Bigotry and bad judgment won out in Missouri tonight. The state held their primary election ahead of the November vote. Amendment 2 is passing by a lopsided margin. The measure amends the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage – effectively enshrining discrimination into the state constitution. Check out Paul Nickell’s blog (here and here) for good analysis on how Missouri’s vote could be a sign of things to come for Oregon in November.
Missouri democrats have thrown out their incumbent Harry Truman-style governor for a negative campaigner extraordinaire. State Auditor Claire McCaskill ran one of the most negative inter-party fights I’ve seen in along time. Nonetheless, Governor Bob Holden said in his concession speech that he would support her in November against the republican candidate.
The race to replace Dick Gephardt is still too close to call. The leading contender has been Russ Carnahan, son of the late Governor Mel Carnahan and former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan. Liz has been supporting his campaign and went to his victory party this evening.
Many religious conservatives fought for the passage of the bigoted constitutional amendment. Liz and I were glad to be in Missouri today so that we could vote against it. There was also a large group of clergy who opposed the amendment and lent their names to the effort to defeat it. They deserved to be honored for seeing that God’s creation is diverse and great. The list of names is too numerous to print. Click here to see.
Update: Update: With 100% of the votes counted (by 4am) State Rep. Russ Carnahan has won the democratic primary for Congress.
