Gov. Matt Blunt (R) Elected 2004, 1st term up Jan. 2009
Born:	Nov. 20, 1970, Strafford
Home:	Springfield
Education:	U.S. Naval Acad., B.S. 1993
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	married (Melanie)
Elected  Office:	MO House, 1998-2000; MO Secy. of State, 2000-04.
Military Career:	Navy, 1993-98; Naval Reserve, 1998-present.
Professional Career:	Naval officer, 1993-98.
Office	State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 216, Jefferson City 65102, 573-751-3222; Fax: 573-751-1495; Web: www.gov.state.mo.us.
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Matt Blunt was elected governor of Missouri in 2004. He was born in the town of Strafford in southwest Missouri, the first child of House Majority Whip Roy Blunt; at the time, Roy Blunt was a high school teacher. After a decade as Greene County Clerk, Roy Blunt in 1984 was elected secretary of state and the family moved to Jefferson City, where Matt Blunt attended and graduated high school. Matt Blunt won an appointment to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, spent a summer interning in the office of Governor John Ashcroft, then went on active duty in the Navy for five years, serving as an engineering, administrative and navigation officer aboard various ships. One frigate he served on was assigned to the UN-authorized blockade of Haiti and conducted anti-drug missions off the South American coast.

When his tour ended, Blunt returned home to Missouri where he immediately he joined the family business by winning a state House seat in 1998. His grandfather, Leroy Blunt, had been elected to the Missouri House in 1978 (his opponent was Betty McCaskill, whose daughter Claire would one day figure prominently in his grandson's political career). Matt Blunt's father Roy was twice elected secretary of state, lost in the Republican primary for governor in 1992 and won election to the House in 1996, where he rose to become the third ranking Republican in the House. Matt Blunt served just one term in the state House.

In 2000, he was elected secretary of state at age 29. He appointed a bipartisan commission to investigate voting irregularities in that election and moved to improve enforcement of securities laws designed to protect investors. As a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves, he was called up for six months active duty in the United Kingdom after September 11. With the assistance of his deputy secretary of state, he performed some official duties from his overseas post; he even conducted a telephone interview with reporters, though he could not disclose his location.

It was clear even then that Matt Blunt had his eye on the governor's office; he met with Congressman Kenny Hulshof after the 2002 election and discussed their prospective 2004 candidacies for governor. Hulshof decided to run the day after the 2002 election, but his father died later that month, leaving his mother to run the family farm, and in January 2003 Hulshof announced he would not run for governor. That left Blunt, the one successful Republican statewide candidate on the 2000 ballot, as the likely nominee. He did not consider his age a problem; he pointed out that if elected in November 2004 he would be several months older than Senator Christopher Bond was when he was first elected governor in 1972 and that he would have had more experience in elective office. In the August primary, Blunt won 88% against five other Republican challengers.

On the Democratic side, there was a serious question as to whether incumbent Governor Bob Holden would be the nominee. Holden's administration started off on the wrong foot, holding a $1 million inaugural, the largest in state history, and then confessing that the committee was $417,000 in debt. In January 2001 he discovered he needed to cut state spending by $200 million and, thanks to Republican victories in special elections, he had to deal with a Republican state Senate, which killed his plan for a $500 million tax increase for roads. In the 2002 regular session the legislature resisted his proposal to dip into the rainy day fund and found enough revenue, but for the first time since 1997 did not provide full school funding. In November 2002 Republicans gained seats in the state Senate and had a 20-14 majority and gained control of the state House for the first time since 1948, with a 90-73 margin.

In early 2003 Holden's prospects for reelection in 2004 looked iffy. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called him "a luckless politician who has encountered one problem after another since taking office." State Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Kansas City-area Democrat who was reelected 60%-37% in 2002, had in 2001 said, "I would never run against Bob Holden in a Democratic primary and I don't think anyone would be wise to do that." But she did and defeated Holden by 52%-45%.

Despite roots in the Ozarks, Holden was hurt in outstate Missouri by his 2003 veto of a concealed-carry gun law, his maneuvering to move a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage to the August primary ballot (where it passed overwhelmingly 71%-29%) rather than the general election and by his handling of education spending. Holden, citing an unbalanced state budget, withheld in 2003 $210 million in funds appropriated for public schools. In April 2004, after financially-strapped school districts across the state were forced to cut budgets and approve property tax hikes and bond measures, Holden released the funds, saying that new budget developments made it fiscally possible to do so.

After his defeat, Holden said he had no regrets and attributed the loss to a tough state economic climate. He graciously conceded to McCaskill and the party and the state's major labor unions, which backed Holden, quickly united behind her. Blunt ran his first television ads after the primary and promised to make state government more accountable and efficient. He called for limiting awards in civil suits and restricting workers compensation insurance payments. He supported concealed-carry legislation and the constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage and opposed abortion. McCaskill supported abortion rights, though she opposed late term abortions, with an exception for the life of the mother; she opposed the concealed-carry gun law and the constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. McCaskill, 51, a former state legislator and prosecutor, sought to take advantage of the 33-year-old Blunt's youth and relative inexperience in state government, noting that she would not need on-the-job training. In one debate, she congratulated Blunt and his wife, who were expecting their first child, then mentioned her 17-year-old son and said, "It's something we have in common. I was expecting my first child when I was 33 years old." In her closing statement she said, "I've learned an awful lot since I was 33 years old."

Blunt won 51%-48%, running 2% behind George W. Bush and 5% behind Senator Christopher Bond. Outstate Missouri proved pivotal, just as it did in the Democratic primary. McCaskill carried metro St. Louis 55%-44% and ran 5% ahead of John Kerry in metro Kansas City, winning there 57%-42%. But Blunt carried 90 of 97 counties in the rest of Missouri and won there 61%-38%. In his home area, in the counties of his father's congressional district, he led 67%-32%.

Blunt became governor as Missouri entered its fifth straight year of budget deficits. With a 23-11 Republican advantage in the Senate and a 97-66 margin in the House, it was the first time in eight decades that Republicans controlled all three branches of government. In his first proposed budget, Blunt called for cutting spending by $362 million, a reduction of more than 1,000 state jobs, and for deep cuts in Medicaid spending, saying that "Missourians can no longer afford the second most expensive Medicaid program in the United States."

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent
2004 general	Matt Blunt (R)	1,382,419	51%
	Claire McCaskill (D)	1,301,442	48%
	Other	35,738	1%
2004 primary	Matt Blunt (R)	534,393	88%
	Karen Lee Dee Skelton-Memhardt (R)	26,089	4%
	Other	44,275	7%
2000 general	Bob Holden (D)	1,152,752	49%
	Jim Talent (R)	1,131,307	48%
	Other	62,771	3%