As Election Day approaches next week, we have received several inquiries from listeners asking why they have heard some candidates on our daily program St. Louis on the Air while others have not yet been featured on the program.
While our reporters have been covering many of the races including Lt. Gov. and the Missouri 2nd Congressional race, on the talk show we have limited time. Given this we decided that the four races in which we would extend invitations to candidates were: Missouri Governor, Missouri U.S. Senate, Missouri Attorney General, and the Illinois 12th Congressional (which is an open seat currently held by Rep. Jerry Costello).
In order to keep a record of fairness, our producers Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer have reached out to all of the candidates and kept meticulous records when doing so.
The four Republican candidates confirmed before any of the Democratic candidates.
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence was on the program on Monday as have the other three Republican candidates.
Democratic Senator McCaskill was scheduled to be on the program last week though she had to cancel due to the illness of her mother. She was rescheduled to be on the program on Tuesday but again had to cancel following the passing of her mother on Monday. Senator McCaskill has now been rescheduled to appear on St. Louis on the Air on Monday (the day before the election).
Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster’s campaign has not acknowledged our request for an interview after repeated attempts. IL 12th district candidate Democrat Bill Enyart was on the program last week. In the case of Governor Nixon, his campaign has virtually said there is no time. There are no active negotiations taking place to have him on the air.
We have also devoted time on the program to third party candidates including the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate, Jonathan Dine.
We are also devoting two programs this week to a discussion on the major ballot initiatives facing voters in next week’s election.
All of our election coverage can be found on our website, as well as on Beyond November.org, which is a collaboration with The St. Louis Beacon and the Nine Network for Public Media
Finally, a reminder that St. Louis Public Radio will be your source on-air and on-line for full election coverage on election night.
