Abstinence-only programs are a complete sham and do very little to reduce teen pregnancy, so it’s nice to see more and more states rejecting money they desperately need to dump these programs.  If we have sex education in schools it should be comprehensive, not just about telling kids to wait until they’re married.  We were all that age once, did it ever work? 

One thing that’s been a major pet peeve with me in the last two elections is how Democrats have written off Missouri.  Granted, outside of St. Louis and Kansas City blue is a bit scarce.  It might piss people off to say this, but I think that’s mostly to do with religion.  Rural Missouri is filled is Conservative evangelicals of the Southern Babptist persuasion and it’s difficult to get them thinking beyond hot button topics like homosexuls and abortion even though most of them have suffered under 8 years of Republican rule. 

So it’s nice to see that Senator Obama isn’t abandoning Missouri to John McCain.  I think they’re wise to use Claire McCaskill, who is great at speaking to rural communities and understanding their concerns.  John McCain is not going to be an easy pill to swallow for Republicans in Missouri.  Oh, sure, he could take the state, but this year Missouri is in play more so than ever.  If Senator Obama can hit some of the more Conservative areas of the state as Seantor McCaskill suggests I think he could tip the balance.