Ain't This Democracy Thing Great?
They came to Jefferson City from all corners of the state on Day One of filing for those who want their names on the August 5th Primary ballot. By day's end more than 300 people had completed the paperwork. There's room for many more as filing does not close until March 25th, but Opening Day always has a carnival-type atmosphere to it. In fact, members of the League of Women Voters were in the lobby of the Kirkpatrick Building - which houses the Secretary of State's Office - providing coffee and goodies.
Most of the "big guns" came out on Opening Day: Gubernatorial candidates Kenny Hulshof, Jay Nixon, and Sarah Steelman ... Lieutenant Governor candidates Peter Kinder and Sam Page ... Attorney General candidates Mike Gibbons, Chris Koster, Margaret Donnelly, and Jeff Harris ... and so on.
But there were more than a few of what we might call the lesser known individuals who paid their filing fees with the Democrat, Republican, or LIbertarian Parties and showed up to file ... along with the big names. I'm talking about people like Joe Sadeghi of Marshall who is running for the 21st District State Senate seat, Keri Cottrell of Canton who is going after the House seat in District 1, Bob Pund of Columbia who is contesting the House seat in District 25, Joe Palm of St. Louis going after the House seat in District 57, and Deb Lavender of Kirkwood putting her name in the mix for the House seat in the 94th District.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan not only filed for her own reelection, but was on hand throughout the day to personally greet many of the candidates filing. Many of these people were officeholders who already know Robin ... but the folks who don't know Robin thought it was great that they were being greeted by Missouri's Secretary of State. In fact, as the day neared its end and the long line of candidates had dwindled to a precious few, I watched as a man got off the elevator, looked both left and right to try to determine where he should go ... and he was met by Robin who introduced herself and showed the man where he needed to go next. Boy ... That's service!
Of course, the day was not without its humorous moments - and the best of those moments might have come at the very start of the day. Missourinet's Brent Martin was on the spot and tells it best:
"There are times we as journalists believe we have seen and heard it all. A moment passes in our careers when experience overcomes naïve enthusiasm. Then, something happens to remind us that the news stories we are covering aren't just the same story with different actors rehashing the same lines over and over.
I have been a reporter for more than 20 years and have been with the Missourinet for more than 12. I have covered the first day of filing at the Secretary of State's office throughout my career at the 'net. It is tradition that reporters interview the first person in line and write a feature on him or her. Those stories have actually turned into pretty good perspective pieces on the aspirations of candidates and the hope that always springs from the first day of filing. (I remember interviewing Rep. Ryan Silvey when he was first in line a few years ago, looking all of 16 or 17 years old. He now is a veteran member of the Missouri House, though he still looks like he's barely drinking age.)
This year, I encountered an answer to the most traditional of questions of the first-person-in-line unlike any I have ever experienced. I won't try to describe it, just listen to the link to a brief portion of my interview with Richard Kline of Gypsy, a Republican candidate for governor who got up early, drove from southeast Missouri to Jefferson City to be the first one to file for office for the August primary."
Our intern had the privilege of following Representative (R-114) Bill Deeken as he filed. Here's the video he put together.
This democracy thing ... It really is great!
- Steve Walsh
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