respublica

Who will win

In Missouri there are two congressional races covering St. Louis and the suburbs. The 1st Congressional District pits Lacy Clay against someone...I have no idea who...let me look. Ok. The republican challenger is Robin Hamlin and there is also a libertarian candidate, Robb E. Cunningham. 

This will be no contest, Clay will retain his seat easily. Actually I have seen no signs or received any mailings or phone calls from any of these 3. 

In the 2nd congressional district of Missouri, Ann Wagner (R) v Glenn Koenen (D) with the addition of a libertarian candidate, Bill Slantz and a constitution party candidate, Anatol Zorikova. Wagner should win this race and frankly this is one I wish I could vote for, I've been a fan of Ann Wagner since 2004. A fantastic person and should be a great addition to the House.

The map

So who will win tomorrow?

The good thing in that question is "tomorrow". It'll be over except for the shouting. Beyond the election of president, local candidates are running interesting battles including McCaskill and Akin. It will be interesting to see if the huge margin of votes for Romney will translate down ballot to Akin.

In Illinois with no election of governor or senator, the contests for House of Representatives takes center stage and in the Metro East Jason Plummer (R)v Bill Enyart (D) takes center stage in the 12th district along with Rodney Davis (R) v Dr. Gill (D) in the 13th district.

Longtime representative, John Shimkus (R)who had represented the 19th district is now running against Angela Michael (D) in the 15th after redistricting.

A map of the south and east congressional districts of Illinois-the 15th is green, 13th pink and 12th is blue.

Mizzou alums in the NFL

Yes, the Missouri Tigers have former football players in the NFL. Let's see where they are.

Danario Alexander WR-Miami Dolphins

Andrew Gachkar LB-San Diego Chargers

Tim Barnes C-St Louis Rams

Beau Brinkley TE-Tennessee Titans

Chase Daniel QB-New Orleans Saints

MIchael Egnew TE-Miami Dolphins

Blaine Gabbert QB-Jacksonville Jaguars

Kevin Rutland CB-Jacksonville Jaguars

C.J. Mosley DL-Jacksonville Jaguars

Ziggy Hood DE-Pittsburgh Steelers

Sean Weatherspoon LB-Atlanta Falcons

William Moore S-Atlanta Falcons

Jeremy Maclin WR-Philadelphia Eagles

Justin Smith DT-San Francisco 49er's

Aldon Smith LB- San Francisco 49er's

Pretty cool. 

Mizzou Crunch Bar

Now doesn't this sound good?  A chocolate bar containing sea salt, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and roasted peanuts.

Well, students in the University of Missouri department of Food Science have begun collaborating with Alan McClure of handcrafted Patric Chocolate LLC of Columbia to turn out the Mizzou Crunch Bar. Sales began this week and order forms are found at the link for any Tiger or chocolate fan.

They sell in boxes of 7 for 49.95 which sounds like a lot but it looks like the bars are bigger than the normal candy bar and are made with Patric's finest milk and dark chocolate.

New rule for Mizzou football

Now that Missouri is a member of the SEC, there is a new rule in place for football games which is different from previous years. In the past, fans could leave the stadium at halftime and head out to the tailgates and grab a bite to eat or in many cases, drink a beer. Now the SEC mandates that once admitted to the stadium, no ticket holder shall be permitted to leave and re-enter the facility on that ticket. They can come back if they pay full ticket price. 

I"m guessing the SEC has this rule because 1: they are tv oriented and having empty seats while halftime shows go on looks bad and 2: SEC school probably sell beer in their stadiums and want the revenue. Missouri does not sell beer.

Beer is important to football alumni.

Tigers v Bulldogs

Tomorrow is the first football game Missouri will play as a member of the SEC against an SEC team. The Georgia Bulldogs come to Faurot Field in Columbia, ranked 5th in the conference while the Tigers are ranked 7th. Both won their opening games last week.

Going to be a huge crowd in Columbia for the 6:45 game which will be televised on ESPN2. This is huge, being part of the SEC will mean more tv games for Mizzou which was often shut out even in their home state and St. Louis.

Ferdie would love to be down on the field tomorrow night.

MIZ

ZOU

Go Mizzou

Missouri begins its football season tonight against Southeastern Louisiana and since they aren't immediately looking into the faces of an SEC team, hopes are high that they will handle this team fairly competently.

Yay, football! Ferdie's ready.

Ferdie's ready

Go Mizzou

SEC MIZ ZOU

Woof

If I want to keep driving, it's time to renew

Everyone's favorite thing to do, go to the drivers license center. My license expires next week and I've been putting off going just because of the long wait involved in the transaction. I was going today, but phooey, I've had so many meetings and other things this week I'm not in the mood to have my picture taken or sit with a room full of strangers none of whom want to be there. I'd rather catch up on the watering that needs to be done around here.

I like the way Illinois does it more than Missouri. In Illinois if you don't have any violations during the term of your license you can renew online and they'll send you something to affix to your license. But, I like Missouri because the license term runs for 6-7 years depending upon when your birthday is. 6 years has come and gone! Already.

Sore Loser law

This may be the first time I've heard of this law after all these years of following politics and having spent 25 years as an election judge. It came up yesterday after Todd Akin couldn't bring himself to listen to anyone but his family (so it seems), dug in his heels and stayed in the senate race. While blaming the liberal media for his problems and choosing to ignore the overwhelmingly conservative and GOP voices asking him to step down. How out of touch could a person be to not see that it was the liberal democrats and media who want him in the race?

Did you see KSDK's catch of Akin and who I'd guess were his daughters leaving Lambert airport after coming back from Ohio last night? Ohio! He hid out in Ohio! He would barely answer Mike Bush's questions and his daughters looked pouty and peeved. Not a good sign.

Anyway, after his "I'm staying in" speech, talk among conservatives was about the possibility of a write-in candidate or 3rd party candidate involving Sarah Steelman who ran against Akin in the primary. Well, no. According to Missouri's Sore Loser Law, anyone who lost a primary to the official candidate cannot run in any form against that person in the general election. So forget that. Sore Loser Law. Amazing.

It's not even a full moon and things are crazier than ever in politics. Even Joe Biden, again, is planning another bizaare move-heading to Tampa during the RNC convention. 

Football! We need football more than ever.