However she pronounces it, Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill beat Governor Bob Holden in the August primary by a lot more than an
ee or an
ah. But she apparently pronounces
Missouri both ways, depending on whether she's talking to city slickers or farm folk. As reported in
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, McCaskill filmed two versions of a campaign commercial, tailoring one for urban viewers and another for rural ones. The "city" Claire appears in a sharp suit, doing obligatory campaign-commercial things, such as negotiating with other people in suits, while her voice-over mentions her ability to get things done, in Missou
ri. The other commercial shows McCaskill trudging through a grassy field, hobnobbing with the blue-collar contingent and talking about rural Missour
ah's agricultural needs. McCaskill was born in Rolla and raised in Lebanon and Columbia, so it's possible that walking past grain elevators in a big barn jacket and jeans just naturally coaxed her old accent out of hiding. At least she didn't film it with a piece of wheat poking out from between her teeth.
That would be pandering.
