State rep. to take on larger role in campaign

State Rep. Scott Lipke will take on a larger role with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign during the final sprint to the Feb. 5 Missouri primary. Lipke was named co-chairman of Huckabee's state campaign Monday. Lipke has worked since June 2007 to line up support for Huckabee, who has the endorsement of 31 Republican state lawmakers. In a news release, Lipke praised Huckabee's "sincere and authentic" style. "He is a solid conservative who isn't afraid to tell it like it is," Lipke said of the two-term former governor. "As governor, Huckabee cut taxes where he could and made good use of the revenue he had improving roads and education in Arkansas. That is the kind of common sense leadership the country needs right now." In the only recent Missouri poll, conducted by Research 2000 for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Huckabee ran second to U.S. Sen. John McCain among likely Republican voters. McCain had 31 percent of those polled, while Huckabee stood at 25 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was third with 21 percent.

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Obama scheduled to visit St. Louis on Saturday

ST. LOUIS -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is scheduled to make a campaign stop in St. Louis on Saturday. Specific details have not been released. Sen. Claire McCaskill, an Obama supporter, announced the visit Sunday. She said it will be free and open to the public. Obama's two rivals for the Democratic nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former senator John Edwards, were both in the St. Louis area Jan. 19. Missouri is among nearly two dozen states holding primary elections Feb. 5.

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Huckabee to campaign in Missouri today

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will be campaigning in Missouri. Huckabee is to hold a news conference at noon today in Jefferson City at the headquarters of the Associated Industries of Missouri. He later plans to head to St. Louis for a private fundraiser and an election-night watch party to monitor the Florida primaries. Gary Marble, the president of Associated Industries of Missouri, said Huckabee's presence there does not mean the business group is endorsing him.

-- From staff and wire reports