GOP golden boy mails it in

[DonViejo]

Republicans worry that Josh Hawley, the party’s top Senate recruit, is squandering his opportunity to beat vulnerable Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

By ALEX ISENSTADT 05/15/2018 05:01 AM EDT Updated 05/15/2018 08:59 AM EDT

FENTON, Mo. — As GOP Rep. Ann Wagner prepared to introduce candidates in a Republican Senate debate here Friday, she took a pointed jab at one contender who didn’t make it — front-runner Josh Hawley.

“I try not to tell candidates how to run their races. I don’t know where some of the other candidates are,” she told POLITICO before taking the stage in a high school auditorium, referring specifically to Hawley. “Perhaps they have conflicts. But you gotta show up to win. And I’m going to tell that to the crowd tonight.”

Moments later, Wagner followed through, declaring to the raucous applause of Republican voters on hand that “showing up matters.”

The scene encapsulated widespread concerns about Hawley. Star-struck Senate Republican leaders anointed the 38-year-old, Stanford- and Yale- educated state attorney general as their top recruit of 2018 — a squeaky-clean figure they saw as the future of the party and an ideal opponent to take on the endangered Democratic incumbent, Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Yet as the campaign season kicks into high gear, many Republicans worry that Hawley — who openly admits he had no intention of running for Senate until he was pressured into it — is squandering his shot.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/15/hawley-mccaskill-missouri-senate-585892

[vi5]

1. Why is McCaskill vulnerable again?

I'm not fully up on MO politics and don't rally know enough about her.

[Funtatlaguy]

2. It's a fairly red state.

Almost always votes Repub. in prez elections.
But, will vote for moderate Dems statewide.
Claire is too conservative for my liberal tastes.
But, she is pretty pitch perfect for her state.
I think she wins by 5-7 points.

[pstokely]

6. I think she wins by 1-5%

while tRump won MO by nearly 20%, Poppy Blunt only won by about 5% over Kander and Greitens only won by Koster (who ran a DINOish conservadem campaign, actually just a ex-repuke) by 5%, probably also depends on how much Hawley can dodge Greitens

[BannonsLiver]

4. Because outside St. Louis and parts of KC

Missouri is basically Oklahoma. Blood red, fanatical evangelicals in the hinterlands are legion.

[WhiteTara]

5. A strong woman in a republicon state

they hate her for being.

[Blue_Adept]

3. That's a damn good slogan. We better take it.

"Showing Up Matters"