St. Louisans Weigh in on Former State Treasurer's Math Mistake

In a plea to raise campaign funds, U.S. Senate candidate Sarah Steelman made a simple mistake. Unfortunately for the former state treasurer, it was a math error.

Steelman, a Republican who is angling to face Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, posted the letter on her website June 30 in an effort to raise money before the end of the quarter. Was it her mistake? A mistake by a staff member? Just a typo?

Here's the excerpt from the letter: "I need your help TODAY to defeat McCaskill! I need 1000 friends to contribute $100 each to raise $10,000 by midnight tonight."

As it turns out, Steelman's acting campaign manager said it was a typo. Sam Steelman, her son, told Patch he made the mistake by typing $100 instead of $10 in the letter — twice.

Still, we wondered if it would make an impression on voters, so we hit the streets to see what St. Louis-area folks thought about the mistake. Some people spotted the error immediately, others had to look at it a couple times and a few couldn't find it at all. Bottom line -- most everyone had an opinion. Did you spot the error? Post in the comments.

"It could be a typo. It's kind of embarrassing for a former state treasurer to have a math mistake in an outreach letter. If anyone catches it, it's worth a grin at least." —Tom Tipton, Kirkwood

"It's kind of appalling if she wants a vote. I think someone should have proofed that. Maybe a math refresher class is in order." —Laura Hanson, Crestwood

"I doubt it's a typo. It's a huge math error, but so many of our leaders have made math errors. It speaks to the problems we have in other areas." —Dan Tennessen, Crestwood

"She needs to stop delegating basic math to her staff. The mistake was probably made by a low-level staffer. We have bigger problems in politics than a zero." —Bob Street, Kirkwood

"It doesn't bode well or make her look more qualified, but I'd be lying if I said mistakes like those don't come out of my office." —Chris Street, Kirkwood

"It doesn't look good that the math is wrong. I'm sure it's embarrassing for her." —Brad Witbrodt, Sunset Hills

"It was probably a typo, but it was a big typo." —Allison Nay, St. Louis

"It's awful. If you can do finances in an email, the you can't do them in the state." —Angie Grimes, Oakville

"It's ridiculous, but I wouldn't not vote for her just because of that. It might have happened because emails can be more informal." —Magen Williams, Union

Steelman is one of two declared GOP candidates campaigning to face McCaskill. U.S. Rep. Todd Akin (R-Wildwood) is the other.