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" Editor&amp;#039;s note: the name of the incumbent candidate is italicized, while the candidate we&amp;#039;re endorsing is in bold. GOVERNOR Kenny Hulshof (R) Jay Nixon (D) The bellwether gubernatorial race of the year pits center-right Hulshof against center-left Nixon. The former is retiring from the House; the latter is the state&amp;#039;s attorney general. The former stood up to the arrogant power-mongering of Tom DeLay; the latter is a powerful prosecutor of street and white-collar crime. In short, this is a choice between two excellent candidates.Esquire endorses: Nixon HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Congressional District 1 No major-party opponent William Lacy Clay (D) Maybe a credible challenge in 2006 got Clay&amp;#039;s juices flowing; maybe he&amp;#039;s just found a new appreciation for the potential his party&amp;#039;s majority imparts. In any case, in the past two years he&amp;#039;s gone from do-nothing to do-much, the chief example being a bill that forces the government to respond to Freedom of Information requests within 20 working days.Esquire endorses: Clay District 2 Todd Akin (R) Bill Haas (D)  You&amp;#039;d hope that as safe a seat as Akin holds would embolden him to take advantage of his job security and do something ambitious. No such luck. Declaring 2008 the National Year of the Bible. Recognizing the Ten Commandments as the cornerstone of Western law. You can rest easy--Congressman Akin is on top of the major issues of the day.Esquire endorses: Haas District 3 Chris Sander (R) Russ Carnahan (D) &amp;quot;Why are we trying to find offsets for rebuilding Biloxi but not the cost of rebuilding Baghdad?&amp;quot; Russ Carnahan on cynical efforts to leverage relief for Katrina victims into cuts to other vital federal programs while Washington continues to blithely hemorrhage red ink over the war. And a damn good question, indeed.Esquire endorses: Carnahan District 4 Jeff Parnell (R) Ike Skelton (D) See &amp;quot;The 10 Best Members of Congress.&amp;quot;Esquire endorses: Skelton District 5 Jacob Turk (R) Emanuel Cleaver (D) Cleaver&amp;#039;s talent for forging friendships across the aisle is surely the result of his other career: Methodist minister. That adds all the more weight to his belief that politics and religion make for an unseemly mix.Esquire endorses: Cleaver District 6 Sam Graves (R) Kay Barnes (D) Laziness is Graves&amp;#039;s defining characteristic. Lazily, he rubber-stamps White House policies. Lazily, he repeats lazy Republican mantras. Lazily, he supports big-government handouts to lazy gentleman-farmers like himself.Esquire endorses: Barnes District 7 Roy Blunt (R) Richard Monroe (D)  Jack Abramoff. Tom DeLay. The K Street Project. If these are a few of your favorite things, by all means bring back Blunt.Esquire endorses: Monroe District 8 Jo Ann Emerson (R) Joe Allen (D) Compassionate conservatism. Affordable medicine. An expansive sense of what it means to be a Republican. If these are a few of your favorite things, please bring back Emerson.Esquire endorses: Emerson District 9 Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) Judy Baker (D)  Christian values are big here. One candidate has a master&amp;#039;s in divinity from Southern Baptist, sits on the board of an international nonprofit that promotes peace in Georgia (the nation), and is an ordained and actively serving deacon. The other has learned to say &amp;quot;family values&amp;quot; on an endless loop.Esquire endorses: Baker To see more of the Esquire Endorsements 2008 package, including our recommendations for who to vote for in other states, please click this link. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5123/missouri-1108/>