By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill gets national attention for being a strong and early supporter of Barack Obama. Good for her and for Missouri; she'll have some influence with his administration. But McCaskill suffered a loss in prestige on Election Day, too.

According to final and unofficial results, Missouri voters narrowly rejected Obama and instead chose John McCain to get the state's Electoral College votes.

That was only the second time since 1904 that Missouri had not voted for the eventual presidential winner. The other time was 1956.

McCaskill, a former Jackson County legislator and prosecutor, had campaigned hard for Obama in key states.

Yet throughout the election season, polls showed Missouri always stayed nip and tuck between Obama and McCain.

The bottom line: McCaskill should have had stronger "coat tails" for Obama. The fact that she didn't ought to be a little embarrassing to McCaskill.