Secretary of state race parallels 2000 contest

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- This year's race for secretary of state pits a sitting speaker of the House of Representatives against a scion of a respected Missouri political family who has scant personal experience serving in elected office. In that aspect, the contest is a repeat of the 2000 campaign for the post.

The showdown in the Nov. 2 general election is between House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, and first-time candidate Robin Carnahan, a Democrat whose grandfather was a congressman, mother was a U.S. senator and father held three statewide offices, culminating with two terms as governor.

Four years ago, then-House Speaker Steve Gaw, D-Moberly, went up against Republican Matt Blunt, the son of U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, who previously served eight years as Missouri secretary of state.

Although the House speaker is among the most powerful posts in state government, outside of political circles the speaker is relatively unknown to most Missourians.

Gaw, an eight-year House veteran who served five years as speaker, discovered the prestige of the position doesn't necessarily translate to votes in a statewide election. Blunt, at the time a 29-year-old freshman member of the House minority party, beat Gaw by 6 percentage points, proving that having a familiar name can be a strong political asset.

Name recognition

Dr. Rick Althaus, a political science professor at Southeast Missouri State University, said it is generally easier for a candidate to bring name recognition among voters into a campaign than to try to build it along the way.

"In the case of a statewide race, if you start out with that over your opponent, it can be a positive thing," Althaus said.

Hanaway concedes she has much work to do to overcome the Carnahan legacy.

"She has got a huge name identification advantage on me," Hanaway said. "Carnahan is a household name. Hanaway is not."

Hanaway, who has served six years in the House, including the last two as speaker, said a key difference between her situation and Gaw's is that he had never previously played a major role in a statewide campaign. By contrast, Hanaway has figured prominently in Republican statewide efforts in every general election since 1996.

In particular, Hanaway headed George W. Bush's successful presidential campaign in Missouri in 2000 and orchestrated the Republican takeover of the House in 2002. Hanaway, 42, said those experiences are proving invaluable in her own bid for high elected office.

Although Carnahan, 43, has never held elected office, she is far from a political novice, having been involved in her family's numerous campaigns. She also managed the successful 1999 statewide campaign to defeat a ballot measure that would have allowed Missourians to carry concealed weapons.

Her eulogy of her father, who died while campaigning for the U.S. Senate in October 2000, spawned the slogan "Don't let the fire go out" that became the rallying cry for Democrats in the push to posthumously elect Mel Carnahan. Her mother, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to serve the first two years of the late governor's Senate term.

In terms of fund raising, through Aug. 28, Carnahan had raised $1,194,660, slightly more than Hanaway's $1,142,763.

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