Candidates for the 158th District prepare for election day

For 18 years, Mary Kasten worked in a legislative minority in the Missouri House of Representatives.

While she was given important committee posts, including a seat on the powerful House Budget Committee, the realities of being a member of the smaller party meant Kasten had few opportunities to attach her name to important legislation.

"What happened is you built relationships across the aisle and work the issues you are interested in," Kasten said. "I never got the credit for it, but you worked them in and got a lot of issues solved."

Kasten, a Cape Girardeau Republican, is asking voters to return her to the Missouri House in Tuesday's special election in the 158th District. If she wins, Kasten will join a body that has a GOP majority for the first time in her career.

Polls open at 6 a.m.

Mary Kasten welcomed people to her chili supper and rally Jan. 25 at the Cape Girardeau VFW Hall. (Kit Doyle)

To reach her goal, Kasten must get past former Cape Girardeau postmaster Mike Keefe, who is mounting one of the strongest legislative campaigns by a local Democrat in recent memory. And a third candidate, Libertarian Steve Kinder, wants to spoil both of their hopes with a surprise victory.

The winner will hold office until January. A representative will be elected for a full term in November, and filing for that election will open Feb. 26.

The Tuesday election will end a disappointing chapter in local Republican history. Former representative Nathan Cooper in August resigned the job he first won in 2004 after pleading guilty to two federal felony charges for immigration fraud. Cooper is serving a 15-month prison term at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion, Ill.

The criminal charges ended the career of a promising Republican politician who showed he was unafraid to spend large sums of his own money on his campaigns and able to play the political money game established by the Missouri campaign finance laws. Cooper and Kasten were close -- he was treasurer of her final campaign for the House and she was treasurer of his first campaign for office in 2004.

But Kasten, like almost all area Republicans, expressed shock and disappointment when Cooper pleaded guilty on Aug. 9.

Mike Keefe, the Democratic candidate, talked with a voter as he went door to door Saturday reminding people to vote. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

The resignation at first caused confusion among area Republicans. With Cooper looking good for at least four more years in the Missouri House, no candidate was prepared to step forward.

Democrats acted first, with Keefe wrapping up the party's nomination. Keefe stepped forward after 21 years as postmaster in Cape Girardeau. He promised his party an all-out effort, and said he has visited 5,000 homes in a door-to-door campaign.

"People are tired of the fact that we seem to fight rather than solve problems," Keefe said. "If they vote for me, I will work together" with other lawmakers "to solve problems."

As one Republican after another was considered, then forced out of the contest for a variety of reasons, the GOP turned to Kasten to secure the seat they had held continuously since she first won legislative office in 1982.

Kinder was the last entrant into the race. A pharmacist, he has run a low-key campaign, attending forums and making himself available for radio and newspaper interviews but not actively raising money or advertising.

Mike Keefe holds up a door hanger as he gives instructions to volunteers before they split up to go door to door, reminding people to vote on Saturday, February 2, 2008. (Aaron Eisenhauer)

"What I would like to think I can accomplish is to make a good showing and I would like to think I made some people aware of the Libertarian Party and what it stands for," Kinder said.

Conventional wisdom would make Kasten the odds-on favorite Tuesday. The special election will be held in conjunction with the Missouri presidential primary, with hot contests in both parties expected to be a big draw.

In 2000, Cape Girardeau County Republicans cast 7,469 votes in the Missouri primary, compared to only 2,045 for the Democrats. In 2004, with no Republican contest, 2,820 county voters cast ballots in the Democratic presidential primary.

But Republicans in the area are taking no chances. At a recent campaign rally for Kasten, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson urged the faithful to call friends to urge a vote for Kasten. "This race is critical and we must hold this seat," Emerson said to about 150 people gathered at the Cape Girardeau VFW hall. "Our side is not as energized as the other side."

Keefe hopes to upend the conventional wisdom through his extensive direct mail campaign. One wildcard in the outcome is Keefe's endorsement by Missouri Right to Life, the oldest pro-life advocacy group in the state. The endorsement has forced Kasten's campaign to use on-air advertising to remind voters of her long-time devotion to pro-life causes.

Mary Kasten on Friday, January 25, 2008. (Kit Doyle)

Both major party candidates are projecting victory on Tuesday.

Mary Kasten

"I think it has gone very well," Kasten said in an interview. "We have a great bunch of volunteers."

Kasten declined to seek a 10th term in the House in 2000 when her late husband, Dr. Melvin Kasten, became terminally ill. She was first elected in 1982, had won re-election handily whenever challenged and, although term limits were enacted in 1994, had one more term she could serve before being forced out.

"I have never lost interest in politics," Kasten said.

Democratic nominee Mike Keefe on Thursday, September 6, 2007. (Kit Doyle)

While she promises to bring a practical, conservative approach to each vote, legislative experience is the mainstay of Kasten's campaign. With the Missouri Legislature already in session, she is emphasizing her ability to understand the process and the issues without a lengthy learning process.

"It takes a long time to learn all the ropes," Kasten said. "It will be a great advantage for me and for the community. I understand the process and I know the issues."

Kasten's political experience reaches back before her time in the Missouri House. She was a member of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education for 20 years and served a term as president of the statewide Missouri School Boards Association.

Being involved in politics and the community is a major part of her life, Kasten said. "I feel very interested in government," she said. "If you are interested and have the capacity to serve, it is an obligation to do so."

Mike Keefe

"It is very interesting," Keefe said of the campaign. "I have basically walked all the city."

Keefe is new to political campaigning, but he said he's not new to understanding how to work with people holding differing views. During his 37 years with the U.S. Postal Service, he said he prided himself on being a person who could step into a difficult job and make operations run smoothly.

During his early career he moved up regularly, rising from a mail carrier in Muscatine, Iowa, to a series of increasingly more responsible jobs. He was sent to St. Louis as director of customer service, then moved to Cape Girardeau as part of a reorganization.

"Quite honestly I thought I would be out of Cape in a year or two and back on the fast track," he said. "But I loved the town, thought it was progressive and had a great workforce. I never had the desire to leave because I kind of fell in love with the city and wanted to stay here."

Keefe said he doesn't feel that political inexperience will be a liability. He understands that if elected, he will be joining a party in the minority. He promised not to hew to a party line and to seek solutions, not confrontation.

"I've always been able to do that," he said. "I went into operations that weren't functioning and I was a quick study. I've got to be able to work with both sides of the aisle if I am going to make this work."

Keefe said he promised local Democrats that he would seek re-election to at least two more terms if he wins the Feb. 5 primary in an effort to establish Democrats as a competitive force in the district. "I do have to have some time up there to develop and get things done."

Steve Kinder

"The Libertarian Party is the last bastion of true conservatism," Kinder said in an interview.

Kinder hasn't gathered volunteers and walked door-to-door like Kasten and Keefe, nor has he raised any campaign funds for direct mail or advertising. But he said that's because he wasn't prepared to run a campaign when he was asked to put his name on the ballot.

"I am new at this," he said. "I am not a politician. I have learned a lot and I will see if what I have learned helps in the future should I desire to run again."

Kinder would like to win Tuesday, but he's realistic about the likely outcome. While a Libertarian has received as much as 11 percent of the vote in the district, it was in a contest where the Libertarian candidate was not involved in a three-way race.

That makes the showing Tuesday a test of whether, with work, a Libertarian would have a chance in a well-planned campaign, Kinder said.

"I made it clear to the local Libertarian Party that it will not be to be a name on the ballot," he said of future efforts. "I will be doing what it takes to win."

The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 by disaffected Democrats and Republicans. The party preaches personal freedom, sometimes to an extreme. But while Kinder said he adheres to most of the party's tenets -- he supports legalized drugs, for example, as a way to end the crime associated with the drug trade -- he has sharp differences with his party as well. He's staunchly pro-life. "No one agrees with everything their party stands for personally," he said. "My party believes in personal freedom, but abortion is murder. I will never change that position."

If elected, Kinder promised to keep in close touch with the district's voters and cast his vote the way he feels that the people want, not necessarily the way his party's doctrine would indicate. "I will represent the will of the people. They just need to let me know what it is."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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Mary Kasten

Party: Republican

Birthplace: Matthews, Mo.

Age: 79

Occupation: Educator, legislator.

Family: Widow of Dr. Melvin Kasten; three grown children.

Previous political experience: 18 years in the Missouri House; 20 years on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education; President and member of executive board of Missouri School Boards' Association; member of Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents.

Education: Bachelor of Science in Education, Southeast Missouri State University; attended University of Pittsburgh.

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Mike Keefe

Party: Democrat

Birthplace: Spencer, Iowa

Age: 61

Occupation: Postal employee. Postmaster of Cape Girardeau, August 1986 to January 2007; U.S. Army, Dec. 1966 to Dec. 1968.

Family: Married to Jan Keefe; seven children, eight grandchildren.

Previous political experience: Member, Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Advisory Board; chairman during 2007.

Education: St. Edmonds High School, Fort Dodge, Iowa; attended St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa; attended Palmer Junior College, Davenport, Iowa.

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Steve Kinder

Party: Libertarian

Birthplace: Effingham, Ill.

Age: 60

Occupation: Pharmacist; employed at Wal-Mart.

Family: Married to Mary Kinder, seven daughters, ages 8 to 38.

Previous political experience: None.

Education: Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, Oklahoma State University.