As candidates and campaigns ramp up, McCaskill prepares to meet with Kavanaugh

Friday’s edition of Politically Speaking looks at three different storylines to watch as candidates and campaigns ramp up for the November election.

The first one that St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies tackle is how U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill is meeting with Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s latest pick for the U.S. Supreme Court. Both sides of the political spectrum are pressuring McCaskill, which comes as she runs against GOP Attorney General Josh Hawley.

As the expensive and competitive Senate race between McCaskill and Hawley continues, unidentified money is flowing into ballot initiatives — including a bid to raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $12 an hour. A group called the Sixteen Thirty Fund has given nearly a million dollars to that initiative — and has refused to say where its money comes from.

Meanwhile, the GOP nominee for state auditor, Saundra McDowell, is facing questions about whether she’s qualified to run for the statewide office. The Kansas City Star wrote this week about how legal scholars wonder if McDowell has lived in Missouri long enough to be auditor. McDowell said in a statement that she believes qualifies.