JEFFERSON CITY - Jay Nixon’s three-year political obsession with Gov. Matt Blunt that has cost Democrat donors thousands of dollars in wasted contributions has also exposed Nixon’s lack of vision for moving Missouri forward and further revealed a candidate who may soon have a challenger from his own party.

“Jay Nixon has wasted three years and thousands of dollars in Democrat contributions running against an unannounced candidate, and in doing so has failed to make his campaign about ideas and issues which even now is costing him a significant political price with members of his own party who are considering running against him,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. "Jay Nixon did not want to tell Missourians he supports higher taxes, taxpayer benefits for illegal immigrants and bigger government, so he based his campaign solely on Governor Blunt.”

Nixon’s political obsession was on display when he mentioned the Governor 10 times during his 10-minute response to the State of the State address financed by money from the Missouri Democrat Party. Meanwhile, at a news conference in the Capitol on Wednesday that was conducted on taxpayer time, Nixon said he would continue to run against the wrong person.

A report by Springfield television station KY-3 made it clear that Nixon’s campaign event exposed his weakness as a candidate: “It had the sense of a post-campaign rally. But once the questioning began, the tone changed. When Nixon was asked about the state of the race, he had to pause. And think. Who really knows? Asked about specific candidates? A longer pause. A short stutter. Jay Nixon thought he knew what he was facing for three years. Now, it’s almost back to square one.”

Not only did Nixon wrongly target Blunt in numerous campaign press releases but even used official press releases to take political pot shots at Governor Blunt even though the governor was never a candidate for a second term. Now even the Washington Post has raised the specter that Nixon may soon be challenged by fellow Democrat Robin Carnahan because of his blunder.

“It is well-known that a rift has long existed between the Carnahan family and Jay Nixon, whose expensive and embarrassingly directionless campaign has not only hurt his credibility with Missourians but also with his many detractors within the Missouri Democrat Party,” Sloca said.