Blunt for Senate

The House seems to have been sidelined lately in all the big legislative negotiations, and no one is more keenly aware of that than Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who announced Thursday he wants to move to where the action is and will be for the foreseeable future: The Senate.

“The Senate is where the real battles will be fought for America’s future,” Blunt presciently stated in his 2010 Senate Run announcement.Blunt, 59, has served in the House since 1996 and rose to the penultimate House leadership position in 2005 before slowly falling back down to the ladder. Earlier this year he gave up his post as House Minority Whip, saying the decision was based on his need to focus on a possible senate run. Other Republicans said Blunt was pushed out in the face of an insurmountable challenge by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the party’s new and outspoken House Republican Whip.

Blunt hopes to replace five-term Senator Kit Bond, who announced last month that he would retire at the end of his term.

Part of the reason Bond retired was the tough political terrain he would have faced, even as a well-known incumbent. Now Blunt will inherit that challenge.

Blunt is well known across the state. His son, Matt, is the former governor, and Blunt is expected to easily win any primary challenge. But the general election could prove much tougher. Blunt will likely face Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, daughter of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan, who was elected posthumously to the Senate in 2000 after he died in a plane crash. His wife, Jean, served in his place in the Senate briefly.

The seat is currently rated in the Cook Political Report as a toss up.

Blunt was elevated briefly to House Majority Leader in 2005 when then-Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, had to abandon the post after he was indicted on misdemeanor charges in Texas. Blunt tried to get his conference to elect him to the post permanently, but they instead chose John Boehner, R-Ohio.