With Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder throwing his name into that hat, the race for the G.O.P. nomination for his job is on. The first person into the hunt is former State Representative Jack Jackson. It is an announcement a long time in the making.

Jackson told reporters in the Capitol Rotunda he hadn't planned to run for anything until he heard about Governor Blunt's decision. Jackson said he officially made up his mind after speaking with Lieutenant Governor Kinder about Kinder's decision to leave his current job. Despite getting a late start, Jackson said his campaign is hitting the ground running.

"We've been making calls. And, I've assembled my staff already back. We've contacted the points of contact around the state. I think the one thing my organization did over the course of this year was we stayed in touch. People kept asking me what are you going to do? What are you going to do? And, this is what we're going to do," Jackson said.

There is speculation that State Senator John Loudon may also soon join the race for Lieutenant Governor. State representative Sam Page has been in the Democratic race for the job for a while at this point.