For Release: Feb. 12, 2007
Independent Lens examines the surprising story behind the 2004 Missouri Democratic primary to replace retiring 28-year veteran and former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt in "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" The program airs Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET2.
The film looks inside the campaign of Jeff Smith, a 29-year-old part-time political science instructor at Washington University. The leading candidate is state representative Russ Carnahan, scion of Missouri's most powerful political dynasty. As one political analyst says, "The Carnahan name is to Missouri what the Kennedy name is to Massachusetts."
Carnahan's record is thin, his public performances are weak and his campaign is uninspired. But his family's strong establishment ties provide fundraising connections and near universal name recognition. As the early front-runner, Carnahan holds a 40-point lead over Smith, who enters the race with no money, no political base and no name recognition. His staff is a hodge-podge of political nobodies, mostly former students.
"Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" questions the way America elects political leaders and reveals the difficulties that confront fresh political faces with new ideas as Smith endures constant resistance from the political establishment, voters, the media and even his own family.
Eventually, Smith's campaign mobilizes an army of nearly 500 volunteers, generating a youth-oriented grassroots insurgency that ultimately poses a serious challenge to Carnahan and, in the process, overturns the conventional wisdom that Carnahan is unbeatable.
Independent Lens "Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?" is a production of ITVS. More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.