Roy Blunt named Republican of the Year

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The testimonials were gushing, the standing ovation lingering, the handshakes enthusiastic as U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt was honored as Missouri Republican of the Year.

Blunt just grinned during the weekend when asked to consider what a difference a decade can make in politics.

"People admire in politics a willingness to come back," Blunt finally replied.

He didn't always have reason to smile. Ten years ago, Blunt was battling for the governorship at a GOP convention in the same Springfield hotel during one of Missouri's most bitter party primaries.

Blunt was criticized at the time by fellow Republicans for scathing campaign advertisements that scarred their eventual 1992 gubernatorial candidate enough for Democrats to finish him off in the general election. Stepping down after two terms as secretary of state, Blunt faced an uncertain political future.

Now Blunt seems to be a consensus figure among state Republicans. He was elected to Congress in 1996, after pledging backing for the GOP Contract with America. "I'd like to be part of making our district a major part of that discussion," Blunt said in 1995.

He has risen in just five years to serve as the GOP's chief deputy whip. He huddles with President Bush at the White House and Camp David.

Blunt says he has rounded up enough votes to be promoted to House majority whip. Missouri Republicans said proudly that he is on track to someday be speaker of a House under GOP control.

"In my career, I've been up and I've been down," Blunt told a banquet Saturday night at which he was honored as Republican of the Year. "I like being up."

An early start

Filing hasn't opened for the 2002 elections. But a veteran state lawmaker from St. Louis County is already campaigning for a statewide race in 2004.

Rep. Pat Secrest used the weekend Lincoln Days gathering to announce she is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.

A House member for a dozen years, Secrest is the senior Republican on the House Labor Committee, and the House Committee on Workers Compensation and Employment Security.

She decided to seek her first statewide office because term limits will end her House career. She is kicking off her 2004 campaign now to get a jump on fund raising. The incumbent lieutenant governor is Democrat Joe Maxwell.

Filing for the 2002 primaries opens Feb. 26.

Republicans say they are narrowing their search for a candidate to file for state auditor by the March 26 deadline.