Politics

There will be no repeat of the big-dollar, negative primary that plagued Missouri's Republican Senate contest when GOP leaders meet next year to select a replacement candidate for retiring Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson.

That's because there will be no primary election at all - no chance for rank-and-file Republicans or Democrats to cast their votes.

Nominees will be selected by committees of party officials from southeast Missouri. Only then will one Republican and one Democratic candidate be submitted to voters in a special election.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon spent $15.5 million on his re-election campaign and still has hundreds of thousands of dollars left over.

Campaign finance reports released Thursday show Nixon's fundraising committee had a balance of nearly $414,000 at the start of December.

Nixon has changed his committee to indicate that he now is seeking an unspecified statewide office in 2016 and has given it a new name - "A Better Missouri With Governor Jay Nixon."

Updated at 2:02 with McCaskill's finances.

In spite of repeated assurances that they wouldn't support Congressman Todd Akin's senate bid after his damning comments regarding "legitimate rape," the National Republican Senatorial Committee funneled $756,000 into Akin's campaign during the days before the election.

Republicans in the Senate have blocked ratification of a United Nations treaty that would have helped countries protect the rights of disabled people.

Although it’s modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act - which was passed over twenty years ago - 38 Republicans voted against the treaty.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt voted against it, and told reporters Thursday that he objected to it being brought up during the lame duck session.