Event Promises Explanation of Presidential Process

As noted , the GOP process for selecting presidential delegates is not exactly straightforward. Even though there’s a primary in February, as of now, delegates will be selected at caucuses held in March.

In attempt to sort out the situation for area Republicans, Rep. Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) is planning a “Presidential Primary Preview” at Westminster Christian Academy in Town and Country. The event will feature an explanation of the state’s presidential delegate situation by Missouri Republican Party political director Robert Knodell.

In addition to a straw poll and presentations from presidential campaigns, the evening will also feature analysis from political science professor Rick Hardy. Hardy, who used to teach at the University of Missouri and ran for Congress as a Republican in the 1990s, currently teaches at Western Illinois University.

Stream has also invited a number of area Republicans such as Rep. John Diehl, (R-Town and Country) and Sen. Jim Lembke (R-Lemay) to attend the event. More information can be found on the event's Facebook page.

It should be noted that if former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney prevails in South Carolina later this month, the race may be effectively over. At least that’s the opinion of former House Speaker Rod Jetton, a Marble Hill Republican who supported Romney’s bid in 2008.

“The other candidates will make South Carolina a closer race, but most likely he wins that state as well as Florida he will pull away for good,” Jetton wrote in Politico's Arena.

EMPTY ROOM

The reconfigured state legislative maps have prompted  And unsurprisingly, incumbent legislators aren’t exactly thrilled about the situation.

House Minority Leader Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City) and House Majority Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka) wrote a letter to the judicial commission responsible for ultimately drawing the boundaries asking for the commission's records.

Now, former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael Wolff has penned an op-ed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, noting the “oddest irony” of the situation “is that judges—who have been criticized by some legislators for years for being too "political" in their judgments—are under attack for not being political enough.”

“So what do these six know or care about electoral politics? To look at the maps they produced, one would have to say, 'not much,'” Wolff wrote. “For instance, they put more than 50 House incumbents in districts in which they would face other incumbents in elections this year.

In the Senate, they gave a politically-safe district to Sen. Jim Lembke, the most persistent and pernicious of the courts' legislative critics, and they awarded Sen. Kurt Schaefer, a thoughtful and able lawyer who consistently has defended the judiciary, a district that is more difficult to win than his current district.”

“So, obviously, these nonpartisan judges took no account of where incumbents live and who they are,” he added. “Imagine that: a nonpolitical result.”