ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The annual Lincoln Days gathering, held here over the weekend to celebrate the Republican Party, had a much different feel than when U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., started making a statewide name for himself. In 1984, Blunt became the first Republican to be elected Missouri Secretary of State in more than half a century. Democrats still had a good grasp on power across the state back then. “Internally, Republicans were just glad to have candidates they thought had a chance to win,” Blunt, now Missouri’s senior senator, said in an interview Saturday, reflecting on how the Republ…