Gov. Steve Beshear says the state could come up nearly $240 million short early next year if a federal spending bill defeated by a Senate Republican filibuster doesn’t pass.
The spending measure defeated in Washington on Thursday includes a new round of aid to states.
Beshear said Friday that Kentucky is relying on the spending measure for a six-month extension of a higher federal Medicaid match that is to last until year’s end. Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program that covers about 790,000 low-income and disabled Kentuckians.
Beshear said that having to re-balance the budget to offset the loss of nearly $240 million would be a “horrendous” task. He said virtually every state program would face significant reductions.
The $17.3 billion, two-year budget that takes effect Thursday already included broad spending cuts.
Make no mistake; congressional republicans don't give a flying fuck about the deficit except how they can use it to prevent Democrats from fixing the economic crisis. They want the country to fall into Depression - as long as they can blame it on Democrats in time for the November election.
On Monday I wrote a quick post urging you to call your Senators and urge them to vote Yes on an amendment Senator Franken was offering to the Defense Appropriations Bill that would give female sexual assault victims who work for defense contractors the right to sue rather than be limited to binding arbitration via their employment contract.
Frankly, it seemed like a no-brainer, even for the obstructionist morons of today's republican caucus. I mean, what kind of monster would go on the record with a vote that branded them as objectively pro-rape?
Today I have a depressing answer to that question.
Thirty male republican senators - including Kit Bond and John McCain - voted against the amendment - and against half of their constituents when they did so.
What a disgusting commentary it is that three-quarters of the republican caucus in the Senate voted to deny rape victims access to the courts. Every one of them should have that vote hung around their necks forevermore, and some of them ought to pay a steep penalty at the polls.
All six of Kentucky's House delegation voted in favor of extending unemployment benefits to people whose benefits are about to expire. The four republicans included, and even Mr. Fiscal Responsibility repug-fellator himself, DINO Ben Chandler.
What could have inspired loyal repugs Davis, Rogers, Guthrie and Whitfield to vote in favor of such a Democratic, ni**er-loving, welfare-promoting, tax-and-spend, dirry-fucking-hippie bill?
Maybe the accelerating unemployment rate in every single one of Kentucky's 120 counties? When the number of unemployed people in your district exceeds the margin of victory in your last election, some things lose their partisan taint.
But now the bill goes to the Senate, where everything good and pure and helpful to non-millionaires and beneficial to the nation goes to die.
So Governor Steve Beshear has publicly announced his plea to Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning that they vote in favor of the bill.
As the Commonwealth faces an 11.1 percent unemployment rate, Gov. Steve Beshear today sent a letter to Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning urging them to back a proposal designed to provide a temporary extension of certain unemployment benefits.
House Resolution (H.R.) 3548, recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, will provide an additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance benefits to Kentucky’s unemployed workers who qualify. This comes just as jobless rates have again climbed in each of the state’s 120 counties compared to last year.
In little more than a year’s time, nearly 123,000 Kentuckians have claimed emergency unemployment compensation after their regular benefit allowances expired. During this prolonged economic downturn, between 800 and 1,200 Kentuckians each week are now exhausting the emergency unemployment benefits provided by Congress. Additionally, more than 10,000 have been forced to rely further on the extended benefits provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Earlier this month, the governor asked Kentucky’s Congressional delegation to support H.R. 3404, a measure that would provide a yearlong extension of unemployment benefits. That proposal is still waiting for consideration.
“While I hold out hope that this longer extension may someday become a reality and provide a much-needed boost to Kentucky’s unemployed,” Gov. Beshear wrote, “your support of H.R. 3548 will certainly go a long way toward helping those Kentuckians who need it most.”
To contact your Senators in support of H.R. 3548, go online here.
Given that neither Mitchie-poo nor Rip Van Winkle giving a flying fuck about Kentucky or Kentuckians, anybody got odds on Steve getting his wish?
But that was before Beshear endorsed - albeit as weakly as possible - his lite guv Dan Mongiardo in the Senate race.
And that was before Jack Conway blew the doors off political fundraising in Kentucky with a second-quarter haul of $3.25 million - more than four times what Mongiardo raised.
So here's the nightmare scenario:
Bunning, senile and infuriated, fails to take the changed topography into account and steps down in an attempt to fuck over McConnell by handing Harry Reid a 61st Senator.
But this puts Beshear into an impossible bind. He knows now that Mongiardo is an inexcusably weak candidate, but having endorsed Dr. Dan he can't name somebody else to the seat without looking like an idiot.
So Beshear names Mongiardo to the U.S. Senate, where he attaches himself by the hip to the un-Democratic Blue Dogs and votes against health care reform. A proud-and-out homophobe, Mongiardo also votes against repealing DADT and DOMA.
Next year, republican Trey Grayson slaughters Mongiardo in the general election, keeping the seat safely in McConnell's hands.
There is one way Beshear can avoid that outcome, assuming Bunning does leap off that cliff: he can announce that for the good of the Commonwealth, he can't undermine the integrity of the Democratic primary by appointing someone who is already a candidate. So he appoints someone who is unlikely to run for re-election next year, someone who is a Real Democrat who can be counted on to vote with President Obama, someone to whom neither Mongiardo nor Conway can object.
The republican candidate is no longer a senile, unpopular, broke incumbent hated by his own party leaders, a candidate even Dan Mongiardo could beat.
No, the presumptive republican candidate is now young, smart, popular, rolling-in-dough, loved-by-his-party-leaders Secretary of State Trey Grayson, whom even Jack Conway is going to have trouble beating.
So, Democratic voters, activists, fundraisers and campaigners in Kentucky and nationwide: stop celebrating. Hunker down, dig in and start working. This one's not going to be easy.
The Good News: Williams spat in the face of both Bunning and presumptive repug primary front-runner Trey Grayson by semi-endorsing Louisville philanthropist Cathy Bailey.
Williams, R-Burkesville, said he thinks Republican incumbent Jim Bunning will stay in the race.
Asked if he will be endorsing anyone in next May’s GOP primary election, Williams said, “The most qualified challenger that has appeared at this particular juncture and someone I would be very excited about seeing in the United States Senate is Cathy Bailey.”
She is a former ambassador to Latvia and is a Louisville-based philanthropist, fund-raiser and charity organizer.
Williams said it would be interesting to have a qualified woman in the United States Senate from Kentucky, “someone who has the international experience that she has, and she presents herself very well.”
But Williams added that he was not endorsing any particular candidate.
“I’m not going to get too involved in primaries,” he said.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may be the ranking member in his state and national party, but he has scant power to nudge U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning out of the 2010 Senate race.
McConnell can’t make Bunning balk because the Hall of Fame pitcher knows he will be the Republican nominee if he just stays in the game, said Larry Forgy, a Lexington attorney who was narrowly defeated by Democrat Paul Patton in the 1995 race for governor.
Bunning's increasingly erratic behavior -- including a prediction that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would die of pancreatic cancer within nine months and his bitter criticism of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian, during weekly conference calls with reporters -- also has raised concerns.
"For some reason he insists on having these Tuesday morning conversations, and every Tuesday morning it seems to get a bit worse," (state senate president David) Williams said. "I don't think it's wise for him to do that."
The soap channel is missing a huge opportunity by making a bunch of pneumatic bubble-heads from Louisville the stars of the new Southern Belles reality show instead of focusing on Kentucky's favorite bickering couple.
Jimbo and Mitchie-poo are stabbing each other in the back but are going to end up killing the republican party. Great Kentucky Repug Hope Trey Grayson is in agony over his foolish pledge last year to not challenge Bunning in a primary, but Powerful Yet Hated Professional Obstructionist Williams will be happy to leap in where Trey fears to tread. Meanwhile, Libertarian Crown Prince Rand Paul is ready to fuck up all their shit.
And we heart-broken, pessimistic, cynical Kentucky liberals are taking bets on just how the Democratic Party is going to manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this time.
Bunning, 77, went on to call McConnell a “control freak” and said he’ll fare well in Kentucky without McConnell’s endorsement in the GOP primary election. “If Mitch McConnell doesn’t endorse me that may be the best thing that could happen to me in Kentucky,” he told reporters during a weekly conference call.
Bunning, R-Southgate, said it would be kind to call his relationship with McConnell strained. “I said no to him and he doesn’t like people who say no to him,” Bunning said.
Hey, Jimbo: You wanna really piss Mitch off? Vote with the dems! No, seriously, I mean it. Mitch has bet the republican farm on his ability to maintain the filibuster against everything Obama and Harry Reid want. He's one vote away from losing it all - votes on health care, EFCA, cap-and-trade, the Supreme Court, Guantanamo, maybe even prosecuting Bush and Cheney for war crimes. You can bring him down, Jimbo. You can make him pay for all those snubs and insults and back-stabbing and sabotaging, not to mention the snickering in the Senate cloakroom about your lack of smarts.
Do it, Jimbo. Make that smarmy nerd pay. Wipe that smirk off his face. You've got nothing to lose.
Rand Paul’s Twitter account says an important announcement is coming tonight on the Rachel Maddow show. Tune in at 9:00 P.M. Eastern on MSNBC.
Yes, Rand is the son of infamous liberatarian republican Ron, and a opthamologist in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
If he enters next year's race to replace Jim Bunning in the republican primary, he could fuck it up enough to throw the nomination to Kentucky Senate President David Williams, who would lose huge to just about any Democratic nominee.
If Paul enters the race as an independent, he would draw enough repug votes away from any repug nominee to hand the general election to just about any Democratic nominee.
Jack Conway, you can start packing for D.C.
UPDATE, 8:59 p.m.: Meh. "I'm forming an exploratory committee." Yeah, so's everybody and their mother. Call me when you sign filing papers.
Jim Bunning could not be bumfuzzling the GOP more effectively if the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee had written his script.
Saturday night, at the annual Lincoln Dinner, hundreds of Kentucky repugs expecting to hear Bunning drop out of the 2010 Senate race heard this instead:
"I am nobody's puppet. I am my own man," Bunning said during his remarks. "I hope and pray I can count on your support in the coming months. The battle is going to be long, but I am prepared to fight for my values. I hope you are with me."
Poor Trey Grayson. For years, he's been heir apparent to Senator Jim Bunning. How many times he must have heard "just wait until 2010, my boy, then the seat is yours."
But all of a sudden he's taken a series of political body blows that would send any tough-talking repug back to his corner whimpering. First a fucking black guy not just wins the presidency but sweeps big Congressional Democratic majorities with him.
Then Jimbo gets cagey about stepping down, telling Trey to go ahead and launch an exploratory committee, but telling the press that doesn't mean he's not going to run for re-election, because he can beat up Arlen Specter any time he wants.
Cathy Bailey, the former U.S. ambassador to Latvia, is joining a growing list of Republicans flirting with entering the 2010 U.S. Senate race despite incumbent GOP Sen. Jim Bunning’s insistence that he’s seeking re-election.
Bailey, a Louisville-based philanthropist, fund-raiser and charity organizer, told the Herald-Leader she is considering making her first run for public office, even if Bunning remains in the race.
“I think the Republican Party is strong enough to undergo a conversation about which person is best to represent us on the ballot in 2010,” she said. “That’s the interest I have, whether it’s Jim Bunning or other people or whether it’s Cathy Bailey.”
Bailey served as chairman of Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign in Kentucky and has spearheaded fund-raising efforts for former President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Bailey achieved the fund-raising status of “ranger” for Bush’s 2000 campaign, meaning she raised more than $200,000 in the race. In 2005, Bush appointed her ambassador to Latvia, where she served until 2008.
SNIP
An early test of potential candidates’ support will be collecting money, said Bailey, who just organized a Kentucky Derby-related fund-raising event for her charity Operation Open Arms, which helps care for children whose mothers are in prison.
Bailey said she hasn’t set a deadline for her decision. And even though Bailey — who is married to Irving Bailey, the former chairman and CEO of Providian Corp. — can afford to invest personal funds into a race, she said grass roots fund-raising is a crucial barometer for a candidate.
Bailey said a candidate’s exploratory committee should raise at least $500,000 in its first quarter of activity.
“Anybody interested would probably have to raise that,” she said. “Practically, I’m looking at the clock. You don’t have to file until January 2010, but the clock is ticking.”
Eight and a half months until the filing deadline. David Williams, the clock is ticking.
Two years from now, weeks after the new Senator from Kentucky is sworn in, Jim Bunning will still be sending mixed signals about whether he's running for re-election.
Sen. Jim Bunning today renewed his attacks on his fellow Kentucky Republican, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, accusing him of selfishness and being responsible for lost GOP seats in the Senate.
“Good God, he wants to run everybody,” Bunning said of McConnell during a conference call with reporters.
Bunning contrasted his 2010 re-election bid with that of Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who last week bolted the Republican Party and joined the Democrats.
“It is the fact that Arlen Specter is probably as selfish as our leader is in trying to survive, that’s the only way he thought he would survive in the U.S. Senate,” Bunning said.
“Do you know Arlen Specter will be 80, has had four bouts with cancer and he still wants to run for the U.S. Senate?” Bunning continued. “And I’m being criticized at 77 and healthy for wanting to run for the U.S. Senate by certain leadership people in my party. Give me a break.”
Asked if the leadership he was referring to was McConnell, Bunning answered: “Obviously. Do you want me to spell it out for you?”
He said: “Do you realize that under our dynamic leadership of our leader, we have gone from 55 and probably to 40 (Senate seats) in two election cycles, and if the tea leaves that I read are correct, we will wind up with about 36 after this election cycle.
So if leadership means anything, it means you don’t lose … approximately 19 seats in three election cycles with good leadership.”
Those comments pretty much guarantee that Jimbo's not going to raise enough money to run for Villa Hills dog-catcher, but it's not clear that he understands that.
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), who has accused his party leadership of sabotaging his fundraising and trying to force him into retirement, is now raising a possible scenario under which he might just retire -- if he can't get enough money.
"We're working like the devil to make those goals," Bunning told reporters. And if he doesn't meet his goals: "we're going to take another look at the race. I'm not going to walk into 2010 with less than $1 million when I know it's going to cost $7 million minimally, probably $10 (million), somewhere in that area, to run against the winner of the Democratic primary."
And because the Kentucky Senate race isn't confusing and entertaining enough yet, Ron Paul's son Rand, who happens to be a doctor in Bowling Green, Kentucky, is threatening to jump into the repug primary.
Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson’s decision to explore a possible run for U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s seat on Thursday came after a multi-week series of conversations between the state’s junior senator and his protégé.
“Jim Bunning suggested I form an exploratory committee several weeks ago,” Grayson said Friday. “I met with him on Wednesday and told him I was ready to move forward and he still supported the idea.”
With Bunning’s apparent blessing in hand, Grayson said he moved forward and told several key Republicans, including potential donors and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, that he would explore a run.
However, when Grayson publicly announced his exploratory committee on Thursday, Bunning’s spokesman continued to say that the Hall of Fame pitcher “has every intention of running.” On Friday, Bunning did not respond to requests for comment.
Either Trey, who is reportedly close to Bunning, does not realize just how senile Jimbo is, or else this clusterfuck is yet another example of what passes for political gamesmanship in the disintegrating Whig Party.
How desperate was Mitch McConnell to keep Arlen Specter in the Republican Party? And how much does McConnell hate his fellow Kentucky repug Senator Jim Bunning?
So much that in March McConnell gave $10,000 to the re-election campaign of a man who just six weeks later became a Democrat, and not one thin dime to a repug on the verge of losing his seat to a Democrat.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell may be fuming at Sen. Arlen Specter now, but a month ago, he was cutting him a $10,000 check.
McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, gave $10,000 to Specter’s 2010 re-election campaign on March 11 through his leadership political action committee, the Bluegrass Committee.
SNIP
“Well, obviously we are not happy,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday.
By the end of 2009’s first fund-raising quarter, there was no sign of McConnell giving to the campaign of fellow Republican and Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning, who also is running for re-election next year.
Hey, Mitch: here's a piece of advice, free, gratis and for nothing: Don't place any bets on the Derby Saturday.
Meet the next U.S. Senator from Kentucky, Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway:
Conway's from Louisville, and Louisville politicians traditionally have a difficult time winning statewide office in Kentucky. In fact, the last one was 25 years ago, when the Jefferson County Judge-Executive won a U.S. Senate seat. He was a republican, guy name of Mitch McConnell.
In 1984, he ran against incumbent Sen. Walter Huddleston (D-Ky.), trying to become the first Republican to win statewide office in Kentucky since 1968. He ran a famous series of ads showing bloodhounds sniffing around the state looking for Huddleston to make fun of Huddleston for missing votes while in Congress. McConnell won by four-tenths of a percentage point.(2) He was the only Republican challenger to beat a Democratic incumbent that year.
I seriously doubt Bunning's going to be the only repug incumbent to fall to a Democratic challenger next year, but just to be safe, maybe Conway should cut an ad showing nursing home attendants running through the halls of the Senate trying to corral Senator Non Compos Mentis.
We don't need a Blue Dog to beat Jim Bunning. Jack Conway is a progressive Democrat with integrity that can whip Jim Bunning any day of the week.
But let's say that KY Republicans like Mitch McConnell are able to successfully force Bunning out of the race and replace him with the much more formidable KY Sec. of State Trey Grayson. Even in this scenario, the PPP poll shows Jack Conway beating Grayson by 4 points. Mongiardo? He loses to Grayson by 4 points.
Again: we don't have to settle for a conservative Blue Dog in this race. We have Jack Conway.
Kentucky progressives are already stepping up and showing that we don't have to settle for the lesser of two evils in this race. The Facebook group I started "Kentuckians Against Homophobia, Mountaintop Removal, and Dan Mongiardo" has more members than the Mongiardo for Senate Facebook group. We know that Bunning is vulnerable, and we don't have to settle for another Ben Nelson or Blanche Lincoln. Please check out Jack Conway's campaign website, and please consider throwing some turkee his way. We have a great candidate with a great shot of taking another big seat away from the "Party of No" in November 2010.
(also, please join the Jack Conway for U.S. Senate 2010 Facebook group!!!)
I'm not completely convinced that Jack Conway is the progressive Media Czech claims he is, mostly because his record is thin and his jihad against cyber crime gives me the First Amendment willies. However, he's certainly far more progressive than Mongiardo and Ben Chandler, if not as progressive as John Yarmuth.
Page One Kentucky, meanwhile, compares and contrasts Conway's video announcement with Mongiardo's, and reminds us just how much of a scumbucket our only Lieutenant Governor really is:
Oh, don’t forget that fancy time in 2004 when Daniel Mongiardo stood behind then-Senator Ernesto Scorsone, pointing and laughing, as Scorsone spoke passionately against Senate Hate Bill 245. See the video evidence by clicking here.
The proudly liberal Scorsone, Kentucky's only openly-gay legislator and now its only openly-gay Circuit Court Judge, has more genuinely progressive integrity in one fingernail than Dan Mongiardo could ever hope to acquire in a lifetime of penitent service.
Fun historical fact: In 1998, when Bunning first ran for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Party Icon Wendell Ford, his Democratic opponent was 6th District Congressman Scotty Baesler. The two state senators who ran for Baesler's seat were Scorsone and future corrupt and disgraced governor Ernie Fletcher. Dirty Ernie won by deploying a gay-hating whisper campaign against Scorsone.
Thus Conway beating homophobe Mongiardo for the right to take Ford's seat back from Bunning will be karmic justice of a kind.
Page One Kentucky has details on the repug alternatives to Bunning, and their chances against the various dems, of whom Mongiardo is - surprise! - the weakest.
In the crosstabs, Dan Mongiardo once again shows anemic support among Democrats, as his approval/disapproval is 58/18, as opposed to Conway's at 57/10. Among indendents, Mongairdo fares poorly (35/48), while Conway does quite well (35/28). Homophobic opportunism and mountaintop removal shilling coming back to bite you, Lt. Dan?
SNIP
In the matchup that we WILL see in November 2010, we have some great news:
Jack Conway- 42% Jim Bunning- 33%
Zesty! Mongiardo is also ahead, but by a lower margin.
Dan Mongiardo- 43% Jim Bunning- 36%
So first things first: let's put to rest that tired meme that we need to nominate a homophobic and environmentally catastrophic candidate, or else we can't win the Kentucky senate seat. That meme is officially DEAD. We can do better, and the more progressive Democratic candidate POLLS BETTER than the Blue Dog conservative Democrat.
It's time for Jack Conway to get in this race and start thumping Lt. Dan, then send Jim Bunning to the showers.
I'd just add for all the anonymously-commenting desperate and delusional supporters of Mongiardo: the rampant homophobia among Kentucky's registered-Democrats-who-always-vote-republican is a bad thing for Dr. Dan, because the homophobes think Mongiardo is gay, and that his gay-bashing is a cover.
In other words, Dan loses the progressive vote for being a homophobe and pro mountaintop removal mining, he loses the homophobe vote because they think he's gay. and he loses the racist vote because he endorsed Barack Obama. That's pretty much every Democratic vote in the state.
Political Wire got an advance look at a new Public Policy Polling survey in Kentucky that shows Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) with a 28% favorable rating as he attempts to run for a third term.
Bunning loses head-to-head match ups with all four Democrats considering a run against him: Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, Attorney General Jack Conway, state Auditor Crit Luallen and Rep. Ben Chandler.
Complete poll results will be released tomorrow.
As Media Czech notes, the cross-tabs will tell the story. In the meantime, some contradictory thoughts:
Polls eighteen months out are bullshit.
Nevertheless, I'm sure this one has repugs shitting their pants and taking contracts out on Jimbo.
And making begging calls to Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who is way too smart to believe early polls, but who might have an ego susceptible to national repugs calling him savior.
Bullshit regardless, tomorrow we'll see Dan Mongiardo strutting around like cock-of-the-walk, nevermind that his first-quarter fundraising leaves him $180,000 still in debt.
Which strutting might possibly be annoying enough to get Hamlet Conway off his pretty ass and into the race.
Oh, yeah. Crit Luallen and Ben Chandler are not considering, never have considered, and never will consider running for Bunning's Senate seat next year.
There are some Democratic politicans who are great candidates but crummy office-holders. See Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.
There are some Democratic politicians who would be superb in offices they'll never hold because they're crummy candidates. See Kentucky Auditor Crit Luallen, who should be governor.
There are Democratic politicians who are great candidates and superb office-holders, but rotten human beings. See former President Bill Clinton.
And then there are lying, homophobic, coal-industry shilling "Democratic" politicians who are crummy candidates, horrible office-holders and rotten human beings. See Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Dan Mongiardo.
Over the past few months, Dan Mongiardo's 2010 Senate Primary campaign has been actively trying to silence several growing problems.
Take, for example, Dan Mongiardo's staggering "Unfavorable" numbers. A recent poll of Kentucky Democratic voters found Mongiardo has a whopping 28% Negative Rating. That's twice the rate of the other likely 2010 Democratic candidates. Mongiardo is so unpopular even some Republicans rated higher than him -- and remember, this is among Democratic voters only.
Roll Call belatedly realizes that there may be more than one Democratic politician in Kentucky interested in kicking Jim Bunning (R-non compos mentis) out of the Senate.
A source close to Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said this week that the Democrat will run for Senate in 2010 and that he is expected to announce his candidacy as soon as early April.
-SNIP-
With Conway set to throw his hat in the ring, it appears that the other top Bluegrass Democrats who have considered challenging Bunning will stay on the sidelines. Conway, state Auditor Crit Luallen (D) and Rep. Ben Chandler (D) are all close allies, and party insiders don’t believe any of the three would challenge the others in a primary race.
-SNIP-
“The attorney general is staying in constant communications with Auditor Luallen, Congressman Chandler and [Democratic Rep. John] Yarmuth and they are in the process of sorting out this important election,” Riddle said. “Obviously Jack is very humbled that people are talking about his candidacy and encouraging him to run.”
As Page One notes, this is old news. Not just that Conway will run with Luallen's and Chandler's support, but that homophobic coal industry shill Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo's campaign is already struggling.
The Roll Call story gets better. We couldn’t agree more with the following excerpt:
Pointing to the hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign debt — much of which he owes to himself — that Mongiardo continues to carry from that 2004 campaign, the Democratic source said, “If he is such a good fundraiser, why hasn’t he cleared that up?”
Attention Mongiardo crew: If you’ve really raised substantial money, send us some some documentation to back it up. We’d love to know where you stand before the reporting deadline.
Here's my 20-months-out prediction based on nothing that anyone who reads Kentucky political blogs doesn't already know:
Jack Conway will take the Democratic Senate primary in a walk. Mongiardo might not even make an embarrassing second place, if the usual unknowns jump into the race. Conway will beat Bunning in a landslide in the general, but lose to Secretary of State Trey Grayson if Bunning drops out.
Grayson is unlikely to challenge Bunning in a primary, although he could beat Jimbo easily, because why should he risk alienating Kentucky republicans in a 2010 primary when he can get them 100 percent behind him in a 2011 general election challenge to Governor Steve Beshear?
Don't be surprised if Mongiardo follows up his losing Senate campaign by challenging his own governor in the 2011 primary. Mongiardo is that delusional, and Beshear is that determined to exceed Dr. Dan's unpopularity with Kentucky progressives.
Scum-bucket sponsor Gary Tapp vows to bring the gay-bashing bill back next year, and maybe the plan is to get the bill passed as Tapp launches his 2010 re-election campaign.
I'm open to the idea that new Democratic state house Speaker Greg Stumbo has some kind of persuasive/blackmailing power over Williams, but Invasion of the Body Snatchers makes a lot more sense.
Maybe Williams is trying to project an appearance of reasonableness in preparation for running for Jim Bunning's U.S. Senate seat next year, although support for taxes and gays is hardly the way to win a repug primary in this state.
Whatever's behind Williams' bizarre behavior, Kentucky Democrats would be making a huge mistake to assume that it's safe to turn our backs on him.
"Blue" in Blue in the Bluegrass refers to my politics, not my state of mind, although being progressive-democratic in Kentucky is not for the faint of heart.
The Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is Central Kentucky, the area around Lexington. It's also sometimes known as the Golden Triangle, the region formed by Louisville in the west, Cincinnati in the north and Lexington in the east-south corner. This is the most economically advanced, politically progressive and aesthically beautiful area of the state. Also the most overpopulated by annoying yuppies and the most endangered by urban sprawl.
A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who will vote for even a yellow dog if it is running as a Democrat. I can't claim to be quite that fanatically partisan, especially since quite a few candidates who run as Democrats in Kentucky are more Republican than a lot of Republicans I can name.
But I do love the story Kentucky House leader Rocky Adkins never tires of telling about the old-timer in Eastern Kentucky who was once accused of being willing to vote for Satan if Satan ran as a Democrat. Spat back the old-timer:
"Not in a primary, I wouldn't!"
Amen.
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