For those of you who faithfully check this space each week, I apologize for the omission. I had been in Cape Girardeau for the semi-annual publishers' meeting of Rust Communications. My head was full and my body tired by the time I got home Friday evening so I took a week off from my column.

Exciting times are ahead in the newspaper business. Readers no doubt see and hear a about gloom and doom when it comes to newspapers. For major metropolitan newspapers, there has been a lot of bad news lately. Smaller community newspapers are alive and well. One significant area we're growing is our website on the Internet. No surprise then that we spent a good deal of time discussing our websites in Cape.

We are just weeks -- days, hopefully -- from adding locally produced video to our site. Keep reading and keep checking the website.

One thing I wanted to talk about last week was Super Tuesday.

Was it Super? I suppose that depends on one's perspective.

In terms of defining a candidate it can be said that Feb. 5 was Super for Sen. John McCain and voters went a long way toward deciding that race. His closest competitor at that point was former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Ark. Governor Mike Huckabee was a distance third. Romney, as we now know dropped out after a less-than-stellar showing. Huckabee remains in what some are describing as a vice presidential campaign.

The more intriguing race remains with the Democrats. While there are some who think that race may be getting a little more clear it wasn't decided on Super Tuesday.

From my standpoint I don't think Super Tuesday served the voters.

With 24 states holding primaries, candidates had less time to spend in any particular state, including Missouri, than perhaps they would have had held primaries more spread out.

I think that made a bigger difference this year on the Republican side than the Democrats, although the opposite could apply to any particular presidential election.

John McCain did well, exceedingly well, with independent voters. If one looks at the states that held Republican-only caucuses, Romney won those delegates. Even after Romney dropped out, Huckabee continues to claim the caucus states. In states where anyone could vote in either primary, such as Missouri, McCain did better and won most of them.

Outstate voters had virtually no direct contact with any of the candidates. Chelsea Clinton's stop in Cape Girardeau was the only presidential campaign stop I can recall in this part of the state. It was pretty much an I-70, with a few Republican visits to Springfield, campaign for the most part.

And if such was true for the much-ballyhooed bellwhether state of Missouri you know the same lack of voter contact was the same in the other 23 states. By the way, Missouri has only been wrong on one presidential election since 1904 and that was in 1956.

It was a little humorous on primary night watching the Associated Press getting a dose of Missouri politics. The AP initially projected that Hillary Clinton would win the primary in Missouri. Some three hours later the news service reversed the call and correctly projected Barak Obama as the winner.

What the news service failed to take into account was where the votes were out that had not been counted. What Missourians know, and the AP learned, is that St. Louis usually gets its votes in last. Once the St. Louis votes came in there was enough there to push Obama ahead of Sen. Clinton.

In the AP's defense, it was late into the night and given that it was St. Louis one can imagine that the "graveyard" shift finally showed up.

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Banquet notes

It was a little disappointing Gov. Matt Blunt couldn't be here to announce the KCDC grant at the banquet, but we'll take the money nonetheless. It also looked like a very good turnout given the weather. And we were a little surprised to find a thin sheet of ice covering our vehicles when we came out of the American Legion Building.

I think Jan McElwrath and Heather Bridges were standing by with ice scrapers for anyone who needed help.

Kudos to retiring president Darren Harris for a good year under his leadership. It was under Darren's watch Manac Trailer and its famous flying moose came to our community.

Congratulations once again to Freddie Graham as she officially takes over as the chamber's first female president. Those who had the opportunity to hear her speech know that Freddie certainly does not lack for enthusiasm.

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Call him grandpa

Now that he's got a couple of "kids" running around I suppose Frank Crafton could be considered a grandpa. Yep, it's true. There are two new kids getting a lot of Frank's attention and he just thinks they're the cutest thing in the world.

Regular readers will recall Frank solved his lawn care problem at the shop by buying three goats and promptly named them after the company that manufactures many lawnmower motors, Briggs, And, Stratton.

I'm not sure which of the three is a female, but one of Frank's lawnmowers, I'm guessing it was An(d), had twin goats.

The family is all excited. Now when they all together for special occasions Frank can show off pictures of his twins at the same time his brother-in-law, Jeff Lack, shows off pictures of his twins.

Bud Hunt is the publisher of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.