Four Missouri gov candidates head into expensive, acrimonious Election Day

[pstokely]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/four-missouri-gov-candidates-head-into-expensive-acrimonious-election-day/article_d2b1a250-896c-59f1-8974-7b67f9c37b42.html

"The four candidates who will square off on the Republican primary ballot Tuesday have spent a combined total of more than $22 million during the long campaign, much of it provided by a handful of well-heeled donors, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis of records. It appears to be a Missouri record for combined spending in a primary (though not a general election).

“A lot of conservative Republicans had hopes that (GOP) supermajorities in the Legislature would have been able to get more done” on things like tax cuts and right-to-work legislation, said Dave Robertson, chairman of the political science department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“They’re finding that the governor’s office in Democratic hands is an obstacle. The stakes are so high that you can understand why big contributors would want to put money in.”

That money has fueled one of the most bitter contests in modern memory, with publicly aired personal grudge matches, anonymous internet attacks, secretly recorded phone calls, a lawsuit, a state ethics complaint and the creation of two shadowy federal “super PACs.”"