Wednesday, 9 January 2008

Gov Fletcher - A Man of His Word

Remember back to the Governor's campaign last fall. Fletcher was demonized by Northup, Beshear, and the media for having a "secret" legal defense fund. His opponents accused him of having a slush fund where people could give unlimited money to buy access. They demanded that Fletcher release the names.

Fletcher denied that anyone who gave to the fund had business before the state, and claimed the story was basically crap. In addition, he argued that the reason he didn't release the names was because he didn't want them to face legal retribution from the politically minded AG who had his own rouge KBI investigative unit.

It turns out Fletcher was a man of his word.

First Northup and later Beshear attacked Fletcher for having a legal defense fund without making the names public.

Where his opponents in the GOP, Democratic party, and the media lamblasted him for setting up a legal defense fund and not releasing the names?

Former Gov. Ernie Fletcher collected $91,750 from 13 longtime supporters to help him pay his legal bills from the state hiring investigation that led to his election defeat.

The legal-defense fund became a political issue in the governors race, first when GOP challenger Anne Northup and Fletcher's lieutenant governor, Steve Pence, publicly demanded that the governor release the names of donors.

Later, Beshear called for the list. And the collection of money was dubbed a "secret fund" in ethics-themed TV ads run by the Bluegrass Freedom Fund during the fall race.

Fletcher maintained that releasing the names would expose the donors to "retribution" by Attorney General Greg Stumbo, whose office led the hiring probe.

Fletcher, in a statement through former spokeswoman Jodi Whitaker yesterday, said he "told the people contributing when the information would be disclosed and I wasn't going to go back on my word."

I wonder if all of those who attacked Fletcher are going to apologize for getting it wrong?

Posted by brians at 11:03 PM in Kentucky Politics
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What New Hamphire Means

The much ballyhooed claims that Hillary was toast were a bit exaggerated to the say the least. With polls showing her behind by 9 points, she pulled out a stunning upset over Obama. Putting a halt to claims that it was his race to lose.

I didn't buy into the claims that Clinton was dead after Iowa. I think it made her vulnerable, but I figured all that means is she wasn't going to waltz into the nomination like so many predicted. She had too much organization, machinery, and money to be dead. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few Democratic primaries. For now, I think Hillary has a slight edge on Obama.

The question is how long Edwards stays in the race? He can't win, but he continues to get 10 - 15% of the vote. Where would those people go if he drops out? For some reason I think more will go to Obama than Hillary. The longer he stays in the more likely it is that Hillary wins.

I will say this. The Democratic nomination is definitely as intriguing as the Republican primary.

On the Republican side, the race continues to remain murky. McCain's win in moderate New Hampshire builds some momentum for him, but can he carry it to the south? His betrayals to conservative principle are well documented and could haunt him in the South.

Romney took another difficult loss. His supporters are saying it is just the beginning of the race. What they ignore is the fact that Romney put a ton of money and effort into winning both Iowa and New Hampshire. And in both places he was repudiated. My guess is that people in both state's don't trust his new found conservatism. The road will get more difficult for him as the primary season moves to the conservative south.

The questions moving forward are simple. Is Huckabee's momentum continuing to grow? If Huckabee has peaked, can Thompson pick up disaffected Huckabee supporters? Is it becoming to late for Rudy to compete?

Right now the future is murky. I doubt it will clear much until South Carolina and Florida vote.

Posted by brians at 1:19 PM in National Politics
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