Bill McClellan Bill McClellan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Memo to Nancy Rice, executive director of Better Together:

Do you remember that scene in “The Godfather” when Michael Corleone was planning to shoot a couple of guys in a restaurant? One of the guys was a rival mobster and the other guy was a crooked cop. There was some concern about shooting the cop. Public reaction and all.

“We’ve got some newspaper guys on the payroll, don’t we, Tom?” Michael asked the family’s consigliere. And yes, of course, the family had some newspaper guys on the payroll. You never know when you might need a favor.

How about you, Nancy? You got some newspaper guys on the payroll?

You’ve got radio guys. Michael Kelley and John Hancock are on board. They’ll be helpful. But newspaper guys? I’ve looked into this. You’ve got nobody. Oh, there are people covering Better Together, but they’re not on your side. They’re neutral. You’ve got the editorial page on your side, but how big is that? Ask Sen. Jason Kander. Ask Gov. Chris Koster.

I mean, God bless the editorial page, but you don’t need an endorsement. You need something more subtle, somebody to push the message a little bit. On the down low, of course.