JEFFERSON CITY – The parade of out-of-state and out-of-touch liberal Democrats visiting Missouri continued today as Claire McCaskill ally Tom Vilsack of Iowa arrived with a gay marriage agenda that has been rejected by a majority of Missourians.

Vilsack, who was visiting St. Louis, has sought to expand protections for gays and lesbians and says those conversations must continue and must extend even as he prepared for what will be a dead-end run for president in 2008. Not surprisingly, Claire McCaskill opposed a state ban on gay marriage that was approved by more than 70 percent of Missouri voters in 2004. Vilsack, a prominent trial attorney, also opposes Second Amendment rights and broke his promise to Iowans not to raise taxes.

“Missouri Republicans applaud Vilsack’s arrival in the Show Me State because it provides common-sense Missourians yet another opportunity to see how out-of-touch Claire McCaskill and her liberal friends are with Missouri values,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “If Democrats like Claire McCaskill want to continue to show their true colors by parading around liberals like Tom Vilsack, that’s fine with Republicans because we know most Missourians oppose higher taxes, a weak national defense and gay marriage.”

Among the other McCaskill liberals who have visited Missouri recently include Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and failed vice presidential candidate John Edwards of North Carolina.

“If Claire McCaskill has liberal friends like Tom Vilsack coming to Missouri the better the chance that Missourians will continue to embrace Republican values that reflect their own,” Sloca said.