From the Governor's office to the campaign trail

JEFFERSON CITY - One of the campaign managers for a Missouri statewide candidate has an unusual tie to one of the more unusual presidential candidates in the 2008 season.

The presidential candidate is U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas -- a candidate for the GOP nomination for president.

The connection is that Paul had been the attending physican at the birth of the campaign manager for Missouri's Democratic candidate for State Treasurer.

The manager, Patrick Lynn, was born in Freeport, Texas, where Paul was the OBGYN physican for Lynn's mother.

Despite the assistance of a Republican physican at his birth, Lynn ended up working on the Democratic side in politics.

"I don't really subscribe to his political views," Lynn said of Paul.

After growing up in Independence, Mo., Lynn worked as a campaign consultant for Democrats and as a lobbyist in Missouri's statehouse. He currently serves as the campaign manager for the Democratic candidate for state treasurer -- Rep. Clint Zweifel, D-St. Louis.

His freshman year at University of Missouri - Kansas City, Lynn got involved in Young Democrats through fellow member and the president of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi and current Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, Sam Page.

Lynn worked at the State Treasurer's office in Kansas City for a year until he graduated from law school in 1996.

At the treasurer's office, Lynn worked for State Treasurer Bob Holden, A Democrat who became governor in 2001.

MOST, the Missouri higher education saving program, "is probably the best thing we did," Lynn said of his work with Holden in the treasurer's office. "It's huge now. It's over a billion dollars in assets."

Afterward, he worked with the Congressional delegation for Gov. Mel Carnahan at the Missouri state office in Washington, D.C. focusing mainly on transportation and Medicaid funding.

In 2000, when Holden was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lynn returned to work on the campaign. After Holden's win, Lynn served as the senior policy adviser where he worked on such issues as the women's health care initiative, which mandated that insurance must cover cervical exams, contraceptives and mammograms.

"Working for the government, you get to make a difference," Lynn said. "It's inefficient and difficult, but it really does things."

The past four years Lynn spent consulting for various campaigns and as a contract lobbyist for such groups as the St. Louis Grocers, labor unions and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Anyone that pays," Lynn said.

Lynn oversees the small staff running Zweifel's campaign. They focus mainly on fund raising, policy development and press communications.

"The treasurer's office, by statute and by constitution, is pretty much a caretaker office," Lynn said. "But what's excited me about Clint's campaign is that they want to do more. Clint sees it more as a state-wide elected official. It gives you a chance to speak out on the fiscal impact of issues of the day."

Less attention is paid to the state treasurer's race, Lynn said, so it's difficult to raise excitement about it. The campaign is working on targeting undecided voters and raising name recognition.

Lynn said the hardest part about leading Zweifel's campaign is it takes him away from his family in Jefferson City. He spends five days and three nights in St. Louis where the campaign has its headquarters. He said he drives back and forth in order to help his wife raise his two young children.

As for GOP maverick Ron Paul, Lynn said that since his birth, he's never me the man who helped him enter the world.

As for the physican who saw Lynn enter the world, Lynn said, "I wrote to him in Congress once to ask for his autographed picture, but he never sent it."

Bryan Sanders, the campaign manager and public relations officer for the Republican treasurer candidate Brad Lager, has not responded to phone calls or emails. Lager, the state senator from Maryville, said Sanders does not believe campaign managers should be a public part of the campaign.