Missouri’s going to be chock full of great political theater in 2008 – all up and down the ballot. We’ll be keeping a special eye on the down ballot state wide, and legislative races this year.  In particular we’ll keep a close on GOP LG Pete Kinder, and GOP AG candidate Mike Gibbons for sure.

Attorney General Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and the two Republicans — state Treasurer Sarah Steelman and U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Columbia — offered sharply different takes on the state Medicaid cuts put in place in 2005 by the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican who isn’t seeking re-election.

Nixon pledged to restore the cuts that affected tens of thousands of Missourians, citing the state’s loss of more than $1 billion in federal matching money. Steelman said she would have handled the matter differently than Blunt, so fewer people would have lost coverage. Hulshof declined to criticize the cuts but promised to make health care more available.

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