JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – While Eric Greitens and Chris Koster debated Friday afternoon, their campaigns may have done more to define the differences between the candidates and their political operations than anything the candidates could have said on stage.
Greitens described Koster as a career politician and the Attorney General’s campaign staff demonstrated their political competence, working with the Missouri Democratic Party to provide a live fact check of the debate.
In total, the team sent out 15 fact checks over claims Greitens made during the course of the debate.
The fact checks weren’t just timely, they were well-sourced. One release from the campaign, refuting Greitens’ claim that Koster had failed on domestic violence, cited more than 12 articles about Koster’s attempts to fight domestic violence and the recommendations from a domestic violence task force he convened.
Other releases from the Missouri Democratic Party hit Greitens over his education policies, thoughts on Ferguson and his zero-based budget plan.
The fact check campaign was notable not just for how it responded to the debate by coordinating between two groups, but for the absence of similar responses from Greitens.
Missouri Rising, a PAC that’s been opposing Koster since before the primary, sent out four releases fact checking Koster and Greitens’ staff sent out three. The state Republican Party did not send any. The three fact checks sent from the Greitens campaign included one about Koster’s proposal to expand Medicaid that was just two unsourced paragraphs.
The response to the debate exemplified why observers think Koster’s lead has continued to grow in the Missouri Times weekly tracking poll, swelling to 16 points the week before the debate.
Koster, the candidate with the long track record of decisions in office, has avenues where he can be attacked. But a release from the Greitens campaign during the debate was only the second time they mention a New York Times article that lays out a case for Koster dropping investigations of companies that contributed to his campaign – a topic also brought up in the Missouri Republican Party’s debate response. The first time the Greitens campaign brought up the 2-year old article was last Tuesday, October 27 while focusing on the release of a new ad. It’s an attack Greitens probably should have been making for months, as was explored on last week’s #moleg podcast.
Instead, it’s been Greitens on the defensive since the primary, against both Koster attacks against his time leading his foundation and Koster’s endorsements from traditionally Republican groups like the Farm Bureau and the NRA.
Greitens now faces a 16 point deficit and five weeks left in the campaign.
