Missouri attorney general election, 2012

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The Missouri attorney general election took place on November 6, 2012 following the primaries on August 7, 2012. Election day polling hours are from 6 am until 6 pm.

Chris Koster (D) Incumbent
Ed Martin (R)
Dave Browning (L)

Incumbent Chris Koster (D) won second term as Attorney General on November 6, 2012.^[1]

It appeared at first that Koster, who was first elected in 2008, would coast into his second term without more than nominal opposition in the general election. Then, on January 26, St. Louis attorney Ed Martin, who served as chief of staff to Governor Matt Blunt from 2006-2008, announced his intentions to run for attorney general as a Republican candidate.

Martin scored a decisive victory against single opponent Adam Warren in the Republican primary election but lost to Koster in the general election.

In terms of competitiveness, the attorney general race held steady as Leaning Democratic throughout the election season.^[2]^[3] Though the major party candidates maintained a close rivalry up until the end in endorsements and fundraising, Koster's advantage - which could be attributed to the power of incumbency and Martin's reputation as being hot-tempered, among other factors - grew considerably in the polls between August and October.

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Election Results
Background
Key dates
Candidates
Polls
Campaign finance
Campaign sites/media
News

General Election Results

Attorney General of Missouri General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Chris Koster Incumbent	55.9%	1,491,139
	Republican	Ed Martin	40.6%	1,084,106
	Libertarian	Dave Browning	3.5%	92,819
Total Votes				2,668,064
Election Results via Missouri Secretary of State.

Primary Election Results

Missouri Attorney General Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Ed Martin	71.6%	373,434
Adam Warren	28.4%	148,432
Total Votes		521,866
Election Results Via: Missouri Secretary of State

Key dates

Administrative deadlines are at close of business (5:00) unless otherwise noted.

Deadline	Event
Feb. 28 - Mar. 27	Primary election candidate filing period
July 11	Voter registration for primary election
Aug. 7	Primary election
July 17 - Aug. 21	General election candidate filing period
Oct. 10	Voter registration for general election
Nov. 6	General election

Race background

Attorney general is the third office Martin set his sights on during the 2012 election season. He was previously running for U.S. Senate, and for the U.S. House, representing Missouri's 2nd District, but decided to switch to the attorney general's race in tribute to his "almost obsession with stopping the president's health care reform law."^[4]

The arrival of a serious competitor and his accompanying high volume of complaints against the office's current leadership, could have derailed Koster's, and the Democratic party's, hopes. Instead, Martin's entrance into the race roused a tremendous wave of fundraising support for Koster. Between the launch of Martin's campaign and the March 28 filing deadline, Koster raised over $678,000 — "nearly five times the amount he raised in the last three months of 2011."^[5] Not to be outdone, Martin created a donation-targeted portal page for his campaign website. For a time, in order to gain full access to the site, one had to pass through the page composed of thermometer graphics and invitations to contribute to the campaign, all under a large heading begging, "I need YOUR help to defeat Obama's Lawyer Chris Koster!"^[6]

Vying for the Republican nomination alongside Martin in the August 7 primary was Adam Warren, a Livingston County Prosecutor and former Chillicothe city attorney. Likewise, Warren pinned his campaign on challenging Obamacare.^[7]

Filing at the very last minute, Libertarian Dave Browning became the final candidate to enter the race for attorney general. Browning ran unsuccessfully for U.S. House of Representatives, District 6, back in 2008.^[8] In an interview posted on his campaign website, Browning assailed his opponents Koster and Martin for trying to use government to, respectively, "compel" and "impose" morality on the people, and that the most important issue in the current attorney general race was "The proper use of power to renew our constitutional Republic."^[9]

Deadline	Event
Feb. 28 - Mar. 27	Primary election candidate filing period
July 11	Voter registration for primary election
Aug. 7	Primary election
July 17 - Aug. 21	General election candidate filing period
Oct. 10	Voter registration for general election
Nov. 6	General election

General Election Candidates

Chris Koster Incumbent
Ed Martin
Dave Browning

Primary Candidates

Democratic primary candidates

Chris Koster (incumbent)a

Republican primary candidates

Libertarian primary candidates

Dave Browning a

General election

All general election candidates

Missouri Attorney General Race
Response	Post-Dispatch/Mason-Dixon Poll (October 23-25, 2012)	Average
Chris Koster (D)	51%	51%
Ed Martin (R)	37%	37%
Dave Browning (L)	3%	3%
Undecided	9%	9%

Number polled	625	625
Margin of error	+/-4.0	4%
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

Polls - Koster vs. Martin only=

Chris Koster v. Ed Martin
Response	Chilenski Strategies Poll (August 8, 2012)	Public Policy Polling (August 23, 2012)	Public Policy Polling (October 1-3, 2012)	Public Policy Polling (October 19-21, 2012)	Average
Chris Koster (D)	46.2%	41%	52%	48%	46.8%
Ed Martin (R)	44.7%	39%	34%	38%	38.925%
Undecided	9.1%	20%	15%	13%	14.275%

Number polled	663	500	700	582	611.25
Margin of error	+/-3.8	+/-4.4%	+/-3.7%	+/-4.1%	4%
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

Pre-Primary

Who would get your vote for Missouri Attorney General?
Response	Attorney General Preference February 29, 2012	Average
Chris Koster	41%	41%
Ed Martin	59%	59%

Number polled	1,424	1,424
Margin of error	N/A
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org

**This pulse poll was conducted by The St. Louis Business Journal to gauge readers' opinions, and was not a scientific sampling**

Contents

1 Due dates for reports
2 Candidates

Due dates for reports

The Missouri Ethics Commission administers campaign finance law and maintains all records online.

For the primary election:

First report -- due by April 16, 2012
Pre-Primary report -- due by July 16, 2012
8 day before primary -- due July 30, 2012
Post-Primary report -- due by September 6, 2012

For the general election:

First report -- due by October 15, 2012
Pre-general report -- due by October 29, 2012
Post-general report -- due by December 6, 2012

Candidates

Chris Koster

Chris Koster^[10] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$1,286,789.70	$895,844.79	$(138,607.48)	$2,031,292.32
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$2,009,737.71	$555,980.61	$(205,917.92)	$2,359,800.40
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$2,359,800.40	$127,822.00	$(27,185.26)	$2,460,437.04
Post-Primary	September 7, 2012	$2,460,437.04	$115,778.88	$(121,226.76)	$2,454,689.16
General Election First Report^[11]	October 15, 2012	$2,454,689.16	$1,100,705.40	$(1,030,483.80)	$253,910.76
Pre-General^[12]	October 29, 2012	$2,523,910.76	$343,060.00	$(1,550,684.90)	$1,316,285.86
			Running totals
			$3,139,191.68	$(3,074,106.12)

Ed Martin

Ed Martin^[13] Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$0.00	$320,315.22	$(20,044.03)	$300,271.19
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$300,271.19	$400,525.48	$(121,526.11)	$564,384.91
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$564,384.91	$17,866.92	$(338,409.57)	$235,462.34
Post-Primary	September 7, 2012	$235,462.34	$41,884.24	$(71,161.54)	$193,597.47
General Election First Report^[14]	October 15, 2012	$193,597.47	$382,717.11	$(52,264.29)	$524,050.29
Pre-General^[15]	October 29, 2012	$524,050.29	$315,380.83	$(816,711.74)	$22,719.38
			Running totals
			$1,478,689.8	$(1,420,117.28)

Dave Browning

Browning submitted a statement of exemption to the Missouri Ethics Commission certifying that neither his aggregate campaign receipts nor expenditures exceeded $500.00 in value for this election cycle.^[16]^[17]

Former candidates

Adam Warren

Adam Warren Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
Primary-First	April 16, 2012	$0.00	$16,937.52	$(8,489.38)	$10,026.36
July Quarterly	July 16, 2012	$10,026.36	$8,415.44	$(12,579.20)	$5,862.60
8 day Pre-primary	July 30, 2012	$5,862.60	$1,650.00	$(5,189.04)	$2,323.56
Post-Primary and Termination	September 7, 2012	$2,323.56	$305.13	$(2,378.69)	$0.00
			Running totals
			$27,308.09	$(28,636.31)

^[18]

Campaign sites

Koster

Martin

Browning

Dave Browning for Attorney General 2012

Former candidates

Adam Warren

External links

Suggest a link

References

[0] Missouri Secretary of State, "November 6, 2012 General Election Results," Accessed November 7, 2012

[1] Governing Politics, "http://www.governing.com/blogs/politics/gov-attorney-general-races-update.html," October 12, 2012

[2] Governing Politics, "Attorney General Races: Dems Still Playing Defense," March 28, 2012

[3] St. Louis Today, "Ed Martin switches races again, will now pursue AG", January 27, 2012

[4] STL today "Rival gains: Opposition has done wonders for AG Chris Koster's fundraising," March 28, 2012

[5] Ed Martin for Attorney General, "Portal," accessed June 27, 2012

[6] News Press Now, "Rural prosecutor enters AG race," February 23, 2012

[7] Project Vote Smart "Dave Browning-Biography, " accessed March 28, 2012

[dave-8] Libertarian Patriot, "Dave Browning for Attorney General 2012," accessed July 17, 2012

[9] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

[10] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," October 15, 2012

[11] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Chris Koster Campaign Finance Reports," October 29, 2012

[12] Missouri Ethics Commission, " Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

[13] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," October 15, 2012

[14] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Ed Martin Campaign Finance Reports," October 29, 2012

[15] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Dave Browning-Campaign finance reports," July 26, 2012

[16] Missouri Ethics Commission, "Dave Browning 8-Day Pre-General Election Exemption Statement," October 29, 2012

[17] Missouri Ethics Commission, " Adam Warren Campaign Finance Reports," July 30, 2012

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2013 → ← 2011
2012 State Executive Official Elections

Alabama • Arizona • Delaware Georgia • Indiana • Louisiana Missouri • Montana • Nebraska New Hampshire • New Mexico North Carolina • North Dakota Oklahoma • Oregon Pennsylvania • South Dakota Texas • Utah • Vermont Washington • West Virginia
News • Calendar

Missouri attorney general election, 2012

General Election Results

Primary Election Results

Key dates

Race background

General Election Candidates

Primary Candidates

Democratic primary candidates

Republican primary candidates

Libertarian primary candidates

General election

All general election candidates

Polls - Koster vs. Martin only=

Pre-Primary

Due dates for reports

Candidates

Chris Koster

Ed Martin

Dave Browning

Former candidates

Adam Warren

Campaign sites

Koster

Martin

Browning

Advertisements

Former candidates

See also

Articles

External links

References

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