KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Republicans ended their two day Lincoln Days gathering Saturday evening with closing remarks from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association.
McDonnell — a supporter of Mitt Romney for president and a vice presidential hopeful — said Missourians have a major role in deciding this year’s election, and pressed that they have a big opportunity with the gubernatorial race.
“You’ve got a big chance to win a governor’s race this year,” McDonnell told more than 300 attendees at the Lincoln Days closing reception. “You’ve got a couple of candidates running here in Missouri. Once you make that decision, we’ll be behind you 100 percent.”
On stage Saturday evening, McDonnell steered clear of making a pick between Republican candidates Dave Spence and Bill Randles. But earlier in the day, McDonnell met privately with a group of grassroots activists where he appeared to not realize there was a Republican primary between the two.
According to several sources inside the meeting, McDonnell told the group he would back Spence “100 percent.” That remark drew sharp criticism from some in the crowd, largely full of Randles supporters, who accused McDonnell of trying to push the will of the establishment and ignore Tea Party activists. According to the sources, McDonnell said he didn’t realize there was a contested primary, and pulled back on his remarks.
After the incident, McDonnell met privately with Spence and Randles. In an interview with PoliticMo after his meeting with Spence, McDonnell said as chairman of the RGA, he will not endorse before the primary.
“We support the nominee — we don’t get involved,” he said.
McDonnell said he believes the race to replace Nixon, who leads recent public polling by more than 18 percent, is winnable for either contender.
“I think we’ve thought at the Republican Governor’s Association, for a while, that Missouri was always going to be competitive, especially during a presidential year,” he said. “The top of the ticket, the presidential race, will effect other races including the governor’s race, so we think that’s a positive for the Republican candidates.”
For their part, the two candidates were limited in their speaking rolls over the weekend. Instead, they made their pushes at the floor of the halls, where dozens of volunteers, dawning t-shirts for their candidate of choice, roamed making their pitch to attendees.
Spence hosted parties on both nights for attendees in his campaign suite, featuring catered food and themed ice sculptures.
Randles hosted less exquisite evening events, but did host a well attended rally with supporters on Saturday afternoon.
In front of the crowd, Randles did not mention his opponent, but in conversation with smaller groups of supporters, Randles zeroed in on Spence for his campaign donations to himself, which top top $2 million.
“I have an opponent that thinks, ‘what’s it going to cost,’” Randles said of the race. “I think it’s different than that.”
In an interview, Spence shrugged off the charge that he was essentially trying to buy the nomination.
“I’m in this election to win. It’s going to take capital, it’s going to take a lot of effort, and he can say whatever he wants, and I can’t control that,” Spence said.