The State Senate will be without its top leader when it goes into session this afternoon. But with a little luck, it will have him back before it adjourns. President Pro-Tem Michael Gibbons is the Acting Governor because both Governor Matt Blunt and Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder are out of the state. Senate rules don’t allow Governors or lobbyists on the Senate floor. Lieutenant Governor Kinder is due back in Missouri from a trip to Arizona about 4:30 this afternoon. That’s about a half-hour after the Senate goes into session. When his plane lands in Kansas City, he becomes Acting Governor for about 24 hours before Governor Blunt gets back from Washington. By then Gibbons will be in his chair in the Senate.
