Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Democrats Still In Disarray

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Time to get out the popcorn. Apparently, the fued between Mongiardo and Conway continues to rage.

Nearly two months after the Democratic Senate primary, not only has Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo not endorsed the winner, Attorney General Jack Conway, but the relationship between the bitter rivals appears to be worse than ever.

Apparently the bad blood is over the Conway campaign's offer to retire Mongiardo's debt if he dropped the recanvas.

Mongiardo tells Ronnie Ellis what sources have shared with WHAS11 News -- that high level staff from both campaigns, acting on behalf of the candidates, reached an agreement the day after the primary. In exchange for Mongiardo dropping the recanvass, Conway would help him retire his campaign debt.

Oops. Conway could have just paid the debt off and moved on, but instead he has decided to renig on the deal and continue the fued.

"I think there were discussions about a lot of different things," said Conway, "There were discussions about how we bring the party together."

Sources say the Conway campaign made the offer, concerned that if the election result was up in the air, Conway's fundraising would be jeopardized. The sources contend that Mongiardo has held up his end of the bargain, but that Conway has reneged on the deal.

"Listen, if the party people want to get together and help retire his debt, then I'm willing to be supportive of that," Conway allowed, "but this notion that I've got to, that we have to raise the money to retire his debt in order to get an endorsement, that is distasteful to me. I would imagine that is distaseful to Dr. Mongiardo as well."

Mongiardo tells Ellis that an endorsement was not on the table, but the deal would have been a first step toward bringing the party together.

I don't understand this. Didn't Conway just take in a record $1.4 million dollar haul? Oh yeah, that included a $400,000 person loan. With over a half million dollars of his own money in the race, he realistically doesn't have that much money to give to his opponent. Especially since he is going to be trailing his Republican challenger in total fundraising.

Bottom line: Conway is screwed. Not only is Mongiardo going to continue to be a pain in his side, but it will allow the Paul people to make inroads with conservative Democrats. In the mean time pass the popcorn and enjoy the show as the Democrats slowly tear themselves appart.