Talent v. McCaskill

SEN. JIM TALENT doesn’t blame President Bush for his political travails. It’s true that the Missouri Republican is in a tight race: An early-October poll put him three points behind his Democratic challenger, state auditor Claire McCaskill. It’s also true that McCaskill thinks Bush will drag Talent down to defeat: She attacks the president so frequently, you would think she were running against him.

Talent isn’t running away from Bush. Zinged for “voting with Bush” 94 percent of the time, he shoots back that he’s glad that the president agrees with him so often. Rather than attributing his problems to Bush, he says that Missouri just has tight races.

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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SEN. JIM TALENT doesn’t blame President Bush for his political travails. It’s true that the Missouri Republican is in a tight race: An early-October poll put him three points behind his Democratic challenger, state auditor Claire McCaskill. It’s also true that McCaskill thinks Bush will drag Talent down to defeat: She attacks the president so frequently, you would think she were running against him.

Talent isn’t running away from Bush. Zinged for “voting with Bush” 94 percent of the time, he shoots back that he’s glad that the president agrees with him so often. Rather than attributing his problems to Bush, he says that Missouri just has tight races.