Blunt's office handed over the e-mails over the weekend after three news agencies sued to see them.

E-mail excerpts from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Kansas City Star, and the Associated Press do show an administration in conflict with itself, a high-level staff member campaigning for causes, and an uncertainty about official policy in general.

Among the e-mails from Gov. Blunt's former Chief of Staff Ed Martin are those talking about Attorney General, and now governor-elect, Jay Nixon. Martin called for Catholic leaders to join him, saying "we need to beat the living heck out of him," regarding Nixon's stand supporting abortion rights.

In another e-mail, Martin asked conservative groups to "please help gin up outrage" over Nixon's stance on abortion.

The e-mails also show that former Blunt aide Scott Eckersley warned the administration that e-mails were public records and needed to be kept on file. That contradicted the Blunt administration's claims at the time that there were no statutes mandating the keeping of e-mails.

Eckersley later claimed he was fired because of his stand on e-mail retention, but the e-mails contain no evidence that Eckersley was fired for that reason.

Gov. Blunt's office refused to talk on camera about the story, saying that it stands by its previous statements on the matter.

Two written statements from the governor's office said that Eckersley was dismissed for legitimate reasons and that no one in the governor's office violated the law.