U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's picnic and political rally featured U.S. Sen. John Thume (who defeated Tom Daschle in South Dakota) and Missouri's U.S. Sen. Jim Talent.
Good friends, the three also worked together in Congress when all three were representatives.
What a delight to hear Talent and Thume lay out the importance of this year's fall races with straightforward comments and little demagoguery, even though they were addressing a partisan crowd.
A current Senate colleague, Charles Schumer of New York, placed a $5.3 million television buy last week for Talent's re-election opponent,State Auditor Claire McCaskill. This is labeled as possibly the No. 1 U.S. Senate race in the country, and outside funding is pouring in to try to influence this basically conservative state's voters.
This crucial race is one of choices between candidates with two different philosophies on social, economic and defense issues.