In several ways the Aug. 3, 2004 statewide primary set the stage for the general election vote.  Voters overwhelmingly approved Constitutional Amendment 2 defining marriage ("That to be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman.") by a margin of 70.6% to 29.4%.  In the Democratic gubernatorial primary Auditor Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Gov. Bob Holden.

As a battleground state, Missouri received visits from the principals, advertising, and attention from independent groups such as ACT, The Media Fund, MoveOn.org and MoveOn PAC on the Democratic side.  Sen. John Kerry considered Rep. Dick Gephardt (MO-3) for his running mate, to the extent that the New York Post even erroneously reported on the front page of its July 6 issue that he had picked Gephardt.  Although the Kerry campaign stopped advertising in July before the convention, and the DNC filled in the gap.  By late September, however, the state appeared to be moving into the Bush column.  The DNC's last ad ran on Sept. 24.

Democrats had built up a very robust field program.  All told the Coordinated Campaign had a budget of $4 million dollars and more than 80 employees in 26 offices across the state.  Their six-month voter contact and get-out-the-vote program claimed over 14,000 volunteers throughout the state.  Even after the TV advertising was cut, Democrats kept the field program going, partly to be prepared in the event the campaign "caught a wave" and partly with the upcoming second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 8 in mind.  One top Missouri Democratic staffer said afterwards that it would have made more sense to redeploy field staff to other states at the same time as TV was cut, as happened for example in Arizona.  The staffer said that it is "really hard to persuade when you don't have TV or the candidate."

There was a spike of activity around the debate, but the next week the DNC/Kerry campaign did effectively pull out, redirecting a significant share of its resources to other more closely fought states.  This caused a week or so of disruption, but a reduced staff, including many with Missouri origins, carried on, and the McCaskill campaign helped fund what was left. 

Given the number of competitive statewide races in Missouri, the pullout may well have had downstream consequences.  An operative on the Democratic side stated, "If Kerry hadn't pulled out, Blunt wouldn't have won [the race for governor]."  "It definitely made a difference," she said.

Note.  Following on the voting controversy in November 2000, the City of St. Louis sought to implement early voting. (SoS 7/21/04 press release)
 
 

Bush-Cheney '04	Kerry-Edwards 2004
Organization details...	details...
BC'04 Executive Director: David Raad Victory 2004 Executive Director: Lloyd Smith Missouri Republican Party State Chair: Ann Wagner Chief Operating Officer: Jeff Buker	KE State Director: Tony Wilson Coordinated Campaign Director: Jim Kottmeyer Missouri Democratic Party State Chair: Gov. Roger Wilson Exec. Director: Corey Dillon

Travel  compare...

BUSH-CHENEY	KERRY-EDWARDS
Final Month (Oct. 2-Nov. 2, 2004)
George W. Bush - 1 visits (2 days) Dick Cheney (and Lynne Cheney) - 0 visits Laura Bush (solo) -  0 visits	John Kerry - 1 visit (1 day) John Edwards - 1 visit (1 day) Teresa Heinz Kerry (solo) - 1 visit (1 day) Elizabeth Edwards (solo) - 0 visits
Eight Months (March 2-Nov. 2, 2004)
George W. Bush - 7 visits (9 days) Dick Cheney (and Lynne Cheney) - 9 visits (9 days) Laura Bush (solo) - 1 visit (1 day)	John Kerry - 6 visits (11 days) John Edwards - 4 visits (6 days) Teresa Heinz Kerry (solo) - 1 visit (1 day) Elizabeth Edwards (solo) -  2 visits (2 days)

Newspaper Endorsements

BUSH St. Joseph News-Press  (10/31/04)  Joplin Globe (10/30/04)  Lebanon Daily Record  (10/29/04)  Hannibal Courier-Post

KERRY Springfield News-Leader  (10/27/04)  *Columbia Daily Tribune  (10/17/04)  Kansas City Star  (10/17/04)  St. Louis American  (10/17/04)  ...African American paper  St. Louis Post-Dispatch  (10/10/04)

Third Party and Independent
Ballot Access
For statewide office, Missouri requires an independent candidate to submit signatures of 10,000 registered voters to the Secretary of State by 5:00 p.m. on July 26.
(§115.321.3 RSMo 2002)  The Secretary of State then sends the signatures out to the local election officials to be verified.

Nader:  On July 26, 2004 the campaign submitted 12,893 petition signatures signatures.  On Aug. 18 the Secretary of State reported that based on final reports from local
officials the campaign had obtained 9,006 valid signatures, 994 signatures short of the required number.

Peroutka: 11,393 of the 15,334 signatures submitted for Michael Peroutka were valid.  Donna Ivanovich served as the ballot access coordinator.
 

More Visits
NADER
Aug. 26, 2004
Ralph Nader spoke as part of the "For the Common Good" convocation series at Drury University in Springfield, MO.
 

BADNARIK
Oct. 8, 2004
With Green Party candidate David Cobb, Badnarik crossed a police barricade at the CPD-organized presidential debate at Washington University.  The two were arrested, put in a police van, and driven to a lockup facility, and, after an hour or so, ticketed and released.

July 8-10, 2004 (note: schedule not verified)
July 8 - Kansas City, MO
-Q&A with students at Penn Valley.
-KC Board of Trade fundraising luncheon.
-Appears with Lt. Gov. candidate Mike Ferguson at fundraising dinner hosted by the Jackson County Libertarian Party at Manny's (207 Southwest Blvd).
July 9 - Columbia, MO
-Boone Electric Coop Meeting.
-"Meet and Greet" at Angelo's Pizza and Steakhouse.
July 10 - St. Louis
-"Tailgate Party" at Hannegan's Restaurant on Laclede's Landing.
-Cards vs. Cubs game.
-Photo session at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O'Fallon, MO.
-"Meet and Greet" at Maryland Yards at the Waterworks, in downtown St. Charles.
 

COBB
Oct. 8, 2004
With Green Party candidate Michael Badnarik, Cobb crossed a police barricade at the CPD-organized presidential debate at Washington University.  The two were arrested, put in a police van, and driven to a lockup facility, and, after an hour or so, ticketed and released.
 
 

Copyright ©  2004, 2005  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.