 19%               (30%)

Moral decay of society: 21%         (14%)

Income inequality: 9%                   (9%)

Something else: 10%                     (9%)

Not sure: 10%                                (9%)

Q4: Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statement: The government should act to reduce the threat of global warming.

Strongly agree: 39%              (35%)

Somewhat agree: 18%           (21%)

Somewhat disagree: 16%      (15%)

Strongly disagree: 19%         (17%)

Not sure: 8%                         (12%)

MOScout’s Hallway Index:

I asked What is the greatest threat to a productive legislative session?  23 replies.  The number answer was the wild card answer #5, with folks commenting that it will be Republican in-fighting most likely to doom session.

1. Election year posturing. 13.1%

2. Leadership race posturing…  30.4%

3. Cleaner Missouri PQ/blow-up…13.1%

4. Scandal blow-up… 0%

5. Something else.  43.4%

Sample of Comments

·         Dem Senate ranks lose so many members that there’s nothing left to do but infighting among Rs.

·         Conservative Caucus vs Senate leadership

·         The largest threat is the same as it is every year. Republican infighting in the Senate.

·         R intra-party conflict

·         Conservative Caucus straining relationships within Senate GOP, and loss of key senators to appointments.

·         Eric Greitens running.

·         GOP in-fighting. Vescovo v Haahr. House v Senate. “Conservative” caucus v everyone else. Legislature v Governor. Lots of ways for all of that to make everything go south.

Who Won the Week?

Judy Baker – With Michela Skleton dropping out and endorsing her, Baker avoids a primary and now needs to tilt her sails to catch an anti-Trump Columbia wave to take her to the Senate.

Jason Holsman, Kiki Curls, Gary Romine – Not bad having a former senator as governor.

Jay Wasson – see above.

The Giddens Group – Lands the high-profile KC contract.

Find a downloadable version here.

Lobbyist Registrations

Sara Baker added ACLU of Missouri.

Deidre Hirner added Hirner Law Associates LLC.

Ashok Gupta added Natural Resources Defense Council and Its Affiliates.          

Edward Smith added Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

Janet Louis Waddell added Evergy.

Tony Dugger added The Giddens Group; and deleted United Surety Agents of Missouri.

Gamble & Schlemeier deleted Essentials In Education and Netflix.

Lisa Christie deleted City of Nevada.

Amy Healy deleted ACT Inc.

Jeremy LaFaver deleted Aligned.

$5K+ Contributions

Wright For Missouri - $100,000 from Dale Wright.

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $10,000 from Sue Fischlowitz.

House Democratic Campaign Committee - $10,000 from Elliott Denniston.

Birthdays

Happy birthdays to Rep. Judy Morgan and Scott Intagliata.

Sunday: Rep. Nate Tate, Scott Largent, and Jim Ross.