Noted homophobe and mountaintop removal loving Senate candidate Dan Mongiardo released his fundraising from the first quarter, with $420,000.
Pretty good. In fact he’s 2/3 of the way out of his huge debt that he racked up from his last race.
But getting out of the red will be kind of hard, considering by this time next week he’ll have a stronger Democratic candidate in the race with him, with much more impressive endorsements that Lt. Dan.
The fun is about to begin, kiddies…
Loyalty is certainly a trait that you have to have in politics. But like all things, you need some degree of moderation. You need to know where to draw the line between loyalty and irrational devotion to people who are bound to cause you or your policies harm. If there is one thing that Steve Beshear has shown us over the past year and a half, it is that he has no earthly idea where this line is drawn.
Last Friday, Steve Beshear once again stumbled clumsily over line, giving one of the most laughably pathetic and buried political endorsements that you will ever see in your life. With the entire state swept up in Fire Gillespie Insanity, the governor sent out a Friday afternoon press release endorsing his Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo. Again, feeling obligated to scratch the back of those who scratched his.
But of course, Steve Beshear has dug himself one hell of a hole within his own party by doing so. With Jack Conway set to announce his candidacy for U.S. Senate any day now, Beshear will witness the entire Democratic establishment throw their support in Conway’s direction. Crit Luallen, Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth will immediately endorse Conway. According to Jake at PageOne, so will Greg Stumbo, who has been feeling his oats when it comes to standing up to Beshear lately.
When the dust settles, Steve Beshear will be a very lonely man. On Conway’s side will be every moderate to liberal Democrat in the state. And on Mongiardo’s side? Steve Beshear and the Jim Gooches of Kentucky. If you thought Beshear looked powerless in 2008, just wait until you see him in 2010. To say that he will be ignored is an understatement.
But… he did it to himself, and his excessive loyalty is the only thing to blame. He may have thought that such a tepid and buried endorsement of Mongiardo left him off of the hook, but seriously, who is buying that? All he managed to do was look weak and embarrass Mongiardo in the process. And believe me, Dan Mongiardo can embarrass himself on his own quite well, and he doesn’t need anyone’s help to do so.
Yes, the WaPo politico who referred to Greg Fischer in late 2007 as a “top tier candidate”, once more shows how out of touch he is with Kentucky politics:
And, one Kentucky Democratic observer said Beshear’s endorsement of Mongiardo made it more likely that state Auditor Crit Luallen would run for the seat as she believes she has a stronger chance than Conway to emerge as the alternative to the establishment Mongiardo.
Um, no. Crit and Chandler are both 100% behind Jack Conway once he announces, which will be soon.
Somebody fix The Fix, por favor?
Current KY Attorney General (and future Kentucky Senator in Jan. ’11) Jack Conway spoke for an hour this Saturday at the Kentucky Young Democrats Convention. He gave a half hour speech and took questions for a half hour.
From the reports I’ve received, not only was Jack on fire, he had a not-so-veiled jab at Governor Beshear, who on Friday gave the most pathetically buried and tepid endorsement in the history of political endorsements to Dan Mongiardo. He implied that Governor Beshear makes it difficult for him to do his job of enforcing the law properly. ORLY? He also took a swipe at the long-dysfunctional KDP, saying that they have done a poor job of giving Democratic candidates institutional support. Amenz.
More on Mongiardo’s “performance” on Friday to come, but until then….
Hey, all of you young democrats in the greater-Lexington area. Check out the festivities Friday and Saturday:
We are very excited to announce that U.S. Congressman Ben Chandler and Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo will join Valerie Biden Owens for the Friday, March 27 convention kick-off at the Lexington Children’s Theatre.
We have also confirmed new KDP Chairman Charlie Moore, Attorney General Jack Conway, and State Rep. Susan Westrom to speak during the Saturday, March 28 session at the Kentucky Horse Park.
This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting political events in the Commonwealth this year and you don’t want to miss it! The cost for Young Democrats (anyone under 40) to attend both of these events is only $10. Members of the general public can attend the Friday kick-off for only $25.
Best of all? This guy will probably be there. Oh yea, you wouldn’t want to pass up that, would you?
While I won’t be able to make it there to cover it, our new B&P correspondent will be there to take notes and ask questions to the Illuminati. We’ll fill you in later in the weekend.
This was sent my way from an Anybody-But-Mongiardo big shot. Enjoy.
In other Senate news, the latest I’m hearing in the Conway/Crit/Chandler merri-go-round is that it will, in fact, be Jack Conway running for Senate, with the full support of Crit and Chandler. But this shit seems to change every week, so you never know…
Polling fun from the Great Orange Satan!
Among KY Democrats, here are the % unfavorables for the following:
Jack Conway- 11%
Crit Luallen- 12%
Ben Chadler- 16%
Dan Mongiardo- 28%
Gee, seems like a lot of Kentucky democrats think homophobia and mountaintop removal aren’t things to smile about, no?
In fact, what are Republican Trey Grayson’s unfavorables among democrats? 24%
28-24. Now that’s some comedy…
Mr. Jake has all the news: our favorite virulently homophobic and mountaintop removal loving Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo is running for U.S. Senate.
Over my dead online avatar.
If Crit isn’t getting in (not giving up on that at the moment, just yet), then it is all hands on deck to make sure that Jack Conway wins the primary.
P.S.- the good news is that it appears that Kim Geveden is working for Lt. Dan. I repeat, GREAT NEWS for us.
You want to move Kentucky into the 21st century? Well, this is one way that you WON’T do it: by electing Dan Mongiardo as your Senator in 2010.
Dan Mongiardo stands for everything that is wrong with DINOs in KY, from his gay-baiting marriage amendment to his love affair with mountaintop removal and burning as much coal as humanly possible from here to eternity.
It should be the duty of every good progressive in Kentucky to make sure that if he runs, he does NOT get the nomination.
Who should? I’d take Conway in a heartbeat. And I stand by my statement that I have sources that have heard it directly from Ben Chandler that he is running in 2010. I had plenty of problems with Ben in 2007 (that’s an understatement, yes), but he’s been a pleasant surprise this year. If it’s comes down to just Chandler or Lt. Dan, I’ll be 100% behind Ben, you can count on that.
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