Kinder emphasizes the personal touch in race for lieutenant governor

By Marc Powers

Nevada Daily Mail

Walking around the courthouse square in the St. Clair County seat of Osceola, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder is at ease.

The Republican nominee for lieutenant governor displays an amiable, almost gregarious demeanor as he goes from shop to shop in the western Missouri town shaking hands with workers and patrons and politely requesting their votes on Nov. 2.

This warm and fuzzy visage might seem unfamiliar to those who have only seen the serious game face Kinder always wears in the Missouri Capitol, where his sole concern is getting the job done. Away from the pressure cooker of the Senate, Kinder feels comfortable showing his other side when meeting regular Missourians.

"I find this energizing and relaxing, even as it is also tiring," Kinder said of statewide campaigning. With the goal of hitting all 114 Missouri counties prior to Election Day, Kinder has averaged only a couple nights at home in Cape Girardeau each month since summer.

Although he has a well-funded campaign that is allowing him to reach voters through television and radio ads, Kinder says the personal touch is vital.

"There is a buy-in there that they feel they have a stake in the election when the candidate comes to their town and asks for their support, and that's what I'm doing," Kinder said.

At a chili supper in the Henry County town of Clinton, where Democratic sentiments are strong, Kinder is a hit with Bettyrae Fluke, a senior citizen excited to meet the candidate. "He is a very personable young man," Fluke said. "I really like him as a person." Considering that his Democratic opponent, fellow Cape Girardeau resident Bekki Cook, has a substantial name advantage from her former tenure as secretary of state, Kinder must wage an aggressive ground campaign.

Although Kinder wields tremendous clout in Jefferson City, a top legislative leadership position doesn't automatically translate into familiarity among voters.

"I have no illusions about where I stand as a first-time statewide candidate," Kinder said. "You are a big shot within the Capitol -- maybe. But you're nothing out on the streets of Joplin, Tarkio, St. Joe or Kennett until you get out there and earn the vote." After he was first elected to the Senate in 1992, Kinder spent eight years as a rabble-rousing member of the minority party. Circumstances changed radically in January 2001 when Republicans won a pair of special elections to take control of the chamber for the first time in a half century.

In his new position as president pro tem, Kinder had to change as well. "My role was no longer to throw bombs at the opposition, but to try to work for all 34 senators and make the trains run on time and get good, common sense legislation passed," Kinder said.

Kinder boasts of playing key roles in successful efforts to reform the nursing home industry, allow Missourians to carry concealed weapons, ban same-sex marriages, impose restrictions on abortions and numerous other bills.

Cook attacks Kinder for some of his legislative priorities, particularly his leadership in 2002 to push a plan that would help build a new Cardinals baseball stadium in St. Louis.

"He was really taking taxpayers' money from all over the state of Missouri and shoveling it into the stadium," Cook said.

Kinder replies that his pursuit of the stadium bill, which included economic development projects elsewhere in the state, was the right thing to do given the economic conditions at the time.

"This was a comprehensive economic development bill to try to prime the pump of the state's economy when it was really in a downward spiral," Kinder said. He said Cook knows that is exactly what the bill she refers to would have done -- promote economic development and increase jobs in both rural and urban areas of the state.

With his experience in the Senate, Kinder says he would be a natural in the lieutenant governor's role as the chamber's presiding officer. He also feels well prepared to fulfill the office's duty as the state's official advocate for the elderly and points to his legislative successes on nursing home reform and establishing a prescription drug benefit for the elderly.

The office's main function, however, is to be ready should tragedy befall the governor. As such, some past lieutenant governors have viewed it as a part-time job.

Kinder, who is assistant to the chairman of Rust Communications, which owns the Nevada Daily Mail, said he would step down from that job if elected and be a full-time officeholder. If Secretary of State Matt Blunt, the GOP nominee for governor, is also elected, Kinder plans to take a leading role in pursuing Blunt's agenda.

"I would be an important member of the team, backing him up on his effort to reform and reorganize the executive branch," Kinder said.

Although the top two executive posts are independent offices, Blunt says Kinder would be an important member of his team. "He is going to be a great advocate for the changes we want to make in state government," Blunt said.