Republicans rallying around Matt Blunt for Missouri governor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- More than 20 months before the 2004 general election, top Missouri Republicans are rallying around Secretary of State Matt Blunt as their likely nominee for governor.

Blunt said Saturday that he's pondering the governor's race but isn't ready to announce his candidacy. But fellow Republicans said he had already shared his gubernatorial ambitions with them.

"Matt asked me, 'From one veteran to another, will you support me?' I told him I would," state Rep. Jack Jackson, R-Wildwood and a retired Marine pilot, said in an interview Saturday.

Ann Wagner, chairwoman of the Missouri GOP, referred in a speech during the weekend's Lincoln Days to the "Three B's" she expects will lead the party's state ticket next year: President Bush and U.S. Sen. Kit Bond for re-election, and Blunt in the governor's race.

"Nothing would please me more" than to have that ticket, Wagner told about 200 cheering party members.

House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, exhorted fellow Republicans: "Please, please send us Matt Blunt as the governor."

"I hope he's running," U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., who narrowly lost the 2000 governor's race to Democrat Bob Holden, said of Blunt. "We're going to win the governorship back."

On Saturday, Blunt didn't confirm he is running for governor, but told an applauding Republican audience: "We need to re-take the chief executive office of the state of Missouri."

Holden faces challengers

Holden is expected to seek a second term. He has had a rocky first two years in office, with declines in state revenues prompting him to slash spending and political gaffes, such as a $1 million inaugural party which Holden later said was a mistake because it was too extravagant.

While Republicans unify behind Blunt, Holden could face a challenge for renomination from Democratic State Auditor Claire McCaskill, who is said to be considering a 2004 governor's race.

Holden says he is ready to defend his record of maintaining a balanced state budget in hard times while protecting priority spending areas such as public schools.

The path to the Republican nomination was smoothed for Blunt last month when the other most-mentioned GOP possibility for governor, U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, said he would seek re-election.

Republican leaders are settling on Blunt to avoid an expensive, divisive primary and focus resources on the general election.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Blunt said he was undecided about his 2004 plans but acknowledged interest in the governor's race.

He insisted on sitting during the interview under one of his campaign signs that, while identifying no specific 2004 office, promises: "Effective Leadership." The image-conscious Blunt declined to sit in a hotel suite chair that offered better lighting for a photographer, noting that a bed was in the background.

Democrats have made an issue of Blunt's age -- he's 32 -- and questioned whether he has enough experience to be governor.

Holden, 53, served multiple terms in the Missouri House, worked as a top staffer for U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., and won two four-year terms as state treasurer before his election as governor.

Republicans countered during the weekend that Blunt has more experience in elected public office -- two years in the Missouri House and the first two years of his term as secretary of state -- than Bond had when he first took the oath of office as governor in 1973, at age 33.

Bond had served two years as state auditor and as an appointed assistant state attorney general. A historical note: if Blunt is elected governor in 2004, he would still be more than 100 days older than Bond at the same point in the senator's then-blossoming public career.

GOP leaders view Blunt's experience as a Naval officer as a political asset, although Blunt told the AP he does not intend to exploit his military resume for political gain.

Now a Naval reservist, Blunt was called to active duty in England for six months as an intelligence officer after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was the nation's only statewide elected official activated for post-attacks military service. Blunt stayed in touch with his office each day by phone, fax and e-mail.

Jackson, the retired Marine, said that when Blunt approached him for gubernatorial support, "His words, as I recall, were that it would probably be a good year for a combat veteran to run."

Blunt said that while he was "very proud of my Naval service," he served during the special call-up on a military base outside London, not where bombs were falling in Afghanistan.

"I didn't do anything that was dangerous or daring," Blunt said.

Detractors say Blunt is carried by a well-known political name. His father is U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, himself a former two-term secretary of state, unsuccessful 1992 candidate for governor and now the third-ranking House Republican.

Matt Blunt said he accepts advice from his father but run his own races. Still, in 2000, his campaign treasury was boosted by donations from some of his father's congressional colleagues.

Roy Blunt said he didn't expect to be very involved if his son runs for governor.

"I'm sure he can handle this on his own," Blunt said.