Elections

Gubernatorial Debate — Beshear shows up, do you care?

one comment
October 31, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

Steve Beshear’s showing up for the debate tonight so it won’t just be David Williams and Gatewood agreeing with each other that he sucks for not enough of the right reasons (and for some wrong ones) but instead will be a full blown three-way. Which was nice of Steve… to participate.

But what will you learn you don’t already know? Will it change votes? Steve’s got this locked up and you’ll have to “get off my back” for not being particularly interested. I’m going to a dinner party. The rest of you… have fun with your dressed-up kids or do something that matters.

Other things you could watch on television tonight:

Tonight’s Premieres:
Fuse: New Music Videos at 5p
Current TV: Vanguard at 9p
RLTV: Primary Issues at 9p
NBC: Rock Center with Brian Williams at 10p
TeleFutura: Noche de Perros (Guys Night Out) at 11p

Tonight’s Finales:
Oxygen: The Bad Girls Club at 9p
VH1: La La’s Full Court Life at 9p; The T.O. Show at 930p

So many choices.

As I’m headed out of town for a bit, I’ll be voting in the morning. My vote for Governor goes to the one man with uncompromising vision. I’ll be writing in Otis “the Bullman” Hensley.

Like many, many of you, I’ll be voting for a candidate for Governor who believes mountains should be blown up, the coal industry must be protected and Kentucky must be home to a new theme park.

Many, many of you will be voting for a guy who wants to promote Kentucky as home to the belief that a 600 year old man spent seven days collecting all the animals of the earth while simultaneously building a giant boat. In seven days. And that includes dinosaurs.

I, on the other hand, will vote for a man who wants to build the Dolphin Splash Park featuring dolphins and ATVs and putt-putt and other, well, more earthly delights.

Who’s crazy? You or me? Him or Steve?

You can vote for whomever you like. They make a fun wheel to write in names, so I’ll spin the heck out of that thing tomorrow morning. Enjoy pretending to enjoy a debate. Or, for that matter, the glow of victory.

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Herald-Leader endorses Gatewood

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October 30, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

No.

They didn’t really. Sorry.

They went with Steve Beshear. What did you expect?

Here’s their ringing endorsement:

We’d like to see a more ambitious Beshear in his second term. He should quit avoiding tax reform, raise his sights above trading tax breaks for any low-paying jobs, get more aggressive about energy diversification and rebuild Kentucky’s environmental protection agency. The mountains desperately need an economic strategy beyond coal.

And we’d like to play with dinosaurs and grow giant fields of wheat on the Great Plains of Southeastern Kentucky.

It’s okay to dream.

***UPDATE***
Forgot to mention… CN|2′s Alessi brought us news on Friday that Steve’s saying he’s not only not challenge Mitch McConnell in 2014, he’s also not going to challenge Rand Paul in 2016… or anyone else. Sweet Jane’s had enough of Steve. Steve’s gonna do his full time, he says, not leave early and never run for anything ever again.

Beshear, a Democrat, put to rest any notion that he might run for another office, including seeking a rematch with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2014. McConnell beat Beshear by double-digits in 1996.

“No,” Beshear said flatly when asked whether he would consider another campaign. (2:20 in the video). “This is it for me. I love my wife, and I want to stay married to her. I don’t think she’d appreciate it if I did any more.”

Click over for the video and full story.

Should you believe him? You could. But maybe the people will “demand” it and, you know, you never want to say never.

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KY SoS race TV ads — Big Bill Johnson lasts just 17 seconds

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October 28, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

In one of the few somewhat entertaining races in this 2011 Election season, the Secretary of State race is on the airwaves.

Bill Johnson released his first ad earlier this week, an action packed 17 seconds that explains how the Secretary of State has nothing to do with abortion… or, how it does? Who knows. But it’s really simple. Simple sentences. Simple words. Or just word. Sometimes just word. You’ve officially spent more time reading about it than this Bill Johnson quickie will take to experience:

Meanwhile, Ms. Grimes has a 2nd ad. What it lacks in grandmas it tries to make up for with glowing text. If we elect Ms. Grimes, Frankfort will be lit up by explanatory text and thus it will be simpler to do business. And it doubles up Big Bill in length:

The takeaway from this head to head advercontest? One candidate understands what the Secretary of State actually does… and the other one is confused. In Bill Johnson-speak:

One ready. Other not.

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Awww craps — Steve Beshear’s gonna push gambling, not tax reform

3 comments
October 27, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

Alessi got Steve to show up for his Pure Politics show and Steve talked about gambling and how he’s going to push it hard if it’s the last or only thing he ever does… which makes sense since that appears to be the only thing his governership is about and if it doesn’t pass, then he’s just a two-term failure, right? Whatever the case, he’s clinging to this one like the Bush family did with that Hussein feller [earlier: Beshear's Bad Bet].

And comprehensive tax reform ain’t part of his plan. So, like, if you think this picture is out of whack… well, you probably shouldn’t waste your time voting for Steve (or, sure, fine, do it… fool yourself):

Anyway, back to Steve’s chat with Alessi:

“Until I feel comfortable that talking about tax reform and jiggering around with our tax code is not going to push us back toward a recession, I’m not going to do anything,” he said. “Right now is the last time — the very last time — to raise broad-based taxes.”

Apparently the state doesn’t need new revenue but other folks do and that’s the one thing on Steve’s mind:

“We need to step up and do something about it,” Beshear said.

Beshear said he won’t prejudge whether the best approach is trying again for legislation to allow slots at the track — as lawmakers tried in 2009 — or a constitutional amendment, which would require approval of two-thirds of both legislative chambers and ratification by voters.

“Certainly if it gets on the ballot, I’ll be very public. I’m going to be for it. And I’m going to try to convince the people of this state to vote for it,” Beshear said.

Click over to read it all and watch the video — or watch it on your TV channel 2.

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H-L endorses Conway, Edelen; CN|2 new poll numbers show Dems sweeping

no comments
October 24, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

A quick round-up:

His opponent, Republican John T. Kemper III, is a developer with no government experience. As a candidate he’s talked about many hot-button social issues outside the purview of the auditor’s office and has failed to convince that he fully understands the responsibilities of the job.

Conway is far and away the better choice.

  • Beshear and Williams and everyone else are going to Henderson. That’s not really all that interesting except that it gives me an opportunity to point out what’s been on my mind for months now… why in the world is David Williams following Beshear to Henderson two days after the Governor leaves town? He’s whined and whined and whined about how Steve is avoiding him, how Steve’s afraid to debate… blah blah blah. The answer for his dumb campaign was obvious: get in a bus and follow Steve everywhere, whenever Steve gets out and says something, David gets out and says something… else. Or they can both agree the coal industry is more important than the people of the Commonwealth. Whatever it is, point being, why is David Williams not dogging Steve everywhere? How much does his campaign staff suck?

 

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Now that’s a campaign ad…

one comment
October 20, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

After watching that, in the interest of equal time, I thought I’d serve up Bill Johnson’s latest tv commercial.

But he doesn’t appear to have one. (Bill, email us! Record something with a webcam or something.)

So… I guess there’s this for now:

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Mitch McConnell, Tea Partier?

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October 18, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

Roll Call examines the level of risk facing Mitch McConnell in anticipation of David Williams’ blowout loss in the Governor’s race. Ultimately, everyone says Mitch and David aren’t tied together so Mitch’s home-state reputation won’t tarnish so long as he keeps accomplishing absolutely nothing in DC. There’s a lot of hob-nobbies and muckety-mucks quoted (and some Team McConnell love for Steve Beshear) and toward the end, there’s news of Mitch’s born-again teabaggery:

While everyone seems to agree that McConnell won’t lose any political capital in the state this November, he made some tweaks after Grayson’s loss. Besides campaigning very hard for Paul and, by most accounts, working amicably with him in the Senate, McConnell has also increased outreach to tea party groups.

“He’s sending staffers to tea party events on a regular basis,” said David Adams, a Kentucky GOP strategist who served as Paul’s 2010 primary campaign manager.

“McConnell does have a representative at most of the tea party meetings,” said Hans Marsen, Kentucky state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. “He’s making an effort to make sure he’s represented.”

Check it.

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Republican Push Poll

no comments
October 17, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

Via LEO’s Fat Lip:

Seems fair. Enough.

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“We’ve got our foot on their necks, and we’ve got to keep it there.”

no comments
October 17, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

Governor/candidate Steve Beshear’s hitting the road to put all the other Dems on his back:

Polls have Beshear leading Republican David Williams, his closest competitor, by 25 to 30 percentage points. Hoping to capitalize on that popularity, fellow Democrats running for agriculture commissioner, attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer seized at the chance to join Beshear on the bus tour.

Beshear, who has already raised far more money that Williams, had already begun making more joint appearances with fellow Democratic candidates, including headlining fundraisers for them.

Other big-name Democrats have been offering their support, too, including U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler who said he believes the polls have drained the GOP’s enthusiasm.

“We’ve got our foot on their necks, and we’ve got to keep it there,” Chandler said.

So much to say about that sentiment, who knows where to start?

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“You’d think the governor would want clean air and water for all Kentuckians, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

no comments
October 17, 2011
By David M. F. Schankula

It’s embarrassing to listen to people defend Steve Beshear.

Poor Democrats who ask you to put a sign in your yard for the Governor. Poor Democrats who insist you have to vote for him. Poor Democrats.

So it must hurt those same Poor Democrats to read facts about Steve Beshear that fly in the face of their imaginary leader — like these words in the Herald-Leader:

Beshear calls for President Barack Obama to “implement fair and reasonable policies for the coal-permitting process” because Kentucky “has experienced tremendous frustration over uncertainty and overreaching policies of the EPA.”

I don’t know how the governor and King Coal could have much of a gripe, considering the more than 60,000 Clean Water Act violations from just three coal companies.

I’ve got a gripe, and it’s for the people who suffer each day with poisoned orange or black water running from their faucets. Or their drinking-water wells that burn with methane.

The people of our area have had enough, and the so-called “War on Coal” is only propaganda. King Coal’s not under attack. It’s the good folks who are trying to survive in the surface-mining areas who are being attacked.

There’s more. Read it all. It’s written by a retired coal miner and a federal mine inspector.

Go Steve, go! Blow up the mountains. Poison the water. Vote Beshear!

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VOTE! May 22

Kentucky Election Central! KentuckyElection.org
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