Republicans re-elect party chairwoman

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The state's Republican leadership has re-elected as its leader the woman who presided over the party when it won the governor's seat and majorities in both chambers of the legislature.

"I can't believe it. It's always exciting to have the grassroots activists reaffirm your leadership," Ann Wagner said after the 68-member Missouri Republican State Committee re-elected her to her fourth two-year term on Saturday during the 106th annual Lincoln Days festivities in Springfield.

Wagner, whose duties include recruiting candidates, planning campaigns and raising money, officially entered politics in 1990. She headed the decennial redistricting efforts for the GOP while her husband worked in the administration of then-governor John Aschroft. Soon she was the state director for the re-election campaign of president George H.W. Bush and vice president Dan Quayle.

Her tenure with the party has coincided with remarkable GOP gains, Republican consultant John Hancock said.

Republicans gained control of the House in 2002 and of the Senate during the 2001 special elections, after decades of Democratic dominance at the Missouri Capitol. The 2004 election saw the party hold onto control of the legislature and gain control of the governor's seat with the election of Matt Blunt -- a combination that hadn't been seen in the state since governor Arthur Hyde in 1921-1922.

Wagner described this year's gathering of elected leaders and party activists as a celebration and a time to refocus. Besides planning for the 2006 election cycle, she said, the party also talked about the importance of supporting the message of Blunt and the GOP majority in the legislature.

"We are going to be aggressively getting their plans out there," she said. "It's different going from where we were a decade ago to being a majority party."

The two-day event included a banquet Saturday night featuring Wagner, Blunt and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.