Amid the five or six daily email solicitations for money from the Joe Biden presidential campaign there it was, the campaign’s battleground states map. States like Minnesota that need protection were marked dark blue, those that could be won back like Florida were colored light blue, and three states — Texas, Georgia, and Arizona — were colored light purple that are ripe for a turnaround. The rest of the map was left blank indicating certain wins like California and certain losses like Mississippi.
Smack in the middle of the country and the map was Missouri, blank to indicate the foregone conclusion.
The message to Missouri was clear: You don’t matter, and we won’t waste any time or effort on you. This is a short-sighted conclusion created by a lack of effort since 2008 to even try to compete. The only certainty is that doing nothing produces nothing.
For a century — with the exception of 1956 when Adlai Stevenson won Missouri — the state picked every winner for the presidency. That changed in 2008 when former U.S. Senator John McCain carried Missouri by some 3,900 votes out of nearly 3 million ballots. The winning margin of 0.13 percent would have entitled Barak Obama to a recount which he waived after his nationwide victory. Since that razor-thin loss in 2008 Mitt Romney and Donald Trump easily carried the state.
Why did that happen? The answer is the self-fulfilling prophecy by the Obama and Clinton campaigns. If you have decided you have already lost, do nothing to change it, and then confirm your judgment with the loss you created. The circular logic has amounted to a noose hung around the necks of Missouri Democrats. In 2016, an enthusiastic supporter of Hillary Clinton was asked to drive six hours each way from St. Louis to Iowa to knock on doors. Clinton made only the most token effort that left her potential volunteers and supporters abandoned.
There are enough Democratic votes in St Louis city and county, Kansas City, Jackson County, the university city of Columbia, and other pockets around the state to tip an election — or at least make it competitive. This is particularly true in 2020 following the scandal and resignation under fire of Republican Gov. Eric Greitens. Taking over from Greitens was Mike Parson, a former rural sheriff and state legislator, now in way over his head as his main response to the COVID-19 crisis has been to propose immunity for the nursing home industry. Like most Americans, Missourians have suffered under the malignant sociopath and are ready to vote for a change and a return to a normal presidency. With help, they can deliver a win for the Biden campaign if they are not written off again.
Seventy-five years ago the nation was skeptical about a Missourian and the state he came from. The “senator from Prendergast,” a modest, soft-spoken man was, many thought, nothing like Franklyn Roosevelt and certainly could never equal his presidency. But in time, the nation grew to see Harry Truman as the equal of any of his predecessors. Writing off Missouri today will deprive Democrats of the help they need in the most important election since the Civil War.
Greg Bailey, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, is the author of the forthcoming “The Herrin Massacre of 1922: Blood and Coal in the Heart of America.” He is a history writer, journalist, attorney, adjunct professor, playwright, and novelist.
