This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 31, 2009 - Although the pending switch in Missouri GOP ranks has been public for months, it only becomes official today.
That's when veteran Republican operative Lloyd Smith officially takes over as the new executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. He replaces Jared Craighead, who had held the job during most of friend Matt Blunt's tenure as governor.
Smith is the longtime chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau. Besides once bearing an uncanny resemblance to Col. Sanders (before shaving off his mustache), Smith has a record of being a major player in a number of Missouri's most visible campaigns, including President George W. Bush's re-election campaign in 2004 and both of Jim Talent's senatorial campaigns in 2002 (which he won) and 2006 (which he lost.)
Smith also was a major, major force in the congressional redistricting following the 2000 census. He worked closely with Joyce Aboussie, long the most powerful Democratic operative in the state and at the time the national political director for then-U.S. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt.
As a result of his familiarity with redistricting, Smith could be a major factor when the process kicks off again after the 2010 census.
