Tuesday, 29 July 2008

Ellinger vs Stein

The chance for Republicans to pick up a Democratic senate seat this year opened up when Scorsone decided not to seek reelection. In his place, the Democrats appointed ultra-liberal house member Kathy Stein to be the Democratic nominee.

Considering how far to the left Stein leans, I thought Republicans might have a shot at the seat if they could find a good candidate to run against her. At the time I heard that Stein would probably be the nominee, I wondered if the party could find a legitimate candidate to oppose her.

It appears they may have done just that. They have selected Chuck Ellinger to represent the Republican party. Ellinger is a two term Lexington councilman who has deep roots in the Lexington area.

Two questions remain about Ellinger. Can he raise enough money to be competitive? Can he put together an organization to implement a good ground game?

While I am sure both candidates have decent name recognition in the district, Ellinger's needs to be higher. Especially since registration in the district heavily favors the Democrats. It takes financial resources as well as a strong team to increase name recognition. He will also need enough financial support to be able to inform the voters about Stein's liberal voting record.

I'll be watching the financial reports to see if he is raising the type of money he will need to run an aggressive campaign. If he can do it, the GOP has a chance to steal a seat from the Democrats this fall.

Posted by brians at 4:46 PM in Kentucky Politics
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Beshear To Stay Out Of Fight

Beshear made a formal announcement today that he would stay out of the race for house leadership.

FRANKFORT -- Gov. Steve Beshear stressed Tuesday that he will not be involved in state legislative leadership races.

"There are a lot of conversations going on now that seem to be involved in the leadership races one way or the other," Beshear said. "As governor I'm going to stay as far away from those leadership races as I can because I don't have a role in those."

Many people will look at his strategy and deem it to be reasonable. If there is going to be a bloody fight for house leadership, why should he be involved in it? It will only make his hands dirty and could split the party.

I have a somewhat different take. His statement that he does not have a role in determining the speaker is utter hogwash. He is the head of the Democratic party in the state. The next speaker will be a Democrat. He has every right to go in and campaign for the strongest candidate. Someone who will work with him to craft legislation. Someone who will help him to push his agenda through the legislature. Someone who can help create his vision for Kentucky. It is something a leader does.

But then again he isn't really a leader. His decision to say out only highlights his weakness as a governor. He isn't trying trying to avoid get his hands dirty. He fears becoming involved because he may pick the losing side. He is afraid that he is too weak to make a difference. He is afraid that such a loss would destroy what little credibility he has left.

Fear is a powerful force that keeps people from action. Fear is keeping Beshear from acting in this instance. It probably kept him from acting during the legislative session. Unless he can come to terms with his fear, he will find that his first term is his only term.

Posted by brians at 1:39 PM in Kentucky Politics
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