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Political BLOG |
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Joe Arnold
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April 2007 ArchivesI interviewed Congressman John Yarmuth last week, mainly to get his defense of a piece of franked mail that appeared to be more political than informational to me and the Yarmuth constituents I talked to. ...I heard most of Terry Meiners' interview with Ernie Fletcher on WHAS radio friday afternoon. ...Governor Fletcher has reversed course and decided to repay the taxpayers for his use of the state government air fleet for his political purposes. ...Governor Fletcher's former press secretary Brett Hall, claims on his blog that Anne Northup threatened to recruit an opponent for Sen. Robert Stivers because of Stivers' support for Fletcher. ...Did anyone else see this one coming? ...David Jackson, who was fired from his job as a Deputy Commissioner in the state Transportation Cabinet last week, is still working for state government. ...I can't vouch for the veracity of this polling data, but a poll commissioned by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee shows Kentuckians are split on whether Senator Mitch McConnell "represents my views on the war in Iraq". ...The Lexington Herald-Leader has another story implying that Governor Fletcher is campaigning for reelection on the taxpayers' dime, this time using the state airplane. ...The biggest surprise of the campaign finance report filings so far is Steve Henry's decision to dig one million dollars out of his own pocket to give to his campaign. I never thought of Henry as a millionaire and wonder where he's found that kind of cash to loan his own campaign. ...Jonathan Miller has raised just over $1 million for his gubernatorial campaign. But Miller has less than 20% of his cash left to spend in the closing weeks. ...Billy Harper's campaign finance report is now in, showing him throwing $5 million of his own money into his campaign for governor. ...Ryan Alessi of the Lexington Herald-Leader has a story about Governor Fletcher holding fundraisers in the same cities he's delivering state checks. It shows the power of a sitting governor and maybe a legal way for the governor to abuse his position. ...According to accounts out of Texas, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) N.Y. told a group gathered at a fundraiser that internal polling shows Ben Chandler vs. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2008 would be a virtual dead heat. ...Gatewood Galbraith is the first gubernatorial candidate to submit his first mandatory campaign finance report to the Registry of Election Finance. ...Governor Fletcher and President Bush continue to have equally miserable job approval ratings, according to the latest WHAS11/Survey USA polling. ...Jody Richards' campaign may have gotten off to a slow start but the teachers still love him. Here's the release from Richards' camp about an endorsement from the Jefferson County Teachers Association: ...Jonathan Miller is showing off his own polling numbers which, he says, shows him in second place in the democratic primary. Miller supporter Mark Nickolas of BluegrassReport.com already has some of the information on his web site. Hey guys, here's the deal on what I generally do with polling information. ...David Jackson, a long time state employee who sparked controversy for his public support of Ernie Fletcher in the 2003 governor's race, has been fired. ...The United Auto Workers is endorsing Steve Henry for governor. The autoworkers union, which represents about 8,000 employees at two Louisville Ford plants, is also endorsing Jack Conway for attorney general. ...The gubernatorial forum in Paducah produced a few new promises and a punch at Steve Henry from Gatewood Galbraith, according to a story on WPSD-TV and a report from a western kentucky attorney who attended. ...Conservative blogger David Adams says Jonathan Miller might want to plagiarize so his grammar and wording of position papers would improve. It's tongue-in-cheek and a shot at the Harvard educated Miller, but pretty funny. Here's Adams' post on http://www.kyprogress.blogspot.com ...Senator Mitch McConnell's reelection campaign has offered results of some polling that purports to show McConnell's strength against a Charlie Owen campaign in 2008. Mark Nickolas of bluegrassreport.org first discovered that Bruce Lunsford had lifted much of his Blueprint for Change from campaign position papers of a candidate for governor in Florida. Now, the Lexington Herald-Leader has added that Steve Beshear has also copied ideas and verbiage from another candidate for governor. Here's the Herald-Leader's blog entry: ...Barack Obama's wife will be in Louisville next month for a fundraiser. ...The Kentucky Board of Education has just released the names of the three finalists for the commissioner's job. Here's the names of the three finalisits: ...The Kentucky County Magistrates and Commissioners meeting over the weekend allowed the conventioneers to vote in the governor's race. ...Governor Fletcher is no longer waffling on the Kentucky School Board's decision to keep secret the names of the three finalists for the Education Commissioner's job. ...Steve Beshear's main campaign theme has been "legalize casinos" to help solve Kentucky's financial woes. ...Steve Henry is apparently lumping a former staffer, Leslie Holland, in with his political "opponents" in this e-mail to his supporters. What's not clear is whether this is also a shot at Greg Stumbo for seeking a special prosecutor to review Holland's allegations of campaign finance violations against Henry: ...Melinda Wheeler is trying to separate herself from the pack of folks running for state treasurer. The former head of the Administrative Office of the Courts says she'll work to get rid of the office she's running for. Here's a substantially edited portion of her e-mail to supporters: ...Your political trivia for the day: What three well known politicians are from Hope, Ark. One of them has held statewide elective office in Kentucky. Answer at bottom of post. ...It looks like some Kentucky connection to a new 527 committee. This is an article from CQ Politics. Kudos to a good friend and fellow Louisville blogger for the catch: ...Beginning Monday, a group called MACED, which advocates more state funding for job creation in eastern Kentucky, will begin an ad campaign targeting the state's incentive programs for businesses. Here's the text of an ad that's running Monday in the Lexington Herald-Leader: ...The Kentucky State School Board has decided to hire a new state school commissioner, apparently without any input from the public. ...The next posting on the state school board search for a new commish will be my last for awhile. ...Governor Fletcher has appointed a 24 member commission to begin studying Kentucky's retirement systems. ...The happiest people in Kentucky today are TV sales people. The WHAS11/Survey USA poll clearly shows that TV advertising works. ...The happiest people in Kentucky today are TV sales people. The WHAS11/Survey USA poll clearly shows that TV advertising works. ...The newest WHAS 11/Survey USA poll on the Kentucky governor's race is scheduled to be released today. ...The trial of state Justice Cabinet investigator Steve O'Daniel has been rescheduled. UPDATE: O'Daniel's trial has been delayed again, this time because of the death of Dave Stengel's mother. Stengel is the Jefferson Co. Commonwealth's Attorney. His office is acting as special prosecutor on the O'Daniel case. The new trial date is May 14. ...On Friday, Anne Northup called a news conference in front of the state unemployment office in Louisville to hammer Ernie Fletcher about the new national unemployment numbers. But she popped him a few times on other subjects and Fletcher had some good responses when I caught up with him in E-town. ...U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell better hope western Kentucky voters come out in droves in the 2008 election. Right now, that's his only real solid base of support. Click on approval ratings. ... |
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WHAS11.com Political Blog
WHAS11 Reporters blog the latest political news from the campaign trail and beyond. 
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