McCaskill backs Christie Vilsack

McCaskill backs Christie Vilsack

Some people think this is a bad thing. I think this is a good thing:

Sen. Claire McCaskill allowed for a moment of politics at Monday's St. Louis event with the nation's farming chief, offering a word of encouragement for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilasck after a joint appearance on the riverfront.

Only it wasn't Vilsack that McCaskill was extending her support to -- it was his wife.

Christie Vilsack, former First Lady of the Corn State, has been edging toward running for office herself, contemplating a run for Congress.

"Tell Christie I think it's a great idea," McCaskill said to Tom Vilsack after a press conference at the ADM grain elevator in St. Louis. "Tell her I'll come up and knock on some doors!"

But even the Show Me Staters can sense the tension:

The Vilsacks are popular among fellow Democrats around the U.S. -- they know the caucus political landscape as well as anyone -- but running a primary campaign against an incumbent is a delicate subject, if not a faux pas.

The article alludes to McCaskill's own primary challenge history: she knocked off an incumbent governor in a 2004 primary, only to lose in the general (thanks in large part to the John Kerry campaign scuttling Missouri late in the game).

McCaskill came back to beat Jim "No" Talent in 2006's Senate race. With a tough re-election race next year, it's unlikely we'll actually see her door knocking Des Moines, but the thought is nice.