MOScout Daily Update: Long Save the Date! - STL Council Rescinds Mask Mandate - Anti-Maskers as New Tea Party? - No Greitens Q&A and more...

Here Comes Long….

Congressman Billy Long sent out a “Save the Date” invite.  It looks like a Senate announcement coming.  See it here.  The August 11 event will headline Trump-worlder Kellyanne Conway for Long’s “birthday and special announcement.” 

Long would be the fifth Republican candidate for Senate.  His folky schtick is genuine and works well among GOP voters, and he has his eyes on Donald Trump’s endorsement.

What It Means

As chatter around a Long Senate bid has grown in the past week, I’ve written about the various who might be interested in running for Long’s congressional seat. 

·         Just as we’re seeing in the CD-4 opening, expect no shortage of credible candidates. 

·         The field will probably include a state senator or two as well. 

·         And that could complicate next session as every vote becomes a potential campaign issue…

The Great Masking Debate

St. Louis County Council overturned County Executive Sam Page’s mask order one day after its pronouncement. See a jubilant crowd cheering at the vote here.

Meanwhile St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones tweeted out her reaction: Wow. Just…..wow.

And Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced he’ll be bringing back masks to that city.

·         NYTimes captures this dichotomy with an article about the CDC’s new masking guidelines. Read it here. In urging Americans to return to wearing masks indoors, at least in areas where the coronavirus is surging, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday issued only a guideline, not a legally binding mandate.  How and whether the new mask guidance is implemented depends entirely on state and local authorities, which in turn depends greatly on local politics….

And

Getting passed around yesterday. This article in Politico about The Lake of The Ozarks.  Gregg Keller gets the closing quote…

·         Depending on your politics, the scene at Backwater Jack’s is either a symbol of reckless abandon or unapologetic living in the face of a pandemic. It is one pole of the divide that has erupted across the country, which increasingly seems cloven into two Americas: vaxxed and unvaxxed. In the Lake of the Ozarks region, where Missourians and out-of-staters pour in to boat, fish, sunbathe and party, to be unvaxxed is a source of identity and—at times—pride, a totem of one’s independence and politics.

·         Like other places with low vaccination rates, there is a deep distrust of authority that exists among those at the Lake of the Ozarks. Politicians have agendas, the press loves controversy, even data can’t be believed. Some here cast hospitalization spikes as fictionalized. Others spin conspiracy theories about microchips.

·         “Now people are getting vaccinated and mysteriously you can take the average scanner and scan your arm,” Kenny Hubbard…

·         “The irony is it’s not the dumb rubes in Missouri who don’t understand the nature of this disease,” Gregg Keller, a longtime Republican consultant in Missouri. “Missourians understand this far better than these supposed medical experts we’ve been giving tens of millions of dollars every year.”

The Next Battle Looming

According to the CDC’s new guidelines, they’re recommending masks for “all teachers, staff, students and visitors to K-12 schools this incoming school year, regardless of vaccination status.”

Look for local battles as school districts balance between following CDC recommendations and angry parents ready for the return to normal.

What It Means

·         These conflicts have the ingredients to fuel a new class of political candidates.

·         Ben Brown – running in Senate 26 – is one such example.  But the mask/anti-mask battles ahead could set the stage for many more across Missouri.  Not unlike the Tea Party erupting over deficit spending (remember that??).

Greitens (No Questions Permitted)

One MOScouter sent in the program from a recent grassroots Republican event.  It featured Eric Greitens as the speaker – though as the program noted (see it here).  There were to be no questions permitted.

Thiel’s Small Schmitt Donation

Axios reports on the political contributions of Peter Thiel, a Paypal co-founder.  It shows that his $250K contribution to AG Eric Schmitt’s PAC is actually quite small by the billionaire’s standards.  And that might mean additional donations could be in the pipeline…

·         His brand of nationalist conservatism mimics the party's Trump-era shift. Yet the fortune he's using to bankroll like-minded candidates derives from an industry reviled by much of that base.

·         Thiel's $10 million infusion into a super PAC supporting the Ohio Senate bid by "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance represented his first major foray into the 2022 cycle.

·         Last week, the Washington Examiner reported Thiel is putting another $10 million into a super PAC supporting Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters, an executive at Thiel's venture capital firm and foundation.

$5K+ Contributions

Elect Cindy Elmore Stone County Clerk - $20,401 from Cynthia Elmore.

Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors Missouri PAC - $10,092 from Missouri Realtors PAC, Inc.

Invest in St. Louis Community College - $10,000 from Spire Energy.

Invest in St. Louis Community College - $20,000 from Civic Progress Action Committee.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to Dale Ludwig.