Thursday, 3 April 2008

Quick Look At Democratic U.S. Senate Primary

Two things stick out about the race as it stands today. First, a poll came out at the beginning of the week which showed that Lunsford holds a commanding lead in the race. He has 42% with his nearest competitor David Williams at 11%. Everyone else is virtually tied near 5%.

This must be frustrating for Cassaro and Fischer. They are the only two candidates who appear to be seriously running outside of Lunsford and yet they trail behind non-candidate David Williams. Since none of the campaigns have started serious advertising these numbers must reflect generic name recognition. David Williams obviously enjoys a nice bounce from sharing the same name as the Republican Senate leader.

It is impossible to win a race unless your name recognition is at least as strong as the front runner. Both Fischer and Cassaro are going to have to start advertising soon if they hope to gain the name recognition in the next two months to be competitive with Lunsford. If they wait much longer it will be too late and they will lose.

Secondly, the liberals in this state must be going crazy today. It appears that their golden boy, Andrew Horne, has endorsed Lunsford in the Democratic primary.

How could he betray them by endorsing Lunsford? They hate Lunsford almost as much as they hate McConnell. I truly feel sorry for them today. It sucks when someone you admire sticks a knife in your back. At the same time, I have no idea why Horne would make such an endorsement? It's not like he controls hundreds of thousands of votes. Why throw away your core support for nothing? Of course after what happened to James Brandon Spencer, we might want to watch to see what type of cushy state job Horne lands.

Posted by brians at 5:38 PM in Kentucky Politics

Kentucky Democratic Politics 101

How do you get your seat back in the State house after you serve as Attorney General? Apparently all you have to do is provide a cushy job in state government for the one who holds your seat.

An eastern Kentucky lawmaker who resigned abruptly just three weeks before the start of the 2008 General Assembly session has taken a $60,000-a-year state job in the Transportation Cabinet.

Former Democratic state Rep. James Brandon Spencer of Prestonsburg left office in December. He was replaced by former Democratic Attorney General Greg Stumbo who had previously served the Floyd County district for 24 years.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Stumbo. Remember Stumbo crying foul over Fletcher's supposed "patronage"? What Fletcher may or may not have done pales in comparison to this brash act. For this not to be patronage, we must believe ALL of the following.

  1. This well paid government job magically opened up near his home just a few weeks after he resigns from office.
  2. That no one else in the area was more qualified for the position.
  3. That Stumbo had nothing to do with him getting the job.

We would truly have to suspend disbelief to swallow that pill.

"Taking care of our own" seems to be the operating mantra since the Democrats retook the governor's mansion in Frankfort.

Posted by brians at 5:09 PM in Kentucky Politics