See the toilet full of money just waiting to get flushed? Well that is nothing compared to what the Missouri Republican Party plans to do in February. The Missouri Republicans plan to waste $8,000,000.00 on a Presidential primary that will not count. Yes that is right, it will not count. It won’t count because the Republicans in Missouri are afraid of which Republican their primary voters might choose in the primary election.  Instead, they have chosen to only hear from a few in their party who have the time to commit to the caucus process that takes a whole evening – and not a simple vote at the polls.

The Republican National Committee has already determined the date Missouri is supposed to determine it’s nominee. A caucus is when party insiders are invited to pick its nominee and that caucus will occur in March.

“It’s a mess. A debacle. And it’s plain silly. Next year, Missouri taxpayers will pay several million bucks for a presidential primary in February that carries no weight and no meaning. Nuthin’….The Feb. 7 primary will be little more than a confusing exercise in good ol’ Missouri futility.”(KC Star)

“A bill moving the state’s primary to March has become stalled in the state Senate, a victim of the stalemate over a massive economic development bill.” (stltoday.com)

“Missouri is moving ahead with plans for a presidential primary that could cost taxpayers several million dollars, although most of the state’s political parties plan to use other means to choose their candidates.” (Springfield News-Leader)

The Missouri Republican Party owns this failure. The  Republicans control the House and the Senate in Missouri and yet they cannot get their act together to have a primary that their national party will recognize.  The Republican Party’s solution is to let political insiders, not Missouri voters, decide the outcome in an all-day caucus.  Because the Republicans in the House and the Senate refused to amend the statute, the state still has to pay for a special election in February.

The Missouri Republican Party owes Missouri voters an explanation.  The Republicans need to answer questions about why they want to limit the participation of their primary voters in choosing the Republican nominee for President.  Are Republican insiders in Missouri afraid of who their primary voters may choose?  Why else would they choose to limit participation?   Republicans would rather waste $8,000,000.00 on a non-binding special election and then let Party Insiders control the outcome at the expense of the average voter and taxpayer.