Missouri, a state that is usually forgotten by the media, "coastal elitists," and even the Weather Channel (most days) is finding out that its population is not the red headed stepchildren of the United States, at least for this 2006 election season. The senate race is at a fever pitch, with just one week before the people of Missouri go to the polls. However, Missouri, the "Show Me State," is now being called the "Bell Weather State." Analysts, Pundits, the media, and sitting politicians are saying, "Whichever way Missouri voters go, that will be the way the election for the congress and possibly the senate may go, as well."
Missourians already know their state is split into two halves, has a small group of spread out cities, plus a lot of "in between space". There is the St. Louis side, where soft drinks are called soda, the sports people cheer for their World Series Champs (the St. Louis Cardinals), and the general population is more on the "moderate to liberal" side of the voting ticket. Also, in the new crime report, for the cities in the United States, St. Lous is the most dangerous city (most crime filled city) in all of America. Although, there is two seperate acting sides of the state, the state is still filled with very similar people overall. On the Kansas City side of the state, there are subtle differences from the brothers and sisters down I-70: calling the soft drinks "pop" (instead of soda, or soda pop), the sports fans are used to driving down "George Brett Interstate" (a section of I-70 named after the Hall of Fame, K. C. Royals third baseman) and cheering for the Royals and Chiefs, and the voters are not 100% sold on people like Rev. Emanuel Clever, Claire McCaskill, and/or other democrats now, or from the past. However, Kansas City people are also not the "Country Bumpkins" they are portrayed as, with a probable 50-50 split in voting record, compared to the St. Louis people.
The problem for both Republicans and Democrats, in shoring up the vote for their respective parties, is that there is more to Missouri then just St. Louis and Kansas City. Splitting the state, almost down the middle is a group of three cities: Springfield, Columbia, and St. Joseph, Missouri. All three of these cities are smaller than both Kansas City and St. Louis, but they all three have major colleges right in the middle (Springfield has SMSU, Columbia has the University of Missouri, and Northwest Missouri State and William Jewel are in neighboring towns of St. Joseph, Missouri). These three cities are unique, because they all three have the moderate to progressive type younger voters, who attend the universities. However, there is a roll call of people in these cities alone that have grown up in a smaller town and decided that the bigger cities (K. C. and/or St. Louis) was not for them. These three cities, all with populations of around 80-150,000 people, are mixed with both republicans and democrats. A younger voting core, with college students (who notoriously do not vote at all). A voting range of people who are between 24 to 36, who have moved to a city where they will not have to give up the city things, raise a family, have crime and taxes cut, but are still not in a "Big City." Lastly, these three cities have an older range of voters, from 37 and up. These voters have families and are usually the "Party Line" voters, set in their ways. They can be polled, are targeted by commercials and calls, and will probably not be swayed before election day comes. These three "middle population cities" contain three seperate categories of people, age groups, and most importantly for the politicians, voters.
Once St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph's, Columbia, and Springfield are taken out of the picture, the voting machine has a completely different dynamic. Some are farmers, small businessmen, families, and the "typical John Cougar, Ford truck driving" small town people. However, politicians, pundits, analysts, news people, and the overall "media elite" are not in tune to how intelligent the people of "Fly Over Country" can be. Just because these people are living in towns and cities of 4500 people, or less, does not mean that they do not care about their taxes, medical issues, the war in Iraq, the border and illegal imagration, or our troops. The people of Missouri and "Fly Over Country" have a better pulse on what America actually wants and needs, right now, then the majority of the people that are on the television, writing for the New York Times, or doing the polls for the election. The people outside of the pollsters grasp and the rebublican/democrat phone calls for support, money, and/or surveying, are the ones that will be the "Swing Vote" in this election in Missouri (Tennessee, Virginia, etc...) The people outside the 5-6 bigger cities in Missouri are the people that will decide whether the Democrat Claire McCaskill, or the Republican Jim Talent will be the next Missouri State Senator.
What the analysts, pundits, and all of the media people have not taken into account that roughly thirty percent of the people in Missouri are not living in a "city." They are the people in a swing vote position, not being polled, and are the people that will be able to vote outside the "margin of error." These people are not the "Bubba's" that the media elite plays them out to be. If they were of the "Bubba Mentallity" (complacent, stupid, or just don't "understand the times"), then all of the "experts," would know exactly how to "Poll Out" this election in Missouri (and Tennessee). However, the experts, the media elite blowhards, and the people of the Andy Rooney BI-coastal snob mentality are just spewing out whatever comes to mind.
When the winds of change blow, the so-called experts are the first people to change their views and do the "Kerry Flip Flop." This is why none of the Keith Olbermans', Brain Williams', Dick Morris' and/or the media/political machine have any idea about the Missouri Senate Election. When everyone is talking about Missouri "Showing the Way," to who will win the House and/or the Senate, there are very few people have any clue. They would rather listen to their own opinions, talk and blast away with other people of like minded sentiment, and just keep on cashing those big checks, then to actually do some work, report some facts, and actually feel America's pulse just once.
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