 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - For two weeks, Peter Kinder was a Republican candidate for governor. He started lining up support from donors, businesses and grass-roots organizers.
Then Kinder abruptly reversed course, deciding to seek re-election as lieutenant governor.
Now Kinder finds himself the only of Missouri's incumbent executive officeholders facing a Nov. 4 re-election challenge from a well-financed opponent. His rival: Democratic state Rep. Sam Page, a physician making an issue of health care coverage.
Kinder and Page have accused each other of shielding records from public scrutiny, slashing health care and twisting the truth.
"I suit up with a chin strap on tight and I come to play," Kinder explained in an interview.
Through 12 years in the state Senate, Kinder earned a reputation as a bulldog. But as a lawmaker and lieutenant governor, he also has bridged party and regional differences to occasionally work with political opponents.  When Republican Gov. Matt Blunt unexpectedly announced in January that he would not seek re-election, Kinder was the first to enter the race. But after U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof and Treasurer Sarah Steelman also did so, Kinder surprised Republicans by announcing he would instead run for a second lieutenant governor's term. He said he changed course for the good of the party.
A poll released Monday showed Kinder ahead of Page, but Page insists his own internal polling shows a much closer race.
Page, 43, served on the City Council in Creve Couer from 1999-2002 and then won election to the state House. During the lieutenant governor's campaign, Page has continued to work one day a week as an anesthesiologist.
"I went to medical school to help people and I ran for office for the same reason — to try to help people," Page said.
Although the lieutenant governor has no direct power over the matter, Page said he would advocate to reverse the Republican-led 2005 Medicaid cuts that reduced or eliminated health care benefits to thousands of low-income Missourians.
Kinder, 54, of Cape Girardeau defends the cuts as a budgetary necessity — though he had no direct role in making them.
On the Net:
Kinder: http://teamkinder.com
Page: http://www.sampage.com/index2.asp |