Sam Graves knows that his seat in Congress is safe. He cruised to victories in his last two elections, including walloping former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes. After 11 years, he doesn't even have to call "quack, quack, seat back."
So it's not much of a surprise that Graves doesn't want to make a run at Claire McCaskill's Senate seat. The announcement came with a concise tweet from Graves' consultant, Jeff Roe (via KMBC's Mike Mahoney): "Graves is out for US Senate."
"I can have a bigger impact right now as one of 19 (House committee chairmen) than I can as a freshman member of the Senate," Graves told the Star. "I have a bunch of stuff I want to do."
Why swap an easy knockout for a knock-down, drag-out fistfight? Clearly, Graves didn't want to risk it.
"It'd be an all-in race for two years with no guarantee," he told the Star. "There's a lot to lose."
Graves is the latest prominent name to say he wouldn't run against McCaskill. Jim Talent, who McCaskill beat for the seat in 2006, announced last week that he didn't want a rematch.
Claire Bear still has a couple of potential challengers in former state
treasurer Sarah Steelman and former Matt Blunt chief of staff
Ed Martin.
The Star lists other potential challengers as U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and former Missouri GOP chairwoman Ann Wagner.
None of them sound nearly as formidable as Graves or Talent.
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