Ed Martin (R) was in Washington, D.C., this week to meet with GOP officials who are backing his 2010 campaign against Rep. Russ Carnahan (D) in the St. Louis-area 3rd district.

Martin, a one-time chief of staff to former Gov. Matt Blunt (R), said Tuesday that “people are concerned about the direction of the country.— He criticized excessive federal spending and a cap-and-trade climate change bill the House passed in June.

“People feel disconnected from Washington, D.C., and what Congress is doing, and I feel that, too,— Martin said.

Martin raised $202,000 in this year’s third quarter, nearly all of it from individual donors, and he had $191,000 in his campaign account as October began. The National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday named Martin as an “On the Radar— candidate as part of its “Young Guns— candidate recruitment program.

Carnahan, who is favored to win a fourth term in a district that gave Barack Obama 60 percent of the vote in the 2008 White House election, raised $164,000 in the third quarter and had $254,000 in cash on hand as October began.