Where are the Republicans??

I live in the State of Missouri. I am a resident of the 1st Congressional District, the 14th State Senate District, and the 77th State House District. Tomorrow, as a Missourian, I will go to the polls to cast my vote in the primary elections.

In preparation for the voting in the primaries, I have been working to determine which candidate best represents my ideology. I am a political junkie so I actually enjoy this preparatory work for my poll going experience. What annoys me is that in many cases I don't have anything to vote for!

In the statewide elections, of which I believe there are about six, only two of them have more than one Republican running for the office. I very much would like to have a choice in the primary elections and am surprised that in many cases there is only one candidate. In some cases this is true of the Democratic Party as well - they also have fielded only one candidate. Some of these folks are incumbents and in those cases I don't expect any opposition from within their own parties.

What is most troubling is that in the case of the US Congressional Race there is no Republican candidate at all! The incumbent Democrat, William Lacy Clay only has one opponent - a Libertarian Party Candidate. Are there really no Republicans in the entire 1st Congressional District of Missouri who could at least run for this office?

While my State Senate District does not have a race this fall the State House District does. In this case, not only is there no Republican running but there is only one candidate period. The candidate is a Democrat. I would again ask - are there no Republicans? I would think there must be someone in the 77th House District of Missouri that could run! In this case - I would think there would at least be someone of any party trying to run - at least we would have a choice!

I am beginning to wonder why we are bothering with a primary in many of these races! While I enjoy politics I don't think that I am one to consider running for office. As a member of the clergy - I don't believe it is my vocational calling to run for or hold political office in the realm of the State. However, I believe there are solid people who do have this vocational calling and I would gladly support them in their run for office.