Talent proves he knows Missourian's interests

Webster County Citizen

We and hundreds of other journalists from across Missouri were excited Friday in anticipation of hearing debate between incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan and Republican challenger Jim Talent in perhaps the most highly contested U.S. Senate race in the nation.

Each had been invited to speak at the annual convention of the Missouri Press Association, along with a pair of third-party candidates.

Talent showed.

Carnahan didn't.

It wasn't the first time the duo had been invited to debate issues among journalists. Each time, Talent has appeared, while Carnahan has not.

In Carnahan's defense, it's no secret that we are burdened with perhaps the most-useless 100-member U.S. Senate in our nation's 226-year history. Frankly, nothing is getting done in its chambers.

Gridlock abounds. House bills are stalled. We might end the year without a budget to be signed by President George W. Bush. Thus, Carnahan has an easy defense at her disposal by saying that there's business that needs to be tended to in Washington, D.C.

To our chagrin, she's obviously not tending to it, instead favoring party politics over good government.

Carnahan's no-show Friday was the latest in the saga of a woman who suffered a terrible tragedy with the loss of her husband and son but shouldn't have been seated in the elite body of Congress. The people of this state elected her husband to the U.S. Senate. He died before the election, and she was appointed to the position. In the interim, she's obviously been overwhelmed by the job, doing little except serve as the puppet for her party cronies such as liberal Democrat Tom Daschle - folks whose views certainly don't represent the state's common-sense values or best interests.

Talent spoke to journalists in depth Friday, fielding difficult questions for more than an hour. He gave forthright answers, many of them unpopular to those with different political views. Regardless, his candid nature was appreciated and his knowledge of the office was apparent.

Jim Talent understands the duties of a federal legislator; Carnahan's silence, we feel, can be interpreted as a lack of comprehension. She owes the people, her constituents, more than periodic canned news releases and rehearsed television commercials.

During his lengthy question-and-answer session Friday, Talent noted that he had visited each of Missouri's 114 counties at least once this year. Webster County is no exception. In fact, by our count, he's visited Seymour on four occasions the past 11 months, including attendance at a Seymour High School baseball game last spring. And the community can't forget the assistance he gave to Seymour's 14-year-old Alex Hagen, ultimately setting up a one-on-one meeting earlier this year with President Bush.

On the other hand, we couldn't identify Jean Carnahan if she walked into our office. Her visits to the county? Zero. In fact, the only visits we can remember her making to southwest Missouri were in the name of filling political coffers.

But forget the journalists' shun.

Forget Talent's friendliness.

Forget his political experience and Carnahan's lack of it.

The bottom line is that Jim Talent, a former member of the Missouri House and U.S. House, is the better candidate. As our U.S. senator, he'll best represent this state and its interests.

That's because he's actually made an effort to find out what those aforementioned interests are.

This editorial originally appeared in the Webster County Citizen on Oct. 4.