Voters favor 'Missouree' to 'Missourah'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- It's "Missou-ree" over "Missou-rah" by a landslide.

It may not end the long-standing argument among Missourians, but a mock election held by Secretary of State Matt Blunt found that three out of every four Missouri State Fair attendees -- 74 percent to 26 percent -- preferred "ree" to "rah."

More than 5,300 ballots were cast at the secretary of state's display at the Missouri State Fair that opened Aug. 8 and ended Aug. 18.

The legal voting age of 18 was set aside during the election.

"This long-standing debate can be put to rest, at least for those who say 'Missouree,"' Blunt said. "This is an issue that has divided friends and family for generations. In my own family, we have always said Missourah."

Blunt, the son of U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., says he'll now make a good-faith effort to say "Missou-ree."

"I do not expect to get it right every single time, nor do I expect anyone else who says 'Missourah' to change," Blunt said. "Having conducted the election, it's only right and proper that I accept the result."

Not everyone was willing to choose sides.

"Are you kidding?" Jim Talent, the Republican challenger to Democratic Sen. Jean Carnahan, asked last week.

When pressed, Talent admitted: "I will use both, but as the good Lord is my witness, I don't do that deliberately."

Talent said he tends to say "Missou-ree" when he refers to the state on its own, but "Missou-rah" if the word is possessive, as in, "Missouri's children."

Blunt said he hoped the lighthearted election provided people from across the state insight into the services his office provides to voters.

"It is my sincere hope that people who voted in the mock election will take advantage of some of those services and inform their friends and family," Blunt said.

Also on the mock ballot was a question pitting the Kansas City Chiefs against the St. Louis Rams for the title of Missouri's best professional football team.

The Chiefs, who haven't reached the playoffs since the 1998 season, won the election with 2,322 votes, or 51 percent. The Rams had 2,234 votes, or 49 percent.

The Rams won the Super Bowl in 1999 but lost in last year's championship game to New England.

Sedalia, which has been home to the fair for 100 years, is about 90 miles east of Kansas City and 190 west of St. Louis.