This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 22, 2012 - Missouri's contest for governor may be overlooked in many quarters -- but not by the partisan national governors groups, who been flooding the state with donations to Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, and his Republican rival, St. Louis area businessman Dave Spence.
The money may be the best signal that the contest may be tightening.
Nixon reported over the weekend that he received $100,000 last Friday from the Democratic Governors Association, which has been his most generous donor. Previously this year, the DGA had made contributions totaling $1.85 million.
Earlier last week, Republican rival Dave Spence received $300,000 from the Republican Governors Association – which is in addition to $2.07 million that the group had donated just since August.
The RGA is Spence’s biggest donor – excluding himself.
Last week, the St. Louis County businessman contributed another $500,000 of his own money to his campaign. So far, he has donated or lent $4.5 million of his own money to his effort to oust Nixon.
