A leading Republican legislator looks at the numbers from Tuesday’s presidential primary in Missouri and worries about what he sees.
It hasn’t been a good week for House Speaker Rod Jetton, a Republican from Marble Hill. Jetton, a paid consultant for the Mitt Romney Presidential Campaign, saw his candidate finish third on the Republican ballot, behind runner-up Mike Huckabee and winner John McCain. McCain finished first with 194,119 votes. Huckabee had 185,573 and Romney had 172,390. After the disappointment of Super Tuesday, Romney suspended his presidential campaign, a moved that surprised Jetton.
Then, there’s the overall numbers. Jetton says it worries him that so many more Missourians took Democratic ballots than took Republican ballots. The number of Missourians voting in the Democratic presidential primary totaled 823,376. That’s 234,527 more than chose to vote on the Republican side. Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential primary in Missouri with 405,470 votes to Hillary Clinton’s 394,991.
"The thing anybody should take from this is that the Democrats are more excited to go out and vote than the Republicans are," says Jetton, adding, "When you’re a Republican that concerns you a little bit."
Jetton says the exit of Romney from the race, gives the nomination to McCain. He says that an analysis of the numbers in Missouri indicate McCain will need to energize the Republican race to win the state.
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