Jefferson City, Mo. ? In a Capitol where there are few secrets, Gov. Matt Blunt dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, announcing he was calling off his re-election campaign because he had accomplished his mission.

The Republican governor said he and his family were “ready for the next chapter in our lives” now that he has put the state on solid financial footing, improved Medicaid, boosted education funding and added jobs.

“What we set out to achieve four years ago has been accomplished,” Blunt declared in a videotaped message that he posted on the Internet.

The announcement, which caught even top GOP leaders off guard, came just a week after Blunt defended his record and proposed dozens of programs in his State of the State address. He then criss-crossed the state to sell his health care plans.

Blunt also had been amassing campaign money – he had nearly $6 million in the bank at one point – for a tough re-election fight in November.

The governor, though, has struggled to defend his cuts in health care for the poor and a cascading controversy over his office policy of deleting e-mails. A recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch poll showed that 53 percent of those surveyed viewed him unfavorably.

His decision to quit campaigning set off a free-for-all for the Republican nomination for governor. On the Democratic side, the presumed nominee, Attorney General Jay Nixon, said he would stick with his message that change is needed.