GOP dominates vote in region as political landscape changes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- When the General Assembly convened for its 1993 legislative session, 11 of the 17 lawmakers representing Southeast Missouri were Democrats. When the 2003 session begins in January, 12 of the region's 16 legislators will be Republicans.

While certain counties, such as Cape Girardeau, Butler and Perry, have long been reliably Republican, the rest of the area until recently was solidly Democratic. Those days, for the time being at least, are over.

Missouri Democratic Party executive director Mike Kelley said the party needs to rebuild strong organizations in Southeast Missouri and other rural areas of the state to overcome the perception that Democrats have become focused on urban regions.

"I'm not sure some of our people in rural Missouri aren't just staying home," Kelley said. "We need to go out and understand why this is."

Kelley said Republicans have done a much better job of building local, grassroots support in Missouri outside Kansas City and St. Louis.

Emerson's operation

A prime example is the political operation built by the late U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson and maintained by his widow and congressional successor, Jo Ann Emerson. Virtually every current and incoming Republican state lawmaker from Southeast Missouri has ties to the Emerson organization.

Kelley said Democrats must get more involved in local county races to develop strong candidates who can move on to higher office and reverse the party's fortunes in rural Missouri.

All four of Southeast Missouri's remaining Democratic lawmakers are in the House. Three are from the northern edges of the region, representing several counties that still lean to Democratic Party, including Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois and Washington.

State Rep. Denny Merideth of Caruthersville is the only Democratic state lawmaker left in the Bootheel, which until recently had been a loyal Democratic region dating to Reconstruction.

Merideth, who won his first two elections for the seat as an independent, has a record of working closely with House Republicans, particularly fellow conservatives from Southeast Missouri. If Republicans had fallen one or two seats short of the 82 needed to gain House control last week, party leaders had discussed making Merideth their nominee for House speaker. As it turned out, the GOP claimed a 90-73 majority on Election Day.

Two former Democratic seats in the area went Republican. Otto Bean of Holcomb picked up the only other remaining Bootheel district that hadn't yet switched parties. Mike Dethrow of Alton claimed a district on the western side of the region that primarily consists of Carter, Ripley and Oregon counties.

The two Republican candidates on last week's statewide ballot also had strong showings in Southeast Missouri.

Although Jim Talent garnered 49.8 percent plurality of the statewide vote to barely unseat U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, who had 48.6 percent support, the outcome in Southeast Missouri wasn't close.

Talent carried 11 of 19 area counties and 55.6 percent of the combined vote, compared to 43.2 percent for Carnahan, for a 12-point margin of victory in the region.

Area voters even supported the Republican candidate for state auditor -- a convicted felon disavowed by party leaders -- at a higher rate than was the case statewide.

Al Hanson claimed just 36.6 percent of the total vote in losing to Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill, who had 59.9 percent. In Southeast Missouri, McCaskill had 53.3 percent with 43.4 percent for Hanson.

Hanson won just 20 of Missouri's 114 counties, including four in the area -- Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau and Perry.

Increased clout

The Republican Party's rise to prominence in Southeast Missouri has brought with it increased clout, said state GOP spokesman Scott Baker.

"It is interesting when you look at the major players in the state party, a lot of them are from down there now," Baker said.

Big Republican guns from the area include Jack Oliver of Cape Girardeau, the deputy director of the Republican National Committee; Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, also of Cape Girardeau; and Lloyd Smith of Sikeston, the former long-time chief of staff to both Emersons. Smith also managed Talent's Senate campaign.

In addition to Kinder, two area lawmakers will hold high-ranking leadership posts next year. State Rep. Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, will be speaker pro tem, the No. 2 House post, while state Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, will be majority floor leader.

Kinder said residents of Southeast Missouri shouldn't overemphasize the power that leadership will give area lawmakers in terms of securing government spending.

"It happens to be a happy coincidence, but I don't think it means the state is going to start listing to the southeast because we're going to pave everything over with concrete down there," Kinder said.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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