Pol Watchers

Haire airs second ad in 2nd District Democratic race

Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire launched ad #2 of his campaign against state Sen. David Boswell in the 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary.

The ad, which focuses on Haire explaining what he says "it means to be a Democrat," also can be seen on Haire's Web site.

Haire's message -- which is essentially a packaged version of his closing argument in Monday's televised KET debate against Boswell -- is that being a Democrat "means you love God and you love your country."

The 30-second commercial shows Haire telling his philosophy to a group of people in what looks like a living room or a doctor's office waiting room.

View it here:

- Ryan Alessi

Obama coming to Ky. soon

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign issued a vague news release Friday morning that says he will make his third visit to Kentucky "early next week."

No other details of the visit were released. Obama has previously visited Louisville and Lexington, but both of those visits came last year.

"We're ecstatic that Senator Obama will be returning to our great state of Kentucky," said Carolyn Tandy, state director of Obama's Kentucky campaign. "Senator Obama has spent his life fighting for working families, and we're happy that voters will be able to hear first hand his plan to bring America together to deliver real change in Washington."

The announcement comes after Clinton agreed to attend a state Democratic Party fund-raiser in Louisville Friday night. Obama declined an invitation to the event and will instead campaign in Oregon.

Click here to read a full story on Clinton's planned visit from Friday's Herald-Leader.

- John Stamper

Fischer faces uphill climb for Senate

By Greg Kocher
GKOCHER1@HERALD-LEADER.COM

HOPKINSVILLE -- Louisville businessman Greg Fischer had to make a sensitive decision.

At the conclusion of the Christian County Democratic Women's Club meeting Monday night, the candidate for U.S. Senate was asked to judge a Derby hat contest. About a half-dozen women had worn fancy hats to the meeting, including one sporting a Fischer campaign sticker.

Fischer was somewhat taken aback about being put in what he called "a tight spot." After all, this was a crowd whose support he needed, and the relatively unknown, first-time candidate couldn't afford to offend with a poor choice that would be embarrassing or, at worst, could cost votes.

But thinking on his feet, Fischer enlisted the crowd to help in his selections. He put his hand above each contestant, and judged from the audience applause who should receive recognition. Everyone seemed pleased by his adroitness, including the third-place winner whose chapeau had the campaign sticker.

A bigger audience on May 20 will decide whether Fischer, Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford, or one of five other candidates should be the Democratic nominee for U.S. senator. The winner will face Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is seeking his fifth six-year term, in the November general election.

CONTINUE READING STORY

Guests announced for this weekend's 'Comment on Kentucky'

Joining host Ferrell Wellman on this weekend's "Comment on Kentucky" will be Linda Blackford, a reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader; Owen Covington, a reporter with the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer; and Stephenie Steitzer, a reporter with The Courier-Journal.

The public-affairs show on the Kentucky Educational Television network begins at 8 p.m. Friday on KET1.

--Jack Brammer

Clinton camp: KY turnout is key to nomination hopes

A key to U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's strategy to lock up the Democratic presidential nomination is surpassing U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in the total popular vote, a top campaign aide said Thursday. 

Obama currently leads Clinton in total pledged delegates, number of states won and the popular vote with just six states left to vote. That has left Clinton and her campaign supporters fielding endless questions about whether she plans to stay in the race and how she can possibly pull off a win.

The two candidates have so far virtually split the more than 500 Democratic superdelegates who have picked sides. Another 260 remain undecided.

Neither candidate can win without those superdelegates, who will cast their votes at the national convention, said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of Clinton's campaign and former DNC chairman.

To help sway the undecided superdelegates in early June, Clinton's campaign hopes to win the popular vote. To do that, Clinton will need heavy voter turnout in the remaining primaries -- Kentucky, West Virginia, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Dakota and Montana -- that still have primaries on the calendar.

McAuliffe said driving up the number of voters who show up in those states, especially ones that favor Clinton in early polls, such as Kentucky, West Virginia and Puerto Rico, is a big part of the strategy.

"This is why Kentucky is critical for us. We not only have to have a very good win in Kentucky but a very good turnout," McAuliffe told Kentucky reporters on a conference call Thursday. "I firmly believe ... by the end of this process, we will have moved ahead in the popular vote."

- Ryan Alessi

 

Combs wins re-election as chief judge of appellate court

FRANKFORT —  Sara W. Combs has been re-elected chief judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals for a second four-year term.

In 2004, Combs became the first woman and the first judge from Eastern Kentucky’s 7th Appellate District to be elected to the role of providing administrative oversight to the 14-member  Court of Appeals.

Combs, of Stanton, was the first woman to serve on Kentucky’s Supreme Court.  Then-Gov. Brereton Jones appointed her to that position in 1993.

 
After she narrowly lost her election to retain a seat on the state’s highest court, Jones appointed her to fill a vacancy on the Court of Appeals in 1994.  She won election to the court in November 2004 and was re-elected in 2000 and 2006.

“I am truly honored that my colleagues on the Court of Appeals would name me chief judge,” Combs said.

--Jack Brammer

UPDATED: Kentucky presidential donor database

If you've been wondering which presidential candidate your neighbor supports, feel free to browse our updated database of Kentucky donors to presidential candidates.

The database includes donations made through March, which are the latest figures available.

The four remaining candidates from the Democratic and Republican parties have collected more than $690,000 from Kentuckians since January 2008. Barack Obama pulled in 51.7 percent of that amount, making him the top fund-raiser.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Obama and Republican John McCain pulled in a combined $231,000 during March.

- John Stamper

Beshear taps former gov candidate for Board of Ed

Gov. Steve Beshear tapped former Republican governor candidate Billy Harper along with the father of former University of Kentucky basketball player Ravi Moss and three others to serve on the state Board of Education.

Harper, president and CEO of Harper Industries, Inc. in Paducah, finished third in the 2007 GOP gubernatorial primary. A long-time education advocate, Harper served earlier this decade on a key educational advisory group that made two dozen recommendations for the direction of the Kentucky public school systems.

He will serve as an at-large member of the board for a term that expires April 14, 2012. He replaces David Rhodes.

Others Beshear named to the education board are:

• Austin W. Moss of Hopkinsville. Moss will serve until April 14, 2010 and represents the 1st Supreme Court District. He replaces former board chairman Keith Travis, who resigned last month. Moss is vice president of human resources at Jennie Stuart Medical Center and is the father of former UK walk-on Ravi Moss.

• Stephen B. Neal of Louisville. Neal, the executive director of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, will serve through April 14, 2012 as an at-large member. He replaces Bonnie Lash Freeman, whose term expired.

• Dorothy "Dorie" Z. Combs of Richmond. Combs, an education professor at Eastern Kentucky University, will serve through April 14, 2012. She previously served on the board from June 2002 to April 2006 and will serve as an at-large member replacing Janna Vice, whose term expired.

• Brigitte B. Ramsey of Falmouth. Ramsey, a public policy analyst for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, will serve as an at-large member through April 14, 2012. She currently serves on the Pendleton County Board of Education. She replaces David Webb, whose term expired.

The 12-member board is charged with setting the governing regulations of the 174 public school districts across the state.

- Ryan Alessi

Day on the trail: Chelsea, dairy farmers and Bonior

Both Democratic presidential campaigns are feverishly working here in Kentucky. Here's a digest of what the next day or so brings:

U.S. SEN. BARACK OBAMA

Obama snared an endorsement Thursday from former campaign manager of John Edwards' presidential bid, David Bonior.

"As I look at the presidential race as it stands today, I see one candidate who has proven he can bring the kind of change to Washington that will mean more jobs, better pay for American workers, and health care for every single American. That candidate is Barack Obama," said Bonior, a former congressman, in a statement.

Later Thursday, the "Women for Obama" group will kick off its election activities at Obama's Louisville campaign headquarters.

Obama, himself, is slated to be in Oregon Friday and won't attend the Kentucky Democratic Party fund-raiser in Louisville that night.

U.S. SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton will campaign in Richmond and at the opening of the campaign's Frankfort headquarters Thursday afternoon.

Clinton also has a group that includes New York dairy farmers traveling Kentucky talking about Clinton's agriculture and rural America policies.  "Hillary has a proven record of creating and promoting programs that help farmers and rural communities," said Ed King, a dairy farmer from Saratoga County, a rural area in northern New York, who is part of the delegation.

Clinton's campaign launched a "Hats Off for Hillary" drive, which encourages women to donate their Kentucky Derby hats to charity as a way to raise awareness for breast cancer, according to a campaign news release. The drive asks women to drop off their hats at Clinton's Kentucky field offices from now until May 20.

Campaign volunteers also have organized two "Honk 'N Holler for Hillary" efforts during rush-hour this afternoon: one at Harrodsburg Road and New Circle in Lexington at 4:30 p.m. and the other in Covington's Goebbel's Park.

Hillary Clinton will be in Louisville Friday for the state Democratic Party fund-raiser.

- Ryan Alessi

State's superdelegates urged to pick and repick

By Ryan Alessi
RALESSI@HERALD-LEADER.COM

FRANKFORT -- Kentucky's Democratic superdelegates are holding firm in their positions after the North Carolina and Indiana primary results, although one prominent supporter of U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said pressure is being applied to that group to end the campaign soon.

The eight known superdelegates Kentucky will send to August's Democratic National Convention remain split: three for Clinton, two for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama and three undeclared.

On Wednesday -- the day after Clinton edged Obama in Indiana but lost by 14 points in North Carolina's primary -- one of Clinton's staunchest Kentucky supporters and superdelegate, Terry McBrayer, said a movement is afoot among the "big boys" in Washington to end the battle before the convention in Denver.

Superdelegates, who are state party leaders and elected officials, are at the center of that effort because they can choose to vote in the convention for the candidate of their choice regardless of primary results. The national Democratic Party has 795 such superdelegates, of which more than 250 remain neutral.

"I've gotten calls from everybody on both sides trying to bring some resolution to it," McBrayer said. "There's some power politics going on. There's a lot of effort going on right now inside the beltway."

He said undecided and undeclared superdelegates, especially Democratic members of Congress, are under immense pressure to pick a side, while some others are being asked to switch allegiance.

McBrayer said he won't.

CONTINUE READING STORY

Kentucky's super delegates

Lunsford's political career hasn't come easy

By Sarah Vos
SVOS@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Bruce Lunsford has lived the quintessential American dream. As a child, he went five years without indoor plumbing and set tobacco in his family's fields.

He worked his way through college and law school and found success in the business world. He's now a multimillionaire, with enough cash flow to dabble in Hollywood flicks, Thoroughbreds and politics.

It's the last that has proven most elusive for Lunsford, who has evolved from an outsider politician to establishment choice.

He has spent almost $14 million of his own money trying to capture Kentucky's governorship but never garnered more than 21 percent of Democratic primary votes.

In 2003, he pitched himself as an outsider, running television ads that portrayed Frankfort legislators as monkeys. He pulled out just before the primary, and then endorsed Republican Ernie Fletcher in the general election.

Lunsford spent much of the 2007 race trying to atone for that endorsement.

Now he's running for U.S. Senate, and, this time, he's the establishment choice, recruited by Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and, Lunsford says, "very important people" in the U.S. Senate.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has all but endorsed him. Unions who fought him before have lined up behind him.

The reason they give is simple: Lunsford has name recognition and enough money to fund a credible race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"We took a pragmatic view of the situation," said Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky AFL-CIO.

Lunsford, 60, says he'll make a good senator for the same reasons that he's been a good business executive: He hires the right people, and he's persuasive.

But the argument has its dangers. It's also the venue where Lunsford has faced the most criticism.

CONTINUE READING STORY

Bio of William Bruce Lunsford

Chelsea Clinton to stump in Richmond, Frankfort

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton will return to Kentucky Thursday to campaign for her mother, Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Richmond and Frankfort.

She will be headlining a discussion called "Our Economy Our Future" at Eastern Kentucky University's Powell Student Center at 1:15 p.m. and then on hand in Frankfort for the opening of Clinton's campaign office in the capital city at 3:30 p.m.

The office will be down the street from the Kentucky Democratic Party headquarters at 340-1 Democrat Drive.

Chelsea Clinton was in Louisville on Saturday for the Kentucky Derby and campaigned in Lexington and Louisville for her mother last month.

- Ryan Alessi

Wilkey won't seek seek re-election for leadership post

State House Democratic Whip Rob Wilkey of Scottsville announced he is retiring from the state legislature, which opens up a spot in the House Democratic leadership team.

Herald-Leader columnist Larry Dale Keeling is reporting that Wilkey notified colleagues this week of his decision in a letter saying he was "embarrassed" by the way the 2008 General Assembly session ended.

Wilkey wrote that the House Democratic leadership team's working relationship fell apart and "there was a conscious effort to embarrass this governor during the session."

"It worked. He could have done a better job of building a relationship with the House, but I also feel he was mislead into believing that we would work with him," Wilkey wrote. "We didn't."

Wilkey didn't identify whom he considered the culprits for trying to "embarrass" new Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear but hinted that Democrats should make changes in the leadership team.

"I hope our members think long and hard about re-election some members of this leadership group," Wilkey wrote. "I will not be running. My decision not to seek re-election has been made for some time, although I haven't announced it ... I will not be back in Frankfort at all next year."

UPDATED AT 7:39 P.M.:  House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, issued a statement about Wilkey's decision.

He said, "Rob Wilkey is one of the best friends I have ever had in my life, and not just in the legislature since we began serving together in 1997.  He is a true gentleman, very smart, hard-working and was an outstanding legislator.

"I am going to miss his personal friendship and counsel, but the people of Kentucky and the Kentucky General Assembly is losing one of its best ... bar none."

- Ryan Alessi

Obama's Kentucky team expects campaign to go on

While key Kentucky supporters for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid say they'd like their candidate to wrap up the nomination, they fully expect the primary battle to continue through Kentucky's May 20 primary.

"I think there will be a full campaign in Kentucky because I believe there's enough energy to warrant it, and I believe the people in the state want it," said U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, a Louisville Democrat and Obama supporter. "They’ve never had this opportunity before."

Yarmuth said he doesn't want Clinton to drop out of the race "until after May 21 because I think that would temper the enthusiasm a little bit for the election."

He said in the results in the Kentucky primary between Obama and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be important groundwork for the fall general election.

"Regardless of what may happen in the next two weeks in terms of superdelegates or her campaign, we need to make a show of strength for Sen. Obama because we are not writing off Kentucky in the general election at all."

The Obama campaign also snared endorsements from state Rep. Dennis Keane of Wilder and  Madisonville Mayor Will Cox, who hosted Obama's primary rival, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, in his city in March for a Democratic Party event.

In a statement read by Obama spokesman Clark Stevens on a conference call, Cox said Obama provides "honest, inspiring and fresh leadership" the country needs and said the results of Tuesday's election should signal to Democrats that Obama should be the nominee.
"Kentucky stands at a crossroads. We truly can put an end to this primary race that we have if Kentucky can turn around and join the close race that happened in Indiana," Keane said.

Keane and May will be among several dozen local and state officials who will serve on Obama's "leadership committee" in counties across the state. Click on the link below to see the full list of officials on that team.

- Ryan Alessi 

Auditor: State parks not getting bang for bucks

Kentucky's state parks system is actually in worse shape today than it was in 2000, despite hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and an aggressive plan under former Gov. Ernie Fletcher to make the parks profitable, according to State Auditor Crit Luallen.

The auditor's office on Wednesday released its latest examination of the state Parks Department, looking at the years 2000 to 2007.

No state parks system in the United States -- including Kentucky's -- is profitable. All require some level of state investment. And the good news is, the amount of money the state parks receive from the General Fund in 2007 ($29.1 million) is roughly the same as it has been for the past seven years, according to Luallen's report.

Unfortunately, she said, the state parks system is spending far more money than it used to from its self-generated revenues (such as food and lodging fees) and bonds, largely to build up the parks system and attract more paying visitors. But those visitors are not coming, and as a result, revenue has not kept pace.

Total expenditures at state parks from 2000 to 2007 jumped $10.7 million to reach $88.2 million last year. Revenues rose only $6.8 million to reach $57.1 million.

One big problem has been a decline in revenue-generating visitor activity. There have been marked drops in occupied rooms and meals served at the state's 17 resort parks and rounds played at the golf courses, Luallen said.

"We have literally spent $55 million on our golf courses during this period of time, but we have seen 16,000 fewer rounds of golf being played, and that's with five new golf courses," she said. "We're right to be very concerned if we're investing hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the facilities, but our numbers are actually going down every year."

For more on this story, see Thursday's Herald-Leader.

-- John Cheves

Clinton moves forward to W.Va., Ky and superdelegates

Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign declared the win in Indiana a "comeback victory" that propels her bid for the White House for the next contests in West Virginia on Tuesday and Kentucky on May 20.

"We think in the sweep of things it represents significant progress for Sen. Clinton and is a good victory under challenging circumstances," said Geoff Garin, chief strategist with Clinton's campaign, on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "We think the results last night strengthen the case that she will be the strongest candidate for the Democratic Party in November."

Clinton edged U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, 51 percent to 49 percent in Indiana.

Howard Wolfson, Clinton's communications director, said the Indiana victory, however slight, adds to the perception that she can win in battleground states and added that the upcoming contest in West Virginia will be another test of that.

"We’ve proven we can do that. Sen Obama has not yet proven that he can win the key swing states," Wolfson said. "That will be the crux of the argument we will make to superedelegates and voters coming forward."

Clinton also is scheduled to meet at an undisclosed location on Capitol Hill Wednesday with uncommitted superdelegates to make her case for the nomination.

The campaign has had "no discussions" about ending Clinton's run, Wolfson said.

Clinton does have more financial hurdles to clear than Obama, however. She opened her speech in Indianapolis Tuesday night by asking her supporters to donate money through her Web site and loaned herself $1,425,000 in the final days before the May 6 primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. She gave her campaign $1 million on  May 1 and $425,000 on May 5 bringing the total self-loans to $11,425,000.

- Ryan Alessi

29th Senate District: Same race, new challenges

By Ryan Alessi
RALESSI@HERALD-LEADER.COM

Just 24 votes separated Sen. Johnny Ray Turner from challenger Eric Shane Hamilton in the 2004 Democratic primary for Eastern Kentucky's 29th Senate District.    

Now, Hamilton is back for a rematch. And a lot has changed in four years.

Since then, Turner -- the Senate Democratic caucus leader -- was implicated in a vote-buying scandal stemming from his 2000 election. He pleaded guilty in December 2006 to a misdemeanor and served a three-month sentence under home arrest.

Hamilton, meanwhile, traded in his industrial cleaning business to become a landlord. But after buying two apartment complexes in west Lexington, he's found himself dogged by city code enforcement officials.

So the two candidates, still slightly bruised from their last contest and the events in between, meet again in the May 20 primary to be decided by Democratic voters in Floyd, Knott, Breathitt and Letcher counties.

"I think the whole dynamics of the campaign are different now," Turner said. He insists that the vote-buying saga, which lasted for six years, isn't shading the race.

"On the campaign trail, it hasn't been an issue," Turner said. People know that he pleaded "guilty to a non-willful -- and I emphasize non-willful -- misdemeanor," he said.

He prefers to talk about his status as a party leader in the Senate, which helps him direct funds to the district. But when pressed, Turner doesn't point to any particular accomplishments.

Hamilton, however, said Turner's legal problems should and will factor into voters' decision. "He's got a lot more than the guilty plea. It seems that everyone associated with the campaign has gone to jail," Hamilton said.

Hamilton also is the nephew of former Democratic state Sen. Benny Ray Bailey of Hindman. It was Bailey whom Turner defeated in 2000 -- the same campaign that landed Turner in hot water.

CONTINUE READING STORY

SurveyUSA: Clinton maintains wide lead in KY

A new poll from SurveyUSA on behalf of WHAS-TV in Louisville shows U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton maintaining a wide lead over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary race in Kentucky.

Clinton leads 62 percent to 28 percent in the automated telephone survey of 595 likely Democratic voters conducted May 3-5. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Two percent of respondents said they remain undecided while 8 percent chose an "other" category.

The results are almost identical to SurveyUSA's last poll in late April.

- John Stamper

And finally a winner ... Clinton does take Indiana

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton indeed captured Indiana even after some early morning drama and last minute counting from Lake County near Chicago.

Clinton defeated U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by more than 20,000 votes or two percentage points with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Obama, meanwhile, soundly defeated Clinton in North Carolina by more than 140,000 votes and 14 percentage points.

And so the Democratic campaign now marches to West Virginia, which has its election next Tuesday, and Kentucky and Oregon, which are up May 20. The primaries after that will be in Montana and South Dakota and the last stop of the national primary season is Puerto Rico on June 3.

- Ryan Alessi

Neighboring Indiana provides wee hour drama

The latest chapter of the never-ending, high-stakes, drama-rich Democratic presidential primary has left voters and political observers with a cliff hanger hinging on Lake County, Indiana in the northwest corner of the state.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton jumped out to an early lead in the Hoosier state only to see her margin over U.S. Sen. Barack Obama shrink to four points, where it hovered for most of the night.

All the while, the tally from Lake County, which includes the city of Gary and represents about 8 percent of the state's vote, stood blank.

Clinton, however, didn't wait for the results. She came on stage in Indianapolis at about 10:35 p.m. EST to declare victory in the state, thank her Hoosier volunteers and pledge to "campaign my heart out" in the next few states, including Kentucky and West Virginia.

Obama spoke at 9:12 p.m. EST in Raleigh, N.C., where he scored a solid victory over Clinton. In his speech, too, he said it "appeared" Clinton carried Indiana.

CBS News called Indiana for Clinton early in the evening. The CBSnews.com story led with: "Clinton pulled off an Indiana win in what was a virtual must-win Midwestern state."

But other news organizations, including CNN and MSNBC, held off. The MSNBC.com story still declared the race in Indiana "too close to call, while Foxnews.com's piece said Obama still had a "chance of making a stunning comeback in the state once all precincts are counted."

At 11:42 p.m. EST, the first lump of Lake County results came in from Gary, amounting to 28 percent of the county's precincts. Obama picked up a net gain of more than 18,000 votes, slicing Clinton's lead in the state to about 21,000 votes, or 51 percent of the votes to Obama's 49 percent.

The WashingtonPost.com reported at 11:12 p.m. that Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said his city "produced in large numbers" for Obama and that such figures could move the Hoosier state into Obama's column.

He and other officials from the county defended the slow counting but acknowledged that the nation was probably getting a bit impatient.

"I think it's a shame Lake County is being focused on the way it is," Thomas McDermott, the mayor of Hammond in Lake County, told CNN just after midnight. McDermott said Clinton carried Hammond but couldn't speak to what happened in the rest of the county.

UPDATE 12:35 a.m. Wednesday: With 56 percent of the vote from Lake County and some6 scattered delinquent precincts elsewhere, Clinton still clung to a 17,000 vote lead.

As the TV pundits argued over who carried the day overall, Clinton again made the case for continuing the campaign and allowing the remaining states -- Kentucky, West Virginia, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and the territory of Puerto Rico -- to weigh in.

And so Kentucky and rest of the nation sits up and waits ...

- Ryan Alessi