290 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY… 199 DAYS UNTIL THE AUGUST PRIMARY

COST OF CUTS — ‘K-12, higher education at odds over Nixon budget,’ PoliticMo: ‘Appreciation verses angst. Those two words describe the differing perceptions between leaders of Missouri’s K-12 and higher education institutions of Governor Jay Nixon’s proposed 2013 budget. Under Nixon’s proposal, higher education would face a 12.5 percent cut in funding — $118 million less than under the current budget. K-12 education, on the other hand, would receive a significant boost to it’s foundation formula. … In his State of the State address this week, Nixon said it is important to fully fund K-12 education simply ‘because it is the right thing to do.’ Meanwhile, Nixon called on state universities to ‘change their business models’ and operate in a more lean and efficient way, without raising tuition. … 

“Steve Owens, president of the University of Missouri system which, between its four universities, faces a $49.8 million cut, said UM may be near a point where an increase in funding may be necessary. ‘After a decade of reductions in state support and implementation of operational efficiencies, we are near the point where either the level of funding will have to increase or the scope and quality of services will have to decrease,’ Owens said in a statement. ‘I think we’re going to see higher tuition rates,’ he added.” http://bit.ly/xLFim9

— While Nixon’s budget isn’t playing well with administrators, it is playing with the editorial board at the Maneater (“The Voice of MU Since 1955”), which on Friday called cuts a “necessary sacrifice”: “Obviously, as college students, the phrase “cuts to higher education” make us cringe, and a possible tuition increase to make up for those gaps in funding isn’t exactly music to our ears. Yet with the current economic conditions, being able to tighten your belt is a valuable skill and one our university should continue to improve on with the proposed budget cuts. We understand the university might raise tuition to help offset the funding gap, but this is a good opportunity for school entities to cut back in other areas, like decreasing student fees for extra-curricular programs or events that place too much emphasis on being extras. … 

“However, what is vital to the continuation and success of higher education in Missouri is affordability. Although a tuition increase will affect the price of attending MU, our university is pretty affordable as it is. This is especially true for in-state students since Nixon has kept the funding for the Access Missouri scholarship program, which rewards scholarships such as the Bright Flight award, intact. … The one-time loan left the possibility open that the scholarship program wouldn’t be funded this year, but Nixon ensured the important program would continue. These scholarships will be given to students who truly deserve higher education anyway, which is more important than ensuring everyone can go to college, when college isn’t for everyone. … Nixon is working to keep a balanced budget without raising taxes or government debt in a time where other states are struggling to do so. The cuts to funding are a source of pain, but are also an opportunity for our university to create a leaner, more efficient way of operating.” http://bit.ly/x2cuQi

MAMTEK MESS — ‘Patent attorney testifies about failed Mo. factory,’ AP: “A patent attorney who vouched for a Chinese artificial sweetener factory testified Thursday that he became aware of concerns about the Chinese site before a deal closed to finance the construction of a similar manufacturing plant in rural Missouri. Los Angeles attorney Michael Wise testified by video conference after being subpoenaed by a special Missouri House committee investigating the failure of Mamtek U.S. Inc., which had been offered state and local incentives to open a factory in Moberly. … 

“During testimony Thursday, Wise said he visited a Mamtek facility in Wuyishan City in Fujian Province, China, in November 2007 and saw a working factory line capable of producing up to 18 tons of sucralose annually. He also tasted tea — made at another nearby factory — that Mamtek officials said had been sweetened with its sucralose. Wise said he visited the site again in November 2009 and observed a factory line capable of producing 60 tons annually of artificial sweetener. He said he also saw the company’s recipe and assembly line blueprints. At that point, Wise said, it appeared Mamtek was close to being able to sell its product commercially. … Wise said he became aware of concerns among Chinese officials about the location of the plant in Wuyishan City sometime before Moberly closed on its bond issuance. But lawmakers on the House committee did not ask Wise whether he had told Moberly officials about the problems with the Chinese site. Perkins Coie has declined to make Wise available for media interviews.” http://bit.ly/ymilub

LT. GOV. RACE — ‘New lt. gov. candidate hints at fracture in Democratic unity,’ Jake Wagman: “The enviable unity assembled by Missouri Democrats for their November ticket is finally showing a sign of strain. On Thursday morning, Columbia Democrat Judy Baker, a former state House member who lost a bid for Congress in 2008, announced her latest campaign: lieutenant governor. Of course, Democrats already have a candidate for the state’s No. 2 in former Missouri auditor Susan Montee, who left the helm of the state party to seek the position. … It will be interesting to see how fellow Democrats react to Baker’s subsequent entrance into the race. … At the moment, the lieutenant governor’s race is the only real primary facing Missouri Democrats in 2012; all of the party’s other statewide candidates have a clear path to the nomination.” http://bit.ly/xo9tUn

— FACTS OF LIFE: Roy Temple’s name carries a lot of symbolic weight, having served [basically] dynastic Carnahan family for as long as he has. Montee told Steve Kraske yesterday she “plans to win,” (http://bit.ly/yQEbWDv) but she’s going to have a tough primary against Baker.  Also, we spoke with some Democrats yesterday who lampooned the idea that the party is somehow “fractured” because of one real primary. Their biggest actual worry, of course, is money. So there.

2012 JOURNALISM-ING — The Kansas City Star relaunched their “Midwest Democracy Project,” as a new portal for voters to track candidates, and for campaigns to share information with voters. “The new website you’re on will allow you to search candidates and races, providing you with links to campaign websites, phone numbers, election surveys, and the like. We’ll continue providing campaign finance information and links to campaign commercials, statements, and events,” says Dave Helling. The Star’s Prime Buzz has also migrated to the site. MidwestDemocracy.com

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Chris Moreno… and our friend, founder of the Joplin non-profit ‘Art Feeds’ Meg Bourne… 

GOV. JAY NIXON will be in California (Mo.) and Union today to discuss his “Missouri Works” strategy he laid out during Tuesday’s State of the State address.  

SEN. ROY BLUNT finishes his 13-stop, post coronary surgery tour today with a meeting with business leaders in Gallatin, Mo.

‘FAIR ENERGY RATES’ hosts a conference call for reporters today regarding Missouri House Bill 1316, which they’re calling a “bail out” for Ameren Energy. FERF says reporters should contact chrisroepe@fairenergyrates.com for details. 

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH was in St. Louis last night, PoliticMo has confirmed, speaking to a local chapter of the Young President’s Organization. Jo Mannies scoops: “The apparent visit by Bush was not public.  The location of the closed-door event was also not disclosed, along with the specifics of the former president’s talk. The local YPO often has prominent speakers at least once a year, and usually keeps the event under wraps.  Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, was the group’s featured speaker here in 2010.” http://bit.ly/w4yQMk

WHAT A DAY — January 19 was a crazy day in presidential politics, starting with Texas Governor Rick Perry’s announcement he was dropping out of the race. His only Missouri surrogate, Rep. Sam Graves, told us yesterday he now has an opportunity to take a “fresh look” at the GOP field: “Rick Perry has been a strong, principled conservative as Governor. He will continue to be a champion of limited government and economic freedom for the people of Texas. There are still many good choices for our party’s nominee to beat Barack Obama and I look forward to taking a fresh look at our candidates.” http://bit.ly/yZkoDv

— Springfield GOP-er Paul Seale, a Perry supporter, writes in Redstate that Perry’s Gingrich endorsement doesn’t do much for him: “I understand my candidate endorsed Newt Gingrich. That means little to me. Nothing about you inspires me as being genuine from the soul conservatives which I wold trust the future of my kids with at this point. Period. Want my vote? You are going to need to work for it. Childish back and fourths disgust me. I want substance. I want answers. …  I don’t want to be pandered to. I want to be respected and not felt as being bypassed on the way to something you – the candidate- feels entitled to.” http://bit.ly/xB3lgW

— Former State Sen. Jeff Smith, D.: “I thought he’d take the nomination because he looks and feels like the modern Republican Party. And I thought he perfectly reflected the tea party zeitgeist. I knew he was no genius. But most voters aren’t looking for geniuses. … I dramatically underestimated how much the in-state tuition flap would hurt him. … I still believe that if you could go back and replay five minutes in the last five months, he would be the nominee. … And, of course, remembered that pesky third Cabinet department.” http://politi.co/yV07H1

2012 LEGISLATING — Missouri House Republicans voted on a pillar of their “Blueprint for Missouri” Friday by passing a “TABOR” constitutional amendment: “The measure would cap annual spending increases at 1.5 percent of the revenue collected in the previous year plus the rates of inflation and population change. Additional money would be used for debt and two state reserve funds. Eventually it would permit an income tax cut. House members on Thursday approved the measure 105-54, which sends the proposal to the Senate. … Approval by the Legislature would put the measure to a statewide vote. Budget limits is HJR43.” http://bit.ly/ypNUnm

#MOSen — ‘Don King gives backing to Missouri Sen. McCaskill,’ AP: “Famed boxing promoter Don King is giving his endorsement to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill. King hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat on Thursday in Palm Beach as she campaigns for re-election. King calls himself a ‘Republicrat.’ He endorsed George W. Bush for president, appearing at the 2004 Republican convention. But in 2008, he gave Barack Obama his backing. …  He called her ‘a fighter’ and ‘a true, tried representative of the people.’” http://bit.ly/Awncs4   

REDISTRICTING FALLOUT — ‘GOP, Dems hurrying to ready nominees for redistricting panel,’ Scott MOyers: “Both parties said over the past two days they had already begun the work of finding 10 names each, from which Nixon will whittle down to five from each party to make up the commission. … The consensus in Jefferson City is that it’s unlikely the commission will be able to have new maps ready by the March 27 filing deadline and talk has already begun on extending it. But, even if lawmakers are prone to do so, it raises other questions: Do they set a different filing period for senators or extend the deadline for all offices? Having separate filing periods is no doubt a maddening thought for elections clerks across the state.” http://bit.ly/xa99q0

SPORTZZZZZ — ‘Frank Haith and Missouri basketball’s unlikely journey,’ Kansas City Star: “The mutual reclamation project of a disrespected coach and his wounded program is only 10 months and 18 games old. … This is all so new, even now, this wild ride from punchline to national coach-of-the-year candidate and one of the country’s top-five teams. This is still very much in the getting-to-know-you stage, so Frank Haith never can predict when he’ll learn something new about the kids he’s coached into national relevancy. … Less than a year ago, he was in Miami, happy, no idea he’d be in this seat, in this town, in this job, working so hard for a fan base that rejected him so harshly in the beginning.

“Turns out this isn’t the first time Haith has coached through disrespect. … Disrespect is a lifelong constant for Haith, in matters both large and small. His father essentially wrote him off as a boy. Dad had other kids to raise. Once, in college, Haith asked his father for a loan so he could stay in school. No. Haith had to find another way, and eventually worked a deal with the school that he could sleep in a gym closet. He made the dean’s list. … 

“He tells the story of sleeping in the gym closet with pride. Anything to coach, he did. He sought out bosses who wanted him to coach, too. At Texas, Rick Barnes put Haith on the weekly teleconferences that landed on game days, assigned him speaking engagements, made sure he got equal time floor coaching. None of that mattered when Haith got the Missouri job, though. …  The school decided to promote him to fans as a nice guy with good values, but even that got muddied when a portion of a Yahoo report detailed Haith’s relationship with a booster who admitted to providing improper benefits to athletes. …  Haith tries to smile through the initial backlash from fans, the Yahoo report, all of it. He worked for this, he’ll tell you, even if nobody else can see that. None of this bothers him, he says. He doesn’t listen to it, doesn’t hear it — and he’s entirely unconvincing as he goes on about how the people who trash his record at Miami don’t know what they’re talking about. …  

“Haith … was the guy who failed in his old job and didn’t deserve his new job, and now he’s coaching the second-most efficient offensive team in the country. Players who chose to play for someone else are playing better for him than they ever did for the other guy. The only question is how long this will last, or how it will end. Missouri’s toughest game so far is Saturday, on the road against a Baylor team presumably ticked off after being blown out at Kansas — eerily similar circumstances to MU’s only loss this year at K-State. …  There’s one place he won’t hear disrespect, and you’re damn right he’s proud of that. Damn right he’s proud of the distance between where he started and where he sits. No more sleeping in gym closets. ‘Yeah,’ he says. ‘I’ve got a little bit of money now.’” http://bit.ly/y4EMkv