Obama for America announced it has 150 paid staffers in the state to direct the Illinois senator's army of volunteers. The total exceeds the combined peak numbers of both John Kerry who had as many as 80 Missouri staffers and George W. Bush who had up to 50 in the last presidential election.
"We have started really ramping up on the staffing, we're going to start to open offices across the state and we're really excited to talk with the people here," Debbie Mesloh with Obama For America said.
Missouri: McCain vs. Obama (RealClearPolitics)
Polling Data
Poll Date Sample McCain (R) Obama (D) Spread RCP Average 06/20 - 07/07 -- 49.0 44.0 McCain +5.0 Rasmussen 07/07 - 07/07 500 LV 50 45 McCain +5.0 PPP (D) 07/02 - 07/05 723 LV 47 44 McCain +3.0 SurveyUSA 06/20 - 06/22 543 LV 50 43 McCain +7.0 Rasmussen 06/03 - 06/03 500 LV 42 43 Obama +1.0 SurveyUSA 05/16 - 05/18 1523 LV 48 45 McCain +3.0 Rasmussen 05/06 - 05/06 500 LV 47 41 McCain +6.0 SurveyUSA 04/11 - 04/13 542 RV 50 42 McCain +8.0 Rasmussen 03/24 - 03/24 500 LV 53 38 McCain +15.0 SurveyUSA 03/14 - 03/16 536 RV 53 39 McCain +14.0 SurveyUSA 02/26 - 02/28 632 RV 48 42 McCain +6.0 Rasmussen 02/11 - 02/11 500 LV 42 40 McCain +2.0 SurveyUSA 01/11 - 01/13 562 RV 51 40 McCain +11.0 SurveyUSA 12/13 - 12/15 547 RV 44 47 Obama +3.0
George W. Bush beat both Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004 in Missouri. Indeed, a Democrat hasn't won Missouri since 1964.
Missouri has a Republican governor, Matt Blunt. In both 2000 and 2004, the governor was a Democrat. There is a Republican senator and a Democratic one, the latter being early Obama supporter Claire McCaskill.
McCaskill has been a very active campaigner for Obama and often appears on national news coverage representing the campaign.
The Missouri state legislature, both the assembly and the senate, are dominated by Republicans.
Despite the strong Republican presence in the state, there was one very good sign for Obama that occurred during the primary. A total of 824,453 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary, compared to 584,618 for the Republicans.
In comparison, in 2000, 44% more Republicans voted in the primary than Democrats. Also, in the most recent statewide election, McCaskill was able to unseat an incumbent Republican possibly indicating weakening support for the party.
Efforts by the Obama campaign and the DNC to register and activate Democrats in the state are reported to be bearing fruit. So much so, that incumbent Republican Gov. Blunt has decided not to run for reelection.
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