"There's something missing in Missouri: presidential campaign ads," the Associated Press reported today.

"The road to the White House normally runs through Missouri, a state that has sided with the winner since Dwight Eisenhower won re-election in 1956. George W. Bush won the state by 4 percentage points in 2000."

Before Labor Day, Kerry blew $5.8 million in the Show Me State, the Democratic National Committee blew $1.7 million, and who knows how much Kerry's Bush-hating 527 groups squandered. But with Bush leading in polls, Kerry has given up, and Bush also has now focused his resources elsewhere.

Some Democrats are mad and think Kerry is pulling the same mistake Al Gore did four years ago in Ohio, which he abandoned but then turned out to be closer than expected.

Then again, try to picture the Massachusetts Democrat courting voters at a pig pickin' in the Ozarks.

AP noted: "Missouri has been growing more Republican with each election cycle. Four years ago, Bush won a majority of independent voters and took advantage of the state's anti-tax sentiments. Nearly half of the state's voters identify themselves as 'born again' or evangelical Christian."

P.S.: Wire services reported earlier this week that Kerry has also given up on Tennessee.

Editor's note: