Strong candidates make for a good race

Next year's elections for Missouri's leadership promise to provide one of the most exciting campaigns in recent memory.

Not only will primary races give voters a considerable range of choices, the quality of candidates appears to be above average with many qualified and experienced office seekers.

The race for governor will certainly be more interesting if there is a challenge in the Democratic primary to incumbent Bob Holden, and State Auditor Claire McCaskill has given every indication she intends to do just that.

Of particular interest to voters in the Cape Girardeau area will be the race for lieutenant governor. With few exceptions, those seeking to hold the state's No. 2 office are presumed to be candidates for the top spot sometime in the future.

Two Cape Girardeans say they are interested in becoming lieutenant governor. State Sen. Peter Kinder, who has been president pro tem of the Missouri Senate since Republicans took control of the upper chamber, hopes his credentials will appeal to voters statewide. And Bekki Cook hopes both her record and vote-getting abilities as a former secretary of state also will be attractive to Missouri's voters.

Because there is no sure thing in politics, it's too early to say Kinder and Cook will be campaigning for lieutenant governor as their respective party's nominee after the August primary, but it is a good bet they will.

If so, Missourians will have two remarkably qualified and experienced candidates to choose from when they go to the polls for the November general election. That's good for politics. And that's good for Missourians.