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Gov. Blunt says he won't run again By Jo Mannies ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 01/22/2008
Matt & Melanie Blunt from their YouTube video announcement.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, just announced that he's not running for re-election this fall.
 
In a statement that shocked political leaders in both parties, Blunt released a TV address "announcing that having achieved virtually everything he set out to accomplish when he ran for governor, he will not seek a second term.

"In his address, Gov. Blunt cites among his accomplishments turning an inherited $1.1 billion deficit into three straight surpluses without a tax increase, cutting taxes, ending the education cuts of the past and providing budgets that will deliver $1.2 billion to universities, classrooms and students, rescuing the broken Medicaid system and transforming it into a network of care for vulnerable Missourians and helping turn record job-loss into nearly 90,000 new jobs.

"The governor called a news conference tomorrow morning at 9:30 am where he is expected to discuss his announcement," his statement said.

Blunt, 37, made his announcement in a press release and a two minute, 50-second video statement. With his wife, Melanie, at his side, Blunt says in the video that he had accomplished his goals during his first term and does not want to stay in "any office just to hold it."

"After a great deal of thought and prayer, and with the knowledge that we have achieved virtually everything I set out to accomplish, and more, I will not seek a second term in the upcoming election," Blunt said.

Blunt said his administration had helped to get the state budget out of deficit, had reformed a "broke and broken" Medicaid system for the poor, had boosted spending on education by $1.2 billion and had helped to create more jobs in Missouri. RELATED LINKS Transcript of Blunt's announcement VIDEO: Address to Missourians from Gov. Matt Blunt on YouTube TALK: Blunt's announcement -- Good riddance or bad move? POLL: How would you grade Matt Blunt as governor?

"What we set out to achieve four years ago has been accomplished," Blunt said.

Blunt reads verbatim from his speech in the video announcement. Melenie Blunt does not speak, but looks at her husband during the first part of the video, and then smiles toward camera with him as he completes his statement.

"To serve as your governor is a great privilege," he says near the ending. "I will continue to work every day to be worthy of the faith and confidence you have placed in me."

His decision leaves his party without a presumed candidate in the gubernatorial election on Nov. 4. Blunt and the leading Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jay Nixon, had clashed frequently over issues ranging from immigration to the collapse of AmerenUE's Taum Sauk reservoir.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican from Cape Girardeau and a former state senator, told a Post-Dispatch reporter who saw him in a Capitol hallway shortly after Blunt's announcement that there was a "decent chance" he will run.

State Republican legislative leaders expressed shock at the news, which Blunt revealed to them at 3:50 p.m. in a conference call.

"I'm sort of dumbfounded," said Senate Pro Tem Mike Gibbons, R-Kirkwood.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, said GOP legislators "were shocked. Nobody expected it. I don't think anybody knew this. It's hard to keep a secret in Jefferson City, but I hadn't heard anything."

"...We were just speechless," Jetton said. "You don't expect that on Jan. 22 of an election year."

Jetton said among the likely GOP candidates would be former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent of St. Louis County, U.S. Rep. Ken Hulshof of Columbia, State Treasurer Sarah Steelman of Rolla and Kinder, the lieutenant governor. "We need to sit down among ourselves and see who would best be able to carry out our mission," Jetton said of Republicans.

Of Blunt's decision, Jetton said the governor indicated "he didn't have the sense of mission, that he had accomplished what he had committed to do, that he just didn't have the oomph to carry on."

Jetton had planned to complete this year in office and become a lobbyist, but said Blunt's announcement "changes everything." He said he would discuss his own prospects, including a run for governor, with his wife.

After Blunt made his plans known, State Republican Party spokesman Doug Russell swiftly followed suit with his own statement:
 
 “Governor Blunt has been a remarkable leader that changed Missouri for the better.  His conservative policies and values turned our state in a new, hopeful direction.  Under his administration, budget deficits were replaced with surpluses, education was restored to its place atop our priority list, children are safer, more Missourians are working and healthcare for low-income Missourians has been transformed so that we are preventing sickness rather than treating illness once it has reached a chronic stage.
 
" I wish Governor Blunt, the First Lady and Branch all the happiness in the world as they embark on a new journey when the governor’s term expires.  I also appreciate Governor Blunt’s commitment to ensuring the next governor of our state is a Republican who will continue to employ the principles of personal responsibility, fiscal conservatism and limited government so that we can be assured Missouri’s brightest days are ahead.”  

 
In Washington, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. and the governor's father, said he was proud of his son's service and understands his decision.

"I respect his decision to spend this year being the best governor he can be in service of our state and its people, rather than letting the focus shift to pure politics," Roy Blunt said.

Barely an hour after Blunt made his announcement, the Republican Governors Association in Washington issued a statement praising Blunt as "an important example of why Republican leadership is so important."

The association said Missouri's contest for governor this year was expected to be "one of the most hotly contested" in the country, and remains so. It says Blunt "is leaving a positive legacy for Missouri."