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Presidential candidate Barack Obama will visit Springfield on Wednesday and John McCain is stopping in Kansas City on the same day. KSMU's Brett Moser spoke with George Connor, head of the political science department at Missouri State University, for some analysis on why both candidates are hitting Missouri hard.
When a presidential candidate visits Missouri, speculation swirls as to what effect the region will have on the overall election.
George Connor is the Political Science Department Head at Missouri State University. He explains that candidates tend to use Missouri as a litmus test for the rest of the country.
Connor says this way of thinking is more or less psychological because of Missouri's lower ranking in population and number of electoral votes.
But Connor says that candidates do have something to gain by visiting the region.
He says the main hurdle in southwest Missouri for Obama will be getting his message to voters in an area that's a republican stronghold.
For the McCain campaign, Connor explains the republican candidate must move farther right to regain support of some Missouri republicans who say he's not conservative enough.
Connor says that future stops by both candidates are likely, however, the goal then becomes intensifying support rather than swaying undecided voters.
I'm Brett Moser for KSMU News.
