KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You will not find T. S. Eliot or Maya Angelou or even Chuck Berry in the Hall of Famous Missourians. Yogi Berra? Jean Harlow? Langston Hughes? No, no and no. Getting into the hall was even one caper that neither Jesse James nor Calamity Jane could pull off.

But please make way for Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host whose planned entry into the hall has prompted an outcry.

Armed with the latest batch of his derisive comments — Mr. Limbaugh called a law student who testified before Congress in favor of access to contraception “a slut” and “a prostitute,” remarks for which he later apologized — Democrats and progressive groups are waging an uphill campaign to exclude the talk radio king from the pantheon of notable sons and daughters of the Show Me State.

“People are really upset with the idea that such a controversial, divisive and hateful person would be in a position of such honor,” said Sean Soendker Nicholson, executive director of Progress Missouri, which has been leading the opposition effort.