308 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY… 217 DAYS UNTIL THE AUGUST PRIMARY

HOURS TILL IOWA — Speaking on CBS’s Face The Nation yesterday morning, former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., distanced the Romney campaign from PAC ads, and pressed the electability argument in favor of Mitt Romney: [T]he governor has said that he doesn’t support those…  PAC ads or he doesn’t support the idea of the PACs, but he does support the idea of contrasting. And people are going to do what they’re going to do. … [T]hese ads have been fair contrasts of the record of the various candidates. We have Governor Romney’s record, trusted, strong leader with experience in the private sector. The guy who can beat Barack Obama, that’s what the polls show. And that’s the logic of his candidacy is what he’s running on.”  

—  Fractured party? “[T]he race is fluid. There’s a lot of people who’re undecided, and they park in one place or another place. …  I think this is the candidate in a very heavily fractionalized field who’s had the strong support all across the party campaigning in a number of different states. And where he’s campaigned the most, he’s the strongest which is in New Hampshire. So when people find out more about him, then they decide that they like him. So again, this is the candidate that can beat Obama, turn around the federal government. That’s the reason he’s running so well.” 

THE OTHER CONTENDERS —  ‘Romney’s chief Iowa rivals press electability,’ AP, in the KC Star: “With time running short, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and other Republican presidential contenders insisted they could beat President Barack Obama as they worked to persuade undecided Iowa Republicans aching to win the White House to choose them over chief rival Mitt Romney. … With Romney in a position of strength in Iowa, both Santorum and Paul went directly at the former Massachusetts governor’s chief argument - that he is the most electable Republican in a head-to-head matchup against Obama next fall. They hope they can sway the roughly half of likely caucus-goers who say they are undecided or willing to change their minds two days before the leadoff presidential caucuses. … 

“A Des Moines Register poll released Saturday showed Romney and Paul locked in a close race, with Santorum rising swiftly to challenge them. Nearly half of likely Iowa caucus-goers view Romney as the Republican most likely to win the general election. He was far ahead of Santorum and Paul, who was viewed as the least likely to win. Those two are fighting against the notion in GOP circles that their bases of support are narrow and neither would be able to cobble together the diverse voting coalition necessary to beat Obama in November. Paul attracts legions of backers who put states’ rights above much else, while Santorum - an anti-abortion crusader - is popular among Christian conservatives who make up the base of the Republican Party.” http://bit.ly/s3xfFV

ERAC BACKS WAGNER — ‘Enterprise links a gold mine for Wagner in House race,’ Post-Dispatch: “For nearly as long as congressional hopeful Ann Wagner has played an influential role in Republican politics, she has been a fixture at Enterprise Rent-A-Car corporate events. Wagner’s husband is the company’s lead political liaison. She knows many of the firm’s top bosses, and she describes herself as part of the company ‘family.’ … Employees and others associated with the rental car giant have donated more than $250,000 to Wagner’s campaign for the newly redrawn U.S. House district that includes Enterprise’s corporate headquarters in Clayton. … Nearly one out of every four dollars Wagner has reported raising so far has come from someone connected to Enterprise. Lobbyists and lawyers employed by firms that have done work for Enterprise have chipped in thousands more. … 

“If elected, Wagner says, she would remain independent from Enterprise, whose agenda in Washington includes automobile, energy and tax issues. Still, Wagner said it’s no surprise company executives have been so generous. ‘That’s how candidates raise money,’ she said. ‘You go to friends and associates.’”  http://bit.ly/vmAR9p

— Flashback: Dave Catanese, October 25, 2011: ‘Enterprise picks Wagner up’: “No non-incumbent House candidate raised more money last quarter than Missouri’s Ann Wagner. And the former ambassador’s $532,000 total was — shall we say, picked up — by Enterprise. Just over 20 percent of Wagner’s third quarter donations came from employees of the national rental car company, where her husband is a vice president, according to an analysis by POLITICO.” http://politi.co/rOi08j

MCCASKILL REELCT — ‘McCaskill casts self as government watchdog,’ AP, in the St. Joseph News-Press and Columbia Missourian yesterday, and the Quincy, Illinois (STL border) Whig today: “U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill sums up her five years as a Democratic senator from Missouri with one word: watchdog. She uses another to describe her 2012 re-election campaign: underdog. McCaskill, who has survived several decades in politics as a lawmaker, prosecutor and auditor, is heading into a challenging campaign year against an economic headwind that may imperil incumbents — particularly those linked to a still unpopular president in an unpredictable swing state such as Missouri. Her hopes for victory may hinge on her ability to persuade voters that she has served as their government watchdog in Washington, D.C. … 

“McCaskill’s Republican challengers — who she says all “qualify as extreme voices” — have eagerly highlighted her ties to Obama. Brunner, who is pouring his own money into his campaign, already has been running ads stressing the Obama-McCaskill connection. Republicans also already are going right at McCaskill’s perceived strength, challenging her claims as a crusader for good government and a protector of taxpayer money. They highlight her support for Obama initiatives like the stimulus which have driven up the deficit. … McCaskill emphasizes that she is no newcomer in the push for government accountability and frugality. She rattles off a list of achievements.” http://bit.ly/sthe4k

BLUNT ZINGS — ‘Blunt: Obama drone policy inconsistent,’ PoliticMo: “Though President Obama has basically ended the war in Iraq and has began to draw down another in Afghanistan, his administration has quietly built up a large unmanned drone program. In the past three years, the Obama administration has grown America’s arsenal of potentially deadly drones to over 775, and the numbers are increasing, according to a report in the Washington Post on Wednesday. Some 30 of those drones have been allocated to the Central Intelligence Agency. … In the three years since Obama took office, more than 240 strikes have killed nearly 1,300 individuals, according to data published by the New America Foundation. … 

“Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he and the committee have monitored the administration’s increased use of drones. Blunt questioned the president’s additional policies in dealing with alleged terrorists, like the administration’s opposition to trying terror suspects in military courts. ‘I think what is really inconsistent in the president’s discussion is how its okay to use drones to target individuals, even in a couple cases American citizens, but its not okay to try terrorists in a military court,’ he told PoliticMo.” http://bit.ly/sf0cog

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, welcome to 2012, and welcome to this edition of PoliticMo Rundown. Send your tips, comments, and scoops to eli@politicmo.com. 

TWEETERS — @ClaireCMc: “Missing the good ole days of Rose, Sugar,Orange, and Cotton with a little Fiesta thrown in.This bowl situation is a damn mess.” 

STARTING TODAY — ‘Nixon names Hall his third economic development director,’ PoliticMo on Friday afternoon: “Gov. Jay Nixon announced he will appoint Missouri Technology Corporation director Jason Hall to serve as director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development. … Hall will be tasked by Nixon with continuing to implement Nixon’s ‘Strategic Initiative for Economic Growth,’ his five-year plan to increase economic activity in the state. Hall, who has led the Missouri Technology Corporation since 2009, will be Nixon’s third director of economic development in as many years. Nixon’s first director, Linda Martinez, resigned after apparent discord with Nixon. … Kerr, who led the department for two years, announced that he would step down soon after details emerged about the failure of an economic development deal with the Chinese artificial sweetener company Mamtek. In his time as director, Kerr helped organize deals with major auto companies to revitalize the industry in Missouri, and was a major part of Nixon’s China trade trip earlier this year, where they secured nearly $4 billion in new trade between Missouri and China.” http://bit.ly/sEwikZ

— Oppo: The Missouri Republican Party sent around a memo Friday afternoon, quoting a Susan Montee audit critical of the Missouri Technology Corporation in 2010, per release: “Nixon selected Jason Hall, who just last year was blasted by a State Auditor of his own party for ‘outrageous behavior’ while serving as the executive director of the Missouri Technology Corporation. Former Auditor Susan Montee, a Democrat, released a sharply critical audit of the MTC in December 2010, and she singled out Hall for criticism.”

STARTING WEDNESDAY — ‘Education, job creation priorities for Missouri lawmakers,’ Josh Nelson, News Leader: “The new year will bring up old issues as members of the Missouri General Assembly reconvene this week. …  The agenda so far is peppered with proposals that have been tackled in the recent past. Among those are efforts to reform tax credits, rewrite the public schools funding formula and boost job creation. But another ever-present issue — an anticipated budget shortfall — will likely influence the course of debate on those issues. … The state’s coffers will start out with $750 million less than in previous years because the state will have to fund a larger part of its Medicaid program and won’t have federal stimulus money to round out the budget. State budget officials expect revenue for Fiscal Year 2013 to be around 4 percent higher, about $285 million, than the current fiscal year. Total general revenue is estimated to be about $7.9 billion for FY13. … 

“One of the biggest fights expected this year surrounds an effort to rewrite the foundation funding formula for public schools, which determines how much money each district receives. … The current formula, drafted in 2005, is a complex method of allotting per-pupil funding to districts. Over time, a dispute between ‘hold harmless’ schools and ‘formula’ schools has formed. … Advocates of a change say the law doesn’t account for when the formula is less than fully funded, as is the current situation. … Education groups and some lawmakers are concerned that changing the formula in the midst of a budget crisis could shrink the overall education funding totals.  … 

“Economic development proposals are also expected to take up a lot of time. Included in those proposals are efforts to reform dozens of tax credits. A deal linking job growth to limits on credits for historic preservation and low-income housing fell apart during the special session earlier this summer. … A bigger struggle may be over other proposals related to job creation, such as changes to unemployment claims, prevailing wage rules, tort regulations and labor union laws.” http://sgfnow.co/tMjsQB

— Welcoming lawmakers back: Like last year, a tea party rally in the capitol rotunda, featuring speakers Ed Emery and Ed Martin: “[A]n informal coalition of 23 Missouri Tea Party groups and others will stage a Consent of the Governed Rally in the rotunda of the Missouri Capitol Wednesday morning. The rally from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. comes just before the Missouri General Assembly convenes for its 2012 session at noon Wednesday. Organizers say they want to impress upon legislators the importance of passing laws that conform to the Missouri Constitution. … During the rally, the coalition plans to present each Missouri legislator with a framed and matted document that includes the preamble to the Missouri Constitution and the first four sections of Article 1 of the state constitution. … The first four sections of the Missouri Constitution emphasize the role of the citizens of Missouri in establishing rules and regulations that affect their lives and that the government exists only with the consent of the governed.” http://bit.ly/sFewUo

PRIORITIES — Koster: ‘Expand No-Call List To Mobile Phones,’ KMOX: “Missouri’s Attorney General says his top priority for the new year, is getting the legislature to expand the state’s no-call list to include mobile phones. Chris Koster says the no-call list has essentially saved the dinner hour in homes across the state, and there’s no reason why the general assembly should not include cel phones in that protection… Koster calls the no-call list, ‘One of the most successful pieces of legislation to come along in the past decade.’” http://cbsloc.al/sWecN9

EDUCATION — ‘KC school transfers could be a mess,’ KC Star commentary by Mary Sanchez: “Kansas City suburban superintendents … fear a flood of parents and children leaving the Kansas City Public Schools will show up Tuesday, expecting to be enrolled. Tuesday is the first day of classes after the winter break, and the first day Kansas City schools are unaccredited. If the students attempt to leave in substantial numbers, they will find the suburban school doors closed to them. This has the potential to get ugly, with students and their parents feeling shut out from the outlying districts for reasons other than the truth — too many unresolved financial and legal entanglements. … 

“On Friday, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge refused to issue the temporary order, halting such enrollment transfers. But the exit doors flung wide open at the Kansas City schools the minute the district lost accreditation on New Year’s Day. That’s according to state statute. No child should be forced to attend an unaccredited school district. The students have every right to leave and seek a solid education elsewhere. The suburban districts are within their rights to do as they plan: Refuse to admit the children until parameters are set, such as how transportation and other costs are going to be managed. It’s not a matter of whether or not the suburban districts will accept the students, but how the enrollments will be handled and costs paid. The future of the Kansas City schools is heading toward what could become a protracted court battle.” http://bit.ly/tYx2uu

JOPLIN RECOVERY — ‘Post-disaster wages targeted in bills filed for 2012 session,’ Joplin Globe: “A number of legislative proposals relating to the Joplin tornado have been pre-filed for the 2012 session of the Missouri General Assembly that begins Wednesday in Jefferson City. …  Several measures targeting primarily recovery issues were proposed, but did not pass, during the special session that started in September. Proposals aimed at suspending prevailing wage requirements for recovery projects in disaster areas have been pre-filed in the House and Senate. … After it did not advance in the special session, [State Rep. Bill] White again is sponsoring a bill that would remove disaster-damaged commercial buildings from county tax rolls until they are rebuilt. … [State Rep. Bill] Lant and Rep. Terry Swinger, D-Caruthersville, both are sponsoring bills that would authorize a tax deduction for the construction of storm shelters.” http://bit.ly/tkQzu7

SPORTZ — ‘Chiefs sneak past Broncos,’ MissouriNet: “Dexter McCluster’s scoring run was pivotal in Kansas City’s 7-3 win over Denver Sunday, but the Broncos still backed into a division title and the post-season. … Kansas City got the game’s only touchdown on McCluster’s 21-yard scamper in the first quarter. Tim Tebow was limited to a mere 60 passing yards on 6-of-22 efficiency, but the Broncos (8-8) won the AFC West nonetheless after Oakland fell to San Diego Sunday. Tebow couldn’t find another miracle comeback and the Broncos now take a three-game losing streak into the post-season.” http://bit.ly/tC2KUf