Matt Blunt split town last Thursday, sending a letter to state agencies to let them know that he'd be gone and that Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder would be charged with gubernatorial duties while he was out of the state.

In that role, Kinder has already mobilized the National Guard [1] and signed a couple bills [2] into law.

But even so, some duties are too important for Matty to leave to just anyone --even if he is the acting Governor.  That's why Blunt, despite having already handed the reins temporarily over to Kinder, continued last Friday carrying out the gubernatorial duty to which he now devotes most of his time: attacking Jay Nixon via his official office.

Even while Blunt was flitting off out of town, he still found time to have his press shop lob an attack at Jay Nixon [3].  Blunt must think that Kinder's up to the functional tasks of being governor, just not the really important parts like serving as GOP attack dog and justifying the Blunt administration's vast failures.

On a partially related note, I wonder if Blunt will have Kinder sign the Megan Meier internet harassment bill into law while he serves as acting governor, since it's a topic on which the lieutenant governor's staff has done some significant work?