Ann Wagner has announced an exploratory committee to seek Missouri's Second Congressional District seat. She will not be running for the US Senate. This leaves the door open for Akin to challenge the blonde bimbo and Ed Martin in the Republican primary.
Will Lynch, who may announce he is a candidate to run against Republican Billy Long in the Missouri 7 Republican primary writes:
Fired Up! Missouri broke the story today that Ann Wagner will be running for Congress. The scuttlebutt for a lot of the morning was that Wagner, former ambassador to Luxembourg and candidate for RNC Chair, was going to be on KMOX with Mark Reardon and later on 97.1 with Dana Loesch to announce her intent to run for something.
Unfortunately for well-kept secrets, Wagner's camp launched her campaign website before she made the announcement. The website, annwagner.com, currently is returning an HTTP 403 meaning that the webmaster has made the content unavailable to the public. I was lucky enough to catch the website while it was still up and it lists this announcement on the site:
St. Louis - Ann Wagner today announced she has formed an exploratory committee, the first step toward launching a campaign for U.S. Congress. Wagner said she is exploring a possible race for Congress in the likely event Missouri's Second Congressional District becomes an open seat in 2012.
"My concern for the future of our country, our families and my home region is the reason I'm announcing an exploratory committee for U.S. Congress. The 2nd Congressional District is the place where my husband Ray and I grew up, went to school, raised our children, work and go to church. Now the future of the people and the place that we love is being threatened by failed leadership in Washington t
"My concern for the future of our country, our families and my home region is the reason I'm announcing an exploratory committee for U.S. Congress. The 2nd Congressional District is the place where my husband Ray and I grew up, went to school, raised our children, work and go to church. Now the future of the people and the place that we love is being threatened by failed leadership in Washington t
hat is dragging us down a path of ruin.
"With our freedoms and values under siege in Washington, I've been saying 'enough is enough.' The Obama Administration and Washington liberals are taxing too much, spending too much and they are stifling job creation in our home region and across the country as a result.
"Washington's failed job-killing policies have wreaked havoc across our economy and made the recession even worse. Our region has been hit hard with job seekers facing an unemployment rate of almost 9 percent in St. Louis and St. Charles Counties alone. In those same two counties, more than 60,000 Missourians remain unemployed.
"Profligate spending on big government programs like President Obama's failed stimulus
"With our freedoms and values under siege in Washington, I've been saying 'enough is enough.' The Obama Administration and Washington liberals are taxing too much, spending too much and they are stifling job creation in our home region and across the country as a result.
"Washington's failed job-killing policies have wreaked havoc across our economy and made the recession even worse. Our region has been hit hard with job seekers facing an unemployment rate of almost 9 percent in St. Louis and St. Charles Counties alone. In those same two counties, more than 60,000 Missourians remain unemployed.
"Profligate spending on big government programs like President Obama's failed stimulus
plan have saddled our children and grandchildren with a national debt of more than $14 trillion. Adding insult to injury is Obama's solution to Washington's spending problem, which involves piling more tax hikes on job creators already coping with the government takeover of health care and the threat of Obama's cap-and-trade scheme.
"Although I have worked for over 20 years in politics and public service, this is the first time I've taken a step toward putting my name on the ballot for state or federal office. But the stakes could not be any higher for our country and my commitment to serve our region could not be stronger.
"I will begin this effort by listening to the hard-working people, families and job creators throughout our region. They are the voices I believe I could effectively represent in the Congress with
"Although I have worked for over 20 years in politics and public service, this is the first time I've taken a step toward putting my name on the ballot for state or federal office. But the stakes could not be any higher for our country and my commitment to serve our region could not be stronger.
"I will begin this effort by listening to the hard-working people, families and job creators throughout our region. They are the voices I believe I could effectively represent in the Congress with
my conservative values, conservative leadership and conservative vision."
Screen shots appear below. This announcement shows that Akin will almost certainly be running for the U.S. Senate, which now bears a little more consideration and evaluation. Things will certainly be interesting with two St. Louis-area candidates running for the GOP nod against Sarah Steelman.
