Blunt faces challenge to sell agenda

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt's decision not to seek re-election has created political problems for Republicans, but it also creates questions about what will happen to a legislative agenda he crafted with an eye toward re-election.

Blunt said during a news conference Wednesday that it wasn't until after his State of the State speech that he decided he wouldn't seek a second term.

In that speech last week -- criticized by Democratic leaders for its political tone -- the governor proposed measures to tackle illegal immigration and to expand government health-care subsidies to the uninsured. He also unveiled a budget with hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending.

But legislative leaders, and even the governor, say that when it comes to making policy decisions, politicians who aren't facing re-election have some challenges in telling those who are what should be done.

Blunt said his policy ideas aren't driven by politics, which should make it easier for them to attract support.

"I think we'll be able to achieve our objectives and goals for this session. They're not enunciated as some sort of re-election rhetoric," he said. "They were enunciated because I think they're a wise allocation of Missouri resources and good public policy."

Nonetheless, keeping individual lawmakers in line could prove particularly challenging in the House, where several Republicans already have begun to rebel against Blunt's Insure Missouri health-care plan.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, talking with reporters after the governor's announcement Tuesday, said Blunt's decision "makes him a lame-duck governor." Jetton, R-Marble Hill, said that could make some lawmakers feel freer but also give Blunt more freedom to propose new ideas.

"The advantage is you can do anything you feel you need to do," Jetton said. "It frees him up some."

The House has already begun a series of hearings to examine Insure Missouri and larger health-care issues. Although the panel has focused heavily on Blunt's plan, chairman Rob Schaaf said Wednesday that Blunt's decision doesn't mean much.

"The work of my committee is independent of who is and isn't running for governor," said Schaaf, R-St. Joseph.

Senate Minority Leader Maida Coleman said Blunt's decision won't affect Democrats' goals and tactics but could prompt some new priorities for the Senate as a whole.

The state budget is another place where Blunt's decision to step out of the race could affect policy. Senate and House budget leaders have already expressed concerns about how the state would pay for the governor's flurry of new spending proposals.

House Budget chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, said last week that even while conventional wisdom held that Blunt would seek re-election, the committee planned a closer evaluation of gubernatorial requests in the state's supplemental budget.

That budget is designed to cover extra costs not included in the budget approved by the legislature during the previous session. Lawmakers can only accept or reject the governor's requests; they can't change them or add their own ideas.

Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons said Blunt's decision to exit the race could result in a more productive session by forestalling what already had become a heated competition between Blunt and Democratic candidate Attorney General Jay Nixon.

"People should get more of a fair shake on the things that they really care about," said Gibbons, R-Kirkwood.