No question McCaskill is vulnerable. But why are Hawley’s attacks on her so desperate?

President Donald Trump was once again at Josh Hawley’s side in Kansas City on Tuesday, not only boosting Hawley’s U.S. Senate campaign at a fundraising luncheon but also pitching him — “We need Josh so badly. We need Josh now.” — at the theoretically nonpartisan VFW convention. The president, for whom all events are campaign events, does not give nonpartisan speeches, so no one could have reasonably expected this to be his first.

But with Trump so enthusiastically on Team Josh, and vice versa, in a ruby-red state that went gaga for Trump two years ago, it is a little bit surprising that Missouri’s Republican attorney general is still behind in fundraising and running not quite even in polling, even against an incumbent with high negatives. There’s no question that Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is vulnerable. But her likely opponent’s consistently petty and even nonsensical attacks on her are only making him look desperate.

Hawley routinely pummels her for being wealthy, though why that’s a mark against her but in favor of his fundraiser, the president, is unclear. His second-favorite slam is that she’s an elitist, which might work better coming from someone other than the Rockhurst, Stanford and Yale Law-educated attorney general, who clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts before going to work for Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C.

We were briefly relieved, after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he was retiring, when Hawley said he intended to make the future of the Supreme Court the focus of his campaign. But now, in lieu of the substantive debate these two lawyers could and should be having over this non-trivial matter, Hawley’s going around stating as fact that McCaskill would never even consider voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s nominee to replace Kennedy.

Maybe she will vote no on Kavanaugh in the end. But Hawley’s basing his remarks on a tweet from a Republican activist who claims she overheard a “bag-carrier” for McCaskill say that at a hearing.

The tweeter, Janae Stracke, works for the conservative Concerned Women for America, which recently launched “Women for Kavanaugh,” to push for his confirmation. “Overheard @clairecmc staffer Moriah discussing #Kavanaugh at hearing today. She said McCaskill won’t even consider voting yes for Kavanaugh and then bragged, “She’s in such a red state, but she doesn’t even try. She doesn’t give a sh** and I love it,” she wrote.

Hawley retweeted this news, saying, “This is incredible. @clairecmc only one way to make this right. Pledge NOW to vote for Judge #Kavanaugh” And he repeated at a rally that she’s not even considering voting for Kavanaugh.

That’s as good a guess as any, but that’s all it is. Especially since, as McClatchy has reported, there is no “Moriah” on McCaskill’s Senate or campaign staff.

And even if such a person does exist and did say such a thing, going after McCaskill by saying she “doesn’t even try,” and “doesn’t give a sh**” would be like going after Trump for being too self-effacing. McCaskill is often accused of trying to come across as more moderate than she is, but not trying and not caring what her constituents think? Not credible.

Now Hawley’s campaign tells McClatchy that he never said the tweet was true. Which naturally makes us wonder what other unvetted info he’s passing on.

We’ve written before about the many real issues we’d love to see Hawley and McCaskill debate, including tariffs, transparency, immigration and the use of “dark money.” And in such a close and crucial race, which could decide control of the Senate, we’d urge our attorney general to forgive his opponent’s wealth, forget the absurd charge that she’s any more elitist than he is, and disregard any further intel from “Moriah.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 6:59 PM.