JEFFERSON CITY -- The main event between Missouri's Republican Gov. Matt Blunt and Democratic Attorney General Jay Nixon isn't scheduled until 2008. But the preliminaries have apparently already started.

Nixon long ago announced he will seek the Democrtaic nomination for the gubernatorial election next year and is expected to sail through the primary unopposed. Blunt will run against him as a one-term incumbent but may start the outsider given Nixon's statewide popularity.

Hopes of a summer rally may have motivated a string of attacks Blunt recently launched against Nixon, some have concluded. But long-simmering feuds, like that over the state's handling of Ameren's Taum Sauk reservoir overflow, have added fuel to the fire.

Blunt recently launched anti-Nixon assaults on several fronts, most notably over his handling of the recent Taum Sauk criminal investigation. He also attacked Nixon's handling of state Second Injury fund, which handles workers' compensation benefits.

One analyst told the Kansas City Star that Blunt might have adopted the strategy of fellow Show-Me Stater Harry S. Truman and be running as a "scared incumbent."

"His numbers are coming up, so it might be working," political scientist George Connor told the Star.

Meanwhile, Nixon hasn't been turning the other cheek over Blunt's bashes, the paper points out. He's still challenging the governor's decision to demolish an old railroad bridge and attacking a Blunt plan to pay for new college construction with student-loan receipts.

Blunt and Nixon did appear to have finally buried the hatchet after a bitter 17-month-long battle over which a state agency would represent the people in a suit against utility giant Ameren, LNL reported in May.

But recent statements by the Missouri Highway Patrol undermined their own earlier conclusion, sanctioned by Nixon, not to file criminal charges against Ameren officials. Nixon is now under fire for not using his subpoena powers, the Star adds.

Blunt also recently accused Nixon of overseeing "explosive growth" in payouts from the state's Second Injury Fund since 1993. Blunt also want to know which attoneys have benefited from such payouts.