By comparison, I sat at another Lincon Day event listening to the built up bigger than life Sarah Steelman. Every since I moved to Missouri in 2007, I had heard all this fuss about what an amazing conservative politicians Steelman was. I left that day scratching my head wondering what all the fuss was about. She of course announced today she would be running for US Senate in 2012. I wasn't surprised because it was obvious there was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on to keep her on the fence and out of the 2010 race within the GOP.
So we are left to wonder who will be challenging her for the GOP nod. Rumors in political circles claim Talent will wait until after the first of the year to announce his bid. Talent is already being moved to the forefront on Steelman's day.
The Missouri Baptist Convention's Pathway editor Don Hinkle began building up Jim Talent as a prospective GOP Senate candidate, calling him "an intellectual powerhouse...regarded favorably by many Tea Partiers."
As well, other anti Steelman tweets showed up on Twitter today, including Jaci Winship, executive director of Missourians Against Human Cloning, who responded with a Yikes! to Steelman's announcement, which I happen to agree with her on.
Renee Hulshof, whose husband faced a bitter attack in the Republican primary by Sarah Steelman, quickly expressed her support for Talent today, starting a tag on Twitter called #notvotingforsteelman.
The National Journal has put together this wrap up:
Scouting Out Steelman: We noted Monday in the Starting Lineup that former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent (R) will wait until early 2011 to decide whether he will seek a rematch with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) — but that he is already sounding an awful lot like a candidate.
So the support is there. The talk is there. All we need is Senator Talent to step forward and announce. As you can see people are already begging scared Sarah Steelman might actually be the candidate. Who could blame them for being scared after considering the following two videos:
