Gov. Matt Blunt laughed when he was asked during a Hannibal press conference how he views the race to succeed him.

"From the sidelines," Blunt said, relaxing momentarily after a stop to promote the new law that will crack down on thieves who try to sell metal.

A moment later, his smile faded as he shifted modes and once more became one of the most recognizable Republicans in the state.

"It would be a dramatic mistake to go back to the old way and select a candidate like Jay Nixon (the presumptive Democratic nominee) who proposes hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending with no way to pay for it except a tax increase on hard-working Missourians," Blunt said.

He did not make his preference known on whether U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof or Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman should be the Republican party’s nominee. Blunt did not rule out the possibility of endorsing one of them before the August primary, but said he has no such plans so far.

Early this year when Blunt announced he would not run for re-election, some of the reporters who have covered his administration closely said Blunt has not enjoyed the constant "rough and tumble" world of politics.

It may be a stretch to see Blunt’s moment of laughter on Wednesday as confirmation of his deeper feelings. He has joked, very briefly, in other visits to the area.

Still, after watching this press briefing, it was hard to come away without seeing signs of relief from a governor who seems ready to step out of the state’s top job and go on to the next chapter in his life.

The Farm Bill that passed in the House and Senate this week actually spends huge amounts of money on programs that have little to do with farming.

To be precise, the legislation is known as the "Food and Energy Security Act of 2007," but everyone knows it as the Farm Bill. The critics pile on, saying this is a huge waste of federal dollars.

Actually, the $307 billion bill includes $209 billion for nutrition programs such as food stamps.

About 11 percent of the bill’s appropriations go for farm payments. Large amounts of the farm payments go to the cotton, sugar and tobacco programs.

Farmers in this area don’t see this as a big pile of money just ready for use. The safety net feature is nice when crops and prices fail, but it won’t make farmers rich.

It would probably help if the next Farm Bill dealt only with agricultural programs, but the political leaders question whether it would pass without programs that attract urban legislators.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. If he does, it will be interesting to see whether the 81-15 margin of victory in the Senate and 318-106 margin in the House can hold up — and easily override the veto.

Auditor General William G. Holland’s audit of the Illinois Medicaid program was released this week, revealing a host of bad accounting gimmicks and bureaucratic flim-flam.

Health care providers have known, and repeatedly complained about this stuff for years, but the audit report will make it difficult for the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich to maintain that everything’s great.

Holland reports that for the past three years $1.5 billion in Medicaid debt has gone unpaid until the next fiscal year. Usually the health care providers — hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and home health workers —get somewhat quicker payments right after a new fiscal year begins in July. But then the state’s poor cash flow makes it impossible to keep payments on schedule.

As payments slow the complaints from providers rise. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services spokesmen then trot out the same cliches about how they’re not really behind on payments. They say the department processes payments in quick order "as long as there are no errors" in the paperwork.

Holland’s team of auditors found that among other things HFS workers have used more than 100 made-up error codes to tell vendors what was done wrong on a voucher. The codes don’t correspond with anything put out by HFS.

One other HFS defense tactic was to tell reporters and vendors that it takes only six days to process the average Medicaid bill. What Holland’s report shows is that after HFS took an average of 57 days to move those claims on for payment.

Comptroller Dan Hynes blasted Blagojevich for "appalling and inexcusable" mismanagement of the health care system.

Hynes and Blagojevich aren’t exactly on close terms, so the release of a scathing press release by Hynes probably won’t ruin a golden friendship.

Many other state officials have complained about the Medicaid problems for years. We should expect those complaints to rise to a constant chorus as legislators from all political stripes criticize the governor, who said health care is his top priority.

Missouri’s General Assembly is in its final week of the session.

Illinois lawmakers have until May 31 to finish up.

The two legislatures are taking decidedly different approaches. Missouri’s lawmakers approved a budget last week and will now focus on consent bills that have passed one chamber or the other. Illinois lawmakers will continue to grind through the daily calendars as the budget progresses … or not, in negotiations between the top legislative leaders.

If things go as they usually do, the Illinois budget will be dealt with in a big crunch as time is ready to expire. Or, the Legislature will fail to act by the deadline, and an overtime session will keep lawmakers in Springfield seeking a super majority for any action.

Observers of Springfield politics don’t think the leaders want an overtime session this year. There are elections to think about. But the lack of inertia and the lack of a concerted effort may doom lawmakers to another long, frustrating summer.

The lack of trust, between the governor and the legislators, and between legislative leaders themselves, is a big problem. The lack of communication between these same individuals keeps them from working out their differences.

Power sometimes goes to people’s heads.

However, if these people would use their power of speech in a constructive way, they might find a way to do some of the things government is designed to do.

Why did Emil Jones make the funding
breakthrough known more than 24 hours
before it became a done deal? Or
why did he make the announcement at all?

Lots of what happens in politics is not visible to most people — somewhat like the iceberg which is mostly hidden underwater.

This week’s release of funding for the University Extension Service and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts is a case in point. Something unusual happened, but it may never be publicly discussed.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich had been holding up money for the "agricultural services" for months. He seemed to be using these funds as the stick to prod legislators to approve a supplemental budget that would have let him boost state medical services.

Then on Wednesday, Senate President Emil Jones told his members that they could tell extension workers, soil & water conservation officers and others that the governor was going to release the money.

This is not standard operating procedure in Springfield. The governor — not just Blagojevich but all governors — want to do their own public announcements. Woe to the legislator who upstages the governor by being the bearer of good news before it has officially been announced.

What made this even more puzzling was that Jones, a Chicago Democrat, is the governor’s closest and most powerful ally under the dome.

This might have been seen as just a slip of Jones’ tongue had it not been for the governor’s response.

When calls and e-mails started flowing into the offices of Blagojevich spokesmen, there was stony silence. Calls were not returned. E-mails were ignored.

I made calls to one budget spokesman early enough that a confirmation about the funding release could have been in Wednesday’s newspaper. The final confirmation did not come until late Thursday evening.

"We were in meetings. It was crazy," said Katie Ridgeway a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget.

Of course the timing was noted by insiders. A recall amendment vote had failed only shortly before the funding release became official. Blagojevich had been adamantly opposed to putting the amendment before voters in November.

So, if there had theoretically been an agreement that the funds would be released "if" the recall vote failed, why would Jones make the funding breakthrough known more than 24 hours before it became a done deal? In fact, why would Jones be the one to make the announcement at all?

Nobody who knows what happened is likely to comment publicly, but this could all come down to that oft-repeated lack of trust between the governor and the Legislature.

It also could be that the alliance of Blagojevich and Jones is crumbling at little.

Only time will tell.