Eighth District U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson would be a good study for Sarah Palin as she ponders her political future, A.B. Stoddard of The Hill suggests. In an item posted Wednesday , Stoddard said Palin needs to shore up her credentials with the public if she is to be a believable candidate for president. The model, he said, is Emerson...

I no longer take smoke breaks at work. Instead, every time I step outside and light up, I make a child healthier. Thanks to the newly minted tax on cigarettes, I pay 6 cents to support health services for children. Thank goodness. I would be worried if my hard-earned dollars were being used for, say, auto company bailouts or banker bonuses. ...

State Rep. Clint Tracy, Cape Girardeau's freshman Republican lawmaker, struck back at state House Minority Leader Paul LeVota's questioning of GOP priorities during the Democratic Party's annual statewide gathering. LeVota renewed his attacks, first made on the floor of the Missouri House, on Tracy's resolution to keep Guantanamo Bay detainees from being transported across or temporarily imprisoned in Missouri...

I haven't had a chance to make any calls, but today's announcement by U.S. Sen. Kit Bond that he won't seek re-election in 2010 will touch off a flurry of activity as Republicans try to hold one of their last two statewide elected offices...

The election is over and we're back to worrying about our jobs and our 401(k) plans and whether the next administration will be able to handle the criss. On Saturday, I received a lesson in timing as well as a few extra dollars when I visited my hometown of Louisville, Ky., and took my mother out to Churchill Downs for an afternoon of diversion. ...

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones has a way with words. Sometimes what comes out of his mouth colorfully illustrates an issue and his opinion, as when he commented on the effort to pass planning and zoning for the county years after the fact at a regional meeting of commissioners...

Cape Girardeau County Republicans gathered at Drury Lodge are having a subdued party with only the occasional good news to cheer them. The GOP faithful, by 8:15 p.m. about 200 strong, are watching Fox News and listening to Brit Hume tell them about the states Barack Obama is carrying and the states where Republicans are losing Senate seats...

A campaign flier paid for and distributed by the Missouri Republican Party in the 156th District is a "misleading" use of information from a candidate survey that should never have become part of political advertising, a spokeswoman for Project Vote Smart said Wednesday...

U.S. Rep Jo Ann Emerson has received an endorsement from an unlikely source. Esquire magazine, which usually focuses heavily on celebrity news and lifestyle journalism, announced its picks in races from the statehouse to the White House. Emerson was the only Republican in Missouri to win a nod from the magazine...