U.S. Senate hopeful makes big strides in poll

Nevada Daily Mail

Last summer, when candidates began posturing for the 2012 U.S. Senate race, few Missourians had even heard of John Brunner. Now, the St. Louis Republican is outpacing the other top two GOP candidates U.S Congressman Todd Akin and former Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman in the American Viewpoint poll that interviewed 600 "likely GOP primary voters" last week.

The poll showed Brunner in the lead with 40 percent of the vote to 20 percent each for Akin and Steelman and 19 percent of respondents undecided.

"I started with 3 percent name ID," he noted. "Three percent with a margin of plus or minus 4, means I could be dead," he quipped.

"I've been working really hard and that red line (indicating his progress on a graph) keeps moving up the scale.

"I've never run for public office before, and felt there was more of a need for a citizen's senator as opposed to a career politician," Brunner said in an interview Monday, before going to a campaign event at Heritage State Bank.

He's spent four years in the United States Marine Corps, and 33 years in manufacturing.

He says that along the campaign trail he's learned that "folks think I'm easy to relate to," because of his "real-world" experience as a businessman.

Brunner said that as such, he's "in the business of getting things done. A career politician says there's always next session, always next year."

He's endorsed by several groups, but "The real issue, of course, is getting around and meeting people and getting the endorsement of the people of Missouri," Brunner said.

Brunner believes he's the candidate who can take on incumbent Claire McCaskill after the primary. "She has a lot of resources. She's been in politics for 30 years -- another career politician -- and it's going to take someone who's really tough enough to be able to run a very effective campaign. I believe a clear difference between myself and the Democrat, and the other Republicans in the race, is that I have a background in business and industry, manufacturing."

If elected, he hopes to bring some of the leadership skills he's gleaned along the way to "bring people together.'

If he's elected to the Senate, he says he'd serve no more that two terms. "If I'm elected, if I'm successful, and there's more work to do, I'll go for a second term, then I'm out," he said.

Beyond his mantra of stopping spending, Brunner says his platform's four-pronged.

He wants:

* A national energy plan, "where we open up the oil, the natural gas, the alternative fuels. We know we have enough resources to be fully dependent on domestic energy."

* To roll back red-tape regulations. Brunner says people are holding back on expansion because of uncertainty about regulations.

* Work toward a "fair, flatter tax rate" that makes a more agreeable business climate, funding the government services by growing the tax base rather than increasing the rate.

* Address tort reform where appropriate. "Missouri's made some good progress. It's really a state issue," but there could be issues relating to interstate commerce, for example, that may need to be addressed at the federal level.

So far, Brunner and Akin are the only U.S. Senate candidates to have visited Vernon County on the campaign trail. When Akin attended an April 13 forum, he said he has been rated Missouri's most conservative congressman. "It's time to say, 'Let's take back America.' and that's why I'm running for the U.S. Senate," Akin told the crowd at the time.

He cited his rejection of intense pressure to vote for Wall Street bailouts and said he would support an American withdrawal from the United Nations.

Other Republicans in the race include Steelman, of Rolla; Jerry Beck, of LaMonte; Mark Memoly, of Lee's Summit; Mark Patrick Lodes, of St. Louis; Robert Poole, of Macon; and Hector Maldonado, Sullivan.

Incumbent Claire Mc-Caskill is the lone Democrat.