Now Who Wants To Be the GOP Guv Lite Candidate November 11, 2011

KC Star political reporter Steve Kraske has a list of potential GOP candidates for Lt. Governor, now that House Speaker Tilley has left the race:

candidates

For the GOP primary, the list of potentials is starting to grow:

1) State Sen. Brad Lager.

2) State Sen. Ron Richard.

3) Former chief of staff to Gov. Matt Blunt, Ed Martin, now a candidate for Congress in the state’s 2nd District.

4) State Sen. Mike Kehoe.

But a big question looms: Will incumbent Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder stay in the race for governor…or switch for a re-election race for a third term as lieutenant governor?

The arguments flow both ways:

Some top GOPers insist Kinder is in the race for governor, that has an announcement date scheduled, that he’s calling state senators lining up support.

But then…

….there’s the argument that Kinder is toast if he runs for governor against Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon and that he’ll drag down the party if he does it. So, this theory goes, it only makes sense if he runs for re-election to his current job.

Lots of speculation…but no names on the dotted line, at least not yet.