Steve Henry's pollsters released results of a poll that show him way ahead of Steve Beshear in the Democratic primary. I'm not going to give the numbers because the Henry campaign didn't release the methodology, questions, or anything else about the polling. And I always think a candidates' polling is suspect, at best. That said, a Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll done last month shows Henry leading the pack and I suspect that he is ahead. At this point in the race, name recognition and having a popular wife might be the best things a candidate has going for them.

Jonathan Miller's campaign reports raising $225,000 in the past 30 days, most of it from in-state contributors. And while there's plenty of speculation that Miller's faith (he's Jewish) might hurt him with some rural voters, it appears to be helping him in fundraising. A number of his contributors are from the New York City area and have traditional Jewish sounding last names. The Miller reporting is voluntary. The deadline for the rest of the candidates to submit their first campaign finance report to the Registry of Election Finance is April 20, though there is a five day grace period. It'll be interesting to see if rumors of difficult fundraising in some of the camps is true.

Jody Richards began the 2007 legislative session trying to make everybody happy, refusing to say "no" to anyone and, in the process, made plenty of people angry. But the end of the session has produced a House Speaker with a backbone. It's the first time in my memory that the house has refused to cave in to Senate President David Williams on a major policy initiative. One could argue the logic in the house's refusal to go along with the senate's plan to overhaul the state employee retirement system, but it's clear that Richards is trying to show that he has the strength to stand up to the "bully from Burkesville", to steal a phrase from C-J editorial writers. It helps that the house has a number of strong willed freshmen legislators this year who, so far, have refused to be pushed around by the senate or their own leaders. It looks like an independent bunch of neophytes and that's probably good for the legislative process and Kentucky taxpayers.