This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 28, 2011 - Businessman John Brunner will finally end months of speculation Monday when he announces whether he is running for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.
Consultant John Hancock confirmed this afternoon that Brunner will make his decision public next Monday in St. Charles.
The location is secret, at the moment. But Brunner's company, Vi-Jon, has an operation in St. Charles, which might make it a logical location. Another reason to choose St. Charles: It's one of the state's most important blocs of Republican votes.
If he's in, Brunner would become the third Republican seeking to challenge U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. She's a prime Republican target.
Brunner, who has never run for office, is expected to emphasize his business acumen. But he long has had an interest in politics.
His father, the late John Brunner Sr., was active in conservative Republican circles. The elder Brunner helped found the local chapter of the conservative Republican Assembly -- a precursor to the tea party movement -- and was active in commentator Pat Buchanan's 1996 Republican bid for president.
The younger Brunner has been courted for months by some of the region's top Republicans who are uneasy with the other GOP candidates already in the contest: former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman and U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Wildwood.
Both have been sending out emails this week seeking last-minute donations before Friday's deadline for this quarter.
Steelman also was in St. Louis today, appearing on KMOX radio with host Mark Reardon.
Normally it wouldn't be that noteworthy, since the conservative-leaning host often draws politicians from both political parties to his show on KMOX. But Steelman's appearance came roughly nine months removed from an interview that Reardon termed as a "disaster."
After Steelman finished that earlier interview, Reardon criticized Steelman for, among other things, not providing more specific answers.
This time, Steelman and Reardon sent out Tweets this morning (hers and his) promoting this afternoon's interview. At the end of the Tweets was "#truce," signaling perhaps that the two had put the earlier interview in the past.
Reardon announced on his show that Steelman brought three roses wrapped in one of her campaign bumper stickers. "I figured nobody ever brings you flowers," Steelman quipped, with Reardon replying "that's probably true."
Reardon said Steelman reached out to him recently and the two sat down to have a "nice conversation."
"Because I think that this Senate race is very important," Reardon said. "And I want to talk about why you're in this race."
But Reardon then asked Steelman whether she had any inclination of abandoning her Senate bid and switching to another contest. There have, for instance, been questions about whether Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder will follow through with his plans to run in next year's gubernatorial race.
Steelman also has lagged behind Akin in fundraising.
Steelman rejected such talk. "I'm in this race to stay. And I'm fighting hard for the people of this state and this country. That's what I'm going to do."
Steelman also touched on proposals to reduce government spending and tackled a question about comparing herself to the other candidates in the race.
Reardon also inquired about Steelman's reaction to GOP presidential aspirant Herman Cain's "9-9-9" plan that would do away with the current tax code and replace it with a 9 percent tax on personal income, a 9 percent tax on corporate income and a 9 percent national sales tax.
"I haven't actually read it, but you know I think it's interesting," Steelman said, after stating she wanted to 'blow up' the tax code and start all over. But she added, "I'm not sure how people are going to react to 9 percent ... national sales tax."
Such a tax would be in addition to state and local sales taxes.
Steelman attempted to bring up the deficit-cutting plan advanced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., but Reardon ran out of time.
