 |
 |
|
|
Political BLOG |
|
Joe Arnold
|
October 2008 ArchivesSurvey USA polling is showing John McCain in a tie with Barack Obama in Indiana. McCain will be trying to rev up voters to break that tie with a rally in Indianapolis on Monday. No details have been released yet. McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, was in Jeffersonville on Wednesday. Barack Obama has made more than 50 stops in Indiana and Joe Biden is in Evansville this weekend. ...This may go in the "who cares?" department. Democrats already have a big advantage in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Picking up a couple of seats would not be big news. Now if the dems pick up a couple of seats in the Republican controlled state Senate.............. ...Kentucky Justice Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown has appointed a couple of top administrators in the Juvenile Justice Department: ...Jefferson District Judge David Holton claims Metro Council President Jim King is trying to smear his reputation in a recent e-mail to hundreds of King's friends and supporters. King is the father of Holton's opponent, Katie King. It's unusual for judges races to include attacks on an opponent, but that's what Holton says has happened. Here's the story. ...Governor and Mrs. Steve Beshear are handing out pencils, Twix bars and lollipops on the front steps of the Governor's Mansion, according to one mom who's taken her kids trick or treating on the capitol grounds. But that mom is underwhelmed by the Beshear's Halloween experience when it's compared to the shindig the Fletchers threw last year. ...
A spokesperson for Attorney General Jack Conway says Conway was erroneously listed as a headliner for fundraiser for state Senator Joey Pendleton. Allison Martin says Conway never showed up for the fundraiser and never authorized his name to be used in conjunction with it. ...The two presidential candidates are locked in a dead heat in Indiana heading into the final weekend of campaigning. A new WHAS 11/Survey USA poll shows Barack Obama and John McCain tied at 47% apiece. McCain leads by 2% in southern Indiana counties. Indiana has 11 electoral votes that haven't gone to a democrat since 1964. ...
Live streaming election coverage on WHAS11.com begins at 7pm election night. WHAS11's Joe Arnold, political reporter Mark Hebert and anchor Gary Roedemeier join former Congressman Mike Ward and veteran radio host Joe Elliott for the live newsroom analysis. We'll also check in with WHAS11's reporters live at local campaign headquarters. WHAS11.com viewers will get immediate updates on vote totals. ...In the last 48 hours, I interviewed Joe Biden via satellite and Sarah Palin in person. Both of the V.P. candidates and their campaigns know the importance of Indiana in Tuesday's election. They talk about the Hoosier state. I also asked Biden whether he'd stuck his foot in his mouth during this campaign. Here's the story. ...The C-J is reporting that First Lady Laura Bush will campaigning for 2nd District Congressional candidate Brett Guthrie in Shepherdsville on Monday. The latest Survey USA poll shows Guthrie has widened his lead over David Boswell to 10 points. ...Sen. Mitch McConnell has a 7 point lead in the latest Rasmussen poll and a 5 point lead in the latest Courier-Journal poll. Both were released today. The C-J poll says 9 percent of likely Kentucky voters are undecided. ...Governor Beshear says Kentucky's revenue picture looks worse, but it can be handled. Beshear apparently won't be calling for more state government budget cuts until the Revenue Forecasting Group paints a better picture of the future economy. The Beshear administration has lopped about 2,000 positions off the payroll. Here's the C-J's story. ...
The head of the Kentucky Republican Party is calling on Attorney General Jack Conway to release a letter from one member of Murray State's Board of Regents, asking for an investigation of Sen. Joey Pendleton. Conway has refused to release the record to the GOP following their open records request. Meanwhile, the repubs are claiming Conway may be sittiing on a potential investigation because he hosted a fundraiser for Pendleton, leading to co... A characature of Barack Obama was hung in effigy on the UK campus and across the Ohio River from Louisville, in Southern Indiana. ...
Governor Sarah Palin was gracious and answered questions in a one-on-one interview with me after her campaign stop in Clark County, Indiana Wednesday night. Here's the raw video of the interview with the Republican VP candidate. I only got 5-6 minutes with her. For more of Palin talking about Barack Obama and other issues, check out >> Continue reading: Palin Talks About Image, Tina Fey And Rumors She's Distancing Herself From McCain Jefferson Circuit Judge Jim Shake is now outraising Lisabeth Abramson in their Supreme Court race. And Katie King has raised more than double the amount of money as David Holton in their district judge race. ...Incumbent democratic state Senator Tim Shaughnessy is outraising his opponent, former House member Bob Heleringer while democratic challenger Carroll Hubbard has outraised the man he's trying to unseat, Sen. Ken Winters. ...The head of the National Republican Party says the financially strapped party is getting a $5 million line of credit so it'll have money to pour into tight U.S. Senate races, perhaps including the one in Kentucky. RNC Chairman Mike Duncan of Inez, Kentucky says the cash is needed to by TV time and try to fend off challenges to republican incumbents in a handful of states. Congressman Geoff Davis is refusing to say who's doing business with his family's consulting company. He doesn't have to under federal rules but it might save him some criticism that he could be steering federal dollars or other favors to folks who are doing business with the company his wife runs. ...
This will come as a shocker. Bruce Lunsford is calling on his opponent to press Sen. Ted Stevens to resign following Stevens' conviction on federal charges. McConnell is in a tough spot as Senate Minority Leader but Sen. John McCain has already called for Stevens to quit. Here's the release from the Lunsford folks and a story on ... It's the closest Kentuckians will get to the GOP's answer to Barack Obama. Rock star Sarah Palin will be in southern Indiana, right across the river from Louisville, Wednesday night. There are still tickets available: ...Rep. Geoff Davis has a big lead over democratic challenger Michael Kelley in the 4th District Congressional race, according to a new Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll. Davis leads Kelley by 21 points according to the poll. ...Kentucky will soon be launching a spy satellite to try and keep track of Steve Beshear's travels. Only part of that first sentence is untrue. Here's the rest of the story: ...Republicans have managed to retrieve the recording off the tape recorder that they say Bruce Lunsford stole, erased then returned once he was caught. In the recording, which was released to WHAS 11 News, one can hear Lunsford clearly telling an aide "don't give it back to 'em, don't give it back to 'em." The Republican Party claims that contradicts Lunsford's earlier statement that he didn't know who the tape recorder belonged to and wasn't ...
A former candidate for judge in kentucky has won a decision in federal court that would allow judges to name their party affiliation and express their views on controversial topics like abortion. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell strikes down many of the restrictions the Kentucky Bar Association places on judicial candidates and could open up this year's judicial races to the types of campaigning seen in other races. Here's th... A new survey shows Kentucky ranks 28th in government transparency and accountability. ...Here's a link to the Tax Policy Center whose eggheads have done a comparison of the McCain and Obama tax plans and how they would impact various income groups. I'd get a tax cut from both of them, a little more from Obama. Of course, I'm skeptical that the next president can come up with the cash for any sort of tax cut when the country will be in a rec...
Some interesting results from the Lexington Herald-Leader's poll on the presidential race. The poll finds a majority of Kentuckians agreeing with the statement that if blacks would "only try harder" they'd be as well off as whites. And the percentage of Kentuckians who say Barack Obama's race is a factor is troubling. At least they're honest. ...Bruce Lunsford and Mitch McConnell both defended their camp's actions in the "recordergate" fiasco that broke out after their final debate in Marshall County on Thursday. Lunsford told me today that he was the one who picked up the GOP campaign staffer's tape recorder off his podium, thinking it belonged to his own campaign. Some recordings were erased before a deputy sheriff ordered the Lunsford folks to return the recorder. Some top[ Kentucky democrats are trying to convince Hillary Clinton to squeeze in a visit to Kentucky before election day. Sources say the dems are hoping Sen. Clinton will be in Kentucky next Friday or Saturday to campaign for Bruce Lunsford and David Boswell somewhere in the Louisville/Elizabethtown area. Clinton's husband was in Paducah and Bowling Green today stumping for the same two Kentucky candidates. Here's >> Continue reading: Hillary Clinton May Be Campaigning In Kentucky President Bush's job approval rating in Kentucky is 37%, according to a new Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll. That's higher than most national polls, which show the President's approval rating in the 20s or low 30s. There is one surprise in the poll and it's not good news for Senator Mitch McConnell. ...Rep. Baron Hill still has a big lead over his republican challenger, Mike Sodrel, in Indiana's 9th District congressional race. A new Survey USA/WHAS 11 poll shows Hill leading Sodrel 54%-39%. Libertarian Eric Schansberg gets 5%. Hill leads across virtually every demographic group except voters age 35-49 where he and Sodrel are tied. This is a rematch from two years ago when Hill won one of the nastiest races in the country. Neither candi... A tape of yesterday's U.S. Senate debate between Bruce Lunsford and Mitch McConnell appears to show that Lunsford didn't steal a tape recorder belonging to a RSCC staffer, as republicans allege. The recorder wound up in the hands of a Lunsford staff member and some recordings were erased. Video of the end of the debate shows Lunsford walking across the stage to shake McConnell's hand then heading into the crowd. A young, blond guy in a navy... Baron HIll is holding on to a commanding 15 point lead in Indiana's 9th Congressional District in the latest Survey USA poll: 39% Mike Sodrel (R) A new WHAS 11/Survey USA poll shows Barack Obama is now leading John McCain in reliably republican Indiana. The poll shows Obama leading among likely voters 49%-45%. ...Democrat Bruce Lunsford picked up a tape recorder belonging to a republican senate campaign staffer, had his staff erase some of the contents, then gave it back after getting caught. That was bad enough. But now the GOP staffer is pursuing a criminal complaint against Lunsford and his campaign manager, Achim Bergmann. I swear, this all appears to be true. Here's the AP story and >> Continue reading: Petty Politics Hits Last Debate Between Lunsford/McConnell It looks like it's the wrong year for Anne Northup to get her job back. John Yarmuth's lead remains at 16 points over the former Congresswoman, unchanged from one week ago. Meanwhile, Northup is attacking Yarmuth for refusing to participate in more that three public debates. Yarmuth was in Washington on Thursday when he was scheduled to debate Northup at a Rotary Club meeting. Here's Mark Hebert's >> Continue reading: Survey USA: Landslide for Yarmuth? What's the status of the McConnell-Lunsford Senate race? A Lexington Herald-Leader poll says McConnell's lead is 4. Rasmussen says it's 7. Survey USA/WHAS 11 says it's tied. ...Congressman John Yarmuth won't be in Louisville tomorrow for the scheduled debate with Anne Northup. A Yarmuth spokesman says the congressman was called to Washington today for a meeting of one of his subcommittees and won't be back in time for the noontime debate with Northup. That likely means Yarmuth and Northup will have appeared together just three times during this campaign, the same number as Sen. Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford. ... Former Congresswoman Anne Northup says Kentucky and Indiana should delay their plan to build two bridges across the Ohio River and just concentrate on getting one bridge built...in the east end. Northup says there's no way the feds, the state and Indiana will ever come up with the $4 billion needed to build two bridges. But she says there is enough change in the government sofas to afford the east end bridge, which she says, could be finishe... Actress Ashley Judd will be in Louisville next Saturday for a Get-out-the-Vote rally featuring local democrats. Here's the release from the Kentucky Democratic Party; ...A new Rasmussen Poll has Mitch McConnell leading Bruce Lunsford by 7 points. The poll numbers are skewed just a tad because Rasmussen gives respondents the choice of voting for an "other" candidate. Three percent did just that. But any "other" candidate would have to be a write in and it's unlikel...
Bruce Lunsford's spokesman says Greg Stumbo is "on his own" when attacking Mitch McConnell for possible holes in his military record. But Stumbo tells Ryan Alessi of the H-L that Lunsford ought to be using the military record questions against McConnell. ...ABC News did a story on the McConnell-Lunsford senate race over the weekend. Now the LA Times is chiming in. It's proof that the U.S. Senate race in the Bluegrass State is the most watched congressional campaign in the country. ...The Murray St. University Board of Regents has asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate whether Senator Joey Pendleton has been getting double pay. According to records obtained by the Kentucky Republican Party, Pendleton got paid for doing legislative work on some of the same days he billed MSU for contract work. AG Jack Conway told me on Wednesday that he wouldn't say whether his office has launched an investigation but hopes the... Lexington Herald-Leader columnist Larry Dale Keeling is wondering if State Senate President David Williams might lose his post if Mitch McConnell loses. ...It looked like Mitch McConnell might begin running all positive ads because his attack ads on Bruce Lunsford don't appear to be working. Not so. A new ad from McConnell features an employee of a VA hospital in Arkansas talking about the lousy care provided by Valor Health Care whose former CEO is Lunsford. Someone who answer... The Kentucky Democratic Party is setting up a hotline for folks who think they're the victims of voter intimidation or some other irregularity on election day. Don't be surprised if the GOP sets up a hotline to report suspected fraud. Here's the e-mail from Democratic Party Chairwoman Jennifer Moore: ...Republican John McCain's lead over Barack Obama has dwindled, but is still in double figures according to the latest WHAS 11/Survey USA poll. The poll shows McCain leads Obama 54%-41%. ...There's a new ad running in some battleground states, tying Barack Obama to a plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Here's the story. ...Our new Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll shows Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford are in a dead heat. It's 48%-48% with 4% undecided. We'll have more on the poll along with Lunsford live on our noon newscast. UPDATE AFTER THE JUMP: ...The KET debate between John Yarmuth and Anne Northup apparently produced few new issues. ...It appears folks who live outside Kentucky may be more interested in our congressional races than we are, if their donation habits are any indication. According to a story on Polwatchers, Mitch McConnell has actually collected more money from people who DON'T live in Kentucky, than those who do. And other candidates for federal office ... Jefferson District Judge candidate Katie King could face some disciplinary action after being accused of calling her supervisor a vulgar name. King is currently a prosecutor in the County Attorney's office. Her personnel file, obtained by WHAS 11 News, shows she's received two verbal warnings in the past for tardiness, abusing sick leave and inappropriate courtroom demeanor. King responds to the allegations in >> Continue reading: Katie King May Face Disciplinary Action Sen. Mitch McConnell has sent e-mails asking for help from his supporters in fighting back against voter registration activities by the controversial group ACORN. Here's the e-mail blast from the the McConnell camp: ...Here's the first official release about Bill Clinton's visit to western Kentucky on Friday: ...There's been plenty of speculation that Attorney General Jack Conway might run for U.S. Senate in 2010. But barely eight months into his first term as AG, Conway is already running for reelection. He's sending out e-mails to potential supporters, telling them to check up on everything Jack has been doing. Here' a portion of the e-mail: ...Senator Mitch McConnell's job approval rating remained steady this month, but that's not necessarily good news for him. According to a Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll, 44% of Kentuckians approve of the job McConnell is doing while 49% disapprove. The same poll shows Sen. Jim Bunning with a job approval rating of 40%. 44% disapprove. ...A new poll funded by a left-leaning group has Sen. Mitch McConnell leading Bruce Lunsford by four points. ...John McCain is still an overwhelming favorite to win Kentucky. But Ronnie Ellis reports that some rural Kentucky voters are taking a second look at Barack Obama. Here's his story: ...The man many of us thought might be the country's first black president has endorsed the man who might be. Gen. Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama. Just my two cents......if Powell hadn't caved and been a pawn for the Bush administration's march into Iraq, he might still be part of the national political scene. I don't believe his endorsement of Obama will have much impact. Thoughts???? ...Congressman Geoff Davis has ducked debates with his underfunded democratic challenger but is showing signs that he's a little concerned. ...
PageOneKentucky is reporting that former President Bill Clinton may be in Paducah at the end of the week. ...I've had a couple of calls from producers and reporters of national media outlets, asking me for video and opinions about the U.S. Senate race between Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford. Ryan Alessi of the Lexington Herald-Leader is finding the same interest as polls show the underdog democrat within striking distance of the Senate Minority Leader. ...Last week, Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford both rejected the premise for one of my questions about their campaign being fought almost exclusively over the TV airwaves, and very little on the ground. Both claimed they'd been talking to voters from one end of the state to the other....talking about issues. I haven't seen it and neither has the C-J's Jo... A judge has refused to stop Governor Steve Beshear's lawsuit against internet gambling companies. Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate said the state can seize the domain names of 141 internet sites unless they can prove within 30 days that they've blocked Kentucky computers from accessing the sites. ...Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin will be at the outdoor Verizen Music Center near Indianapolis tomorrow afternoon. ...Congressman John Yarmuth appears to be well on his way to reelection, according to the latest WHAS 11/Survey USA poll. The poll shows Yarmuth now leading Anne Northup 57%-41% among likely 3rd District voters. ...Barack Obama sent e-mails out after the debate last night, asking supporters for money to help with what Obama is calling an "unprecedented" get-out-the-vote effort. Here's the e-mail: ...The Lexington Herald-Leader is reporting that one of the top givers to Mitch McConnell's campaign is an investor who squeezes the last dollar of distressed companies. Paul Singer has been quoted as saying the current economic climate is a great opportunity for him. ...State government has nearly 4,000 fewer full time executive branch employees than it had in December 2003, when Ernie Fletcher became governor. ...The latest campaign finance reports of the two candidates for the 3rd District Congressional seat look like spitting images of each other. ...
Second District Congressional candidate David Boswell raised $313,000 over the past three months, about $65,000 more than his republican opponent, Brett Guthrie. ...Bruce Lunsford's Senate campaign collected more than $750,000 in contributions during the last quarter. Lunsford also pitched in another $2.4 million of his own money, bringing his total campaign contributions to more than $3.1 million over the past three months. ...A Washington political newsletter has changed its view of the 3rd District Congressional race from "Leaning Democrat" to "Favored Democrat." Congressman John Yarmuth is leading republican Anne Northup by 8 points in the most recent Survey USA poll. Meanwhile, Rothenberger has upgraded David Boswell's chance of winning the 2nd District race to "Toss Up/Lean Republican." Boswell is a democrat facing fellow state senator Brett Guthrie in the o... Kentucky's voter registration roles have increased by 112,000 since the last presidential election in 2004. Statistics kept by the Secretary of State's office show a recent surge in Democratic and "Other" registrants. But the percentage of Republican voters is still greater than in 2004. Here's the release from Les Fugate in the Secretary of State's office: ...Senator Mitch McConnell is filing a report with the FEC today that will show he's raised more than $16 million for his reelection campaign. When you throw in interest, dividends and transfers from other campaigns, the McConnell machine has collected more than $17.8 million. That's the most money ever raised for a statewide campaign in Kentucky. ...The Attorney General's Office has appointed Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders to help with the investigation and possible prosecution of campaign finance allegations against former Lt. Governor Steve Henry. ...Congressman John Yarmuth says he's run his first and last TV ad attacking Anne Northup "unless we have to respond to something." So are there as many attack ads this year? Do they work? Or, as Yarmuth claims, are voters so worried about the economy that they don't want "politics as usual?" Here's my story and an on-line poll. ...Congressman Ben Chandler was among five congressmen who took an "official" trip to a posh resort in the Galapagos Islands. ...A political newsletter is reporting that the Republican National Committee may tap into $5 million line of credit to help Mitch McConnell and other GOP senators who might getting dragged down by John McCain's sinking poll numbers. ...A new ad from Senator Mitch McConnell features a widow of a veteran claiming Bruce Lunsford's former company, Valor Health Care, wouldn't do tests that could have saved her husband's life. The company says it gave good care to the vet who died and they're tired of being a punching bag for McConnell. ...Frankfort State Rep. Derrick Graham has been hurt in a traffic crash while he was returning home from a legislative meeting in Bowling Green. Here's the release from the House Speaker's office: ...Kentucky Educational Television lawyers decided to let Congressman Ed Whitfield provide a videotaped statement instead of showing up for a debate with his challenger, Heather Ryan. KET claims it was obligated under federal rules to let Whitfield have the free air time. Unbelievable. ...Jefferson County School Board Member and local labor union leader Larry Hujo has been hurt in a wreck in J-town. ...The Senate Democratic Caucus held a fundraiser Friday night at the Old Governors' Mansion in Frankfort. ...The Republican nominee for Vice President is scheduling a campaign appearance in Indianapolis on Friday. The site of Sarah Palin's campaign stop has not been determined, according to her campaign staff. ...Bullitt County democrats have nominated Linda Belcher, the widow of Rep. Larry Belcher, to fill his place on the November ballot, according to House Speaker Jody Richards. Richards tells WHAS 11 News that Mrs. Belcher was the only one nominated to run for her husband's legislative seat during a meeting of the Bullitt County Democratic Party today. ...The incumbents are easily outraising their challengers in three state senate races in Jefferson County. Democrats Tim Shaughnessy, Perry Clark and Denise Harper-Angel have substantial fundraising advantages going into the last month of the election. Here are the numbers from reports filed with the Registry of Election Finance: ...About 14% of the inmates released under Kentucky's program to let out inmates earlier than they expected by giving them credit for "street time," according to an analysis by the C-J. ...The daughter of Metro Council president Jim King has raised nearly three times the amount her opponent, David Holton has collected. That's according to campaign finance reports filed with the Registry of Election Finance in Frankfort. ...Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford haven't been attending many public events lately, or if they have been, they haven't been sharing their whereabouts with reporters. This weekend is a bit of an exception. Both McConnell and Lunsford are attending public events in western Kentucky. McConnell was pressed by reporters to explain his vote on the bailout bill. Lunsford apparently won'...
As many as three Supreme Court justices, all of them considered supporters of abortion rights, may retire during the term of the next President. Pro choice groups are warning that electing John McCain may well result in three conservative judges being appointed to the high court and overturning Roe vs. Wade. ...The veteran who appeared in campaign commercials for both Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford says he was harassed by McConnell staffers after he said his comments about Valor Health Care were used out of context in a McConnell ad. ...In their first debate of 2008, Congressman John Yarmuth and Anne Northup disagreed on a wide range of issues. But it was Yarmuth's vote for the $700 billion Wall St. bailout bill that's got Northup salivating. Here's my story. ...Attorney General Jack Conway has lost the first round of his lawsuit against Kentucky's new early release program. A judge in Frankfort has ruled that Conway couldn't prove there would be "irreparable harm" if the releases aren't stopped immediately. ...The Kentucky Republican Party has filed election finance complaints against two democratic candidates for state senate, Kathy Groob and Jim Newberry. ...Mayor Jerry Abramson and the Cordish Company are trying to put the squeeze on Metro Council members who won't approve what they view as a sweetheart deal for Cordish to expand on its 4th Street Live! development. Abramson says the Center City deal he signed with Cordish has some risk. But he compares it to the risk Louisville took in providing tax dollars for Slugger Field, the new downtown arena and 4th Street Live! Here's the release from... Governor Beshear has announced several appointments to state boards and commissions including the Human Rights Commission and the panels that regulate pharmacy and nursing. There's also a new PVA in Robertson County: ...A state legislative committee is apparently worried about protestors showing up at the construction sites of new coal-fired power plants. Here's the release from the LRC: ...The Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled that Libertarian Ed Martin can't be a candidate in the 3rd District congressional race because he was a registered republican during the primary. The 2-1 decision overturns a Jefferson Circuit Court decision which could have resulted in an overhaul of Kentucky's election laws. The appelate ruling means all 3rd District precincts will have a posted notice explaining to voters that they'll see Martin's n... Governor Steve Beshear admits that economic storm clouds are brewing over Kentucky, but says tighter regulations on banks and financial sectors will leave Kentucky OK in the long run. Beshear says Kentucky doesn't need to borrow any money to pay unemployment claims and his Commissioner of Financial Institutions says Kentucky-based banks are in good financial shape. The bad news is that state tax revenues fell by 4.6% last month and will like... The first of four scheduled forums/debates between the two candidates for congress in the 3rd District will be held on Friday. Anne Northup and John Yarmuth will lock horns at the Louisville Forum luncheon at Vincenzo's. I'm the moderator. The debate will be broadcast on Louisville Public Radio and taped for play on Metro TV (Insight Ch. 25). Yarmuth has just begun running his first attack ad on TV, presumably responding to Northup's serie... The AP's Bruce Schreiner reports that state senators David Boswell and Brett Guthrie stuck to the issues and didn't personally attack each other during a candidate forum in E-town today. Boswell and Guthrie are running for the second District congressional seat being left vacant by the retirement of Republican congressman Ron Lewis. Here's the AP story about the Boswell-Guthrie race: ...Several sources tell me that Mayor Jerry Abramson has narrowed the list of folks in line for the director of Louisville Metro Corrections. Tom Campbell's retirement at the end of September opened the door for a new chief. Rumored to be among the finalists are two of the jail's deputy directors, Laura McKune and Duane Clark as well as Rodney Ballard, a former state police trooper who's worked a number of different jobs in corrections since le... I was in Indianapolis today for a Barack Obama rally. The most unusual thing that happened at the rally was Obama using a Teleprompter to read a prepared speech. The crowd was huge. More than 30,000 by my best estimate. The stands at the Indiana State Fairgrounds hold 15,500 and they were full with another 13-16 thousand on the ground. Here's the story I filed. ... Organizers of a debate between Indiana's 9th District Congressional candidates have turned down a republican request to hook the candidates up to polygraph machines during the debate. Democratic incumbent Baron Hill is scheduled to square off against challenger and former congressman Mike Sodrel. ...Leonard Lawson's attornies have subpoenaed a bunch of records from the Transportation Cabinet related to the two men whose actions led to the road builder's indictment on corruption charges. ...Republican Anne Northup has criticized Congressman John Yarmuth's vote for the Wall St. bailout bill. Northup claims in an e-mail to supporters that Yarmuth voted for the bailout once is included a number of pork barrel spending projects. Northup says she would have voted against the bailout bill. But as WHAS Radio talk show host Joe Elliott pointed out on Sunday, Northup would have been hard pressed to actually vote against the bill that w... Bruce Lunsford and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee have both begun running TV ads in the Louisville market blasting Sen. Mitch McConnell's support of the Wall St. bailout bill and blaming him for the mess. The DSCC ad even claims that, if he weren't in Congress, some of McConnell's actions might be considered a crime. Here's a link to the two new ads. And part o... Barack Obama's presidential campaign has begun running TV ads in the Louisville market. Obama's ads are called "Prescription" and include a comparison of John McCain's health insurance plan versus Obama's. The ads are largely targeted at viewers in the ten Indiana counties included in the Louisville television market. Polls show John McCain with a narrow lead over Obama in the Hoosier state, a state that hasn't been won by a democratic pres... Governor Beshear has ordered flags to half staff in memory of State Rep. Larry Belcher of Bullitt County. Belcher died last night in a car crash on I-65: ...AIG executives spent thousands of dollars on a retreat at a posh resort less than a week after the federal government approved an $85 million bailout for the troubled company. ABC's Brian Ross has the story. ...Republican Metro Council members have begun calling the Abramson administration's proposed new deal with Cordish company "a giveaway." Councilman Doug Hawkins is sending e-mails to his constitutents, urging them to call council members and encourage them to vote against the first part of the deal. Here's Hawkins' e-mail: ...A federal judge has delayed the bid rigging trial of former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert, road contractor Leonard Lawson and one of Lawson's employees. Here's the story from the AP: ...Rep. Baron Hill leads archrival Mike Sodrel by 15 points in the 9th District congressional race in Indiana. Hill leads Sodrel 53%-38% with Libertarian Eric Schansberg pulling in 7% of the vote according to the latest WHAS 11/Survey USA poll. The same poll shows John McCain leading Barack Obama by 2% in the same southern Indiana congressional ... State Rep. Larry Belcher of Bullitt County was killed in a crash on I-65 Monday night. The Shepherdsville democrat apparently rammed his pickup into the back of a tractor trailer truck which had stopped in a construction zone. ...Herald-Leader political writer Ryan Alessi lists the top ten Kentucky races to keep an eye on this month. ...Sen. Mitch McConnell has sent an e-mail to supporters detailing his reasons for supporting the $700 billion Wall St. bailout bill: ...
Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert failed to disclose that he might personally benefit from a $7 million construction project on I-75, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. ...Transportation Secretary Joe Prather has appointed long time Transportation employee Mike Hancock and former LRC analyst Geri Grigsby to two of the top jobs in the Transportation Cabinet: ...Former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert still has plenty of fans in his hometown of Williamsburg, despite the federal corruption charges against him. ...He was about the only one willing to cooperate with the investigation of the politically-based firings of 9 U.S. Attornies by the Bush Administration. And he had some hand in other political decisions by the Bush administration. But an inspector general's report doesn't put much blame on Scott Jennings, who is Brett Guthrie's campaign manager and a helper on Mitch McConnell's campai... Congressman John Yarmuth thinks the new and slightly improved Wall St. bailout bill is better than the measure he voted against on Monday. He still doesn't like it, but voted for the Senate version of the bailout anyway. Yarmuth's opponent, Anne Northup, told me she would have voted against the bailout bill because, at its core, its still a $700 billion taxpayer funded bailout of Wall St. firms that made poor decisions. Here's Yarmuth's le... Wow!!! House Speaker Jody Richards doesn't pull any punches in lambasting Senate President David Williams for defending the LRC's $62,000 pay hike for LRC Director Bobby Sherman. Anybody else think Williams is trying to help Greg Stumbo get elected speaker or is he just defending Sherman? Here's Richards' letter followed by the Williams op-ed piece that started the sniping: ...
Getting plenty of pressure from his party's presidential nominee, 3rd District Congressman John Yarmuth sounds like he's leaning toward voting in favor of the Senate's version of the Wall St. bailout plan. The House votes on Friday. Yarmuth told me he's had a couple of conversations with Barack Obama, who's trying to convince House Democrats who opposed a bailout bill on Monday, to vote for a new one on Friday. It still contains $700 billio...
Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign is claiming KET refused to move the date for its U.S. Senate debate when it conflicted with McConnell's schedule. McConnell's staff has not yet responded to my request for McConnell's calendar on the night of the KET debate. President Bush's Job Approval rating is just 36% in Kentucky, according to the latest Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll. Bush's disapproval is at 61%. The folks in western Kentucky continue to show that they are rock solid in their support for virtually any republican. 51% of western Kentuckians approve of the job Bush is doing compared to just 2... It looks like Rep. Geoff Davis has a clear path to reelection in Kentucky's fourth district. Davis is leading democratic challenger Michael Kelley 58%-36% in the latest Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll. ...74-year-old Ray Corns has been hired as a new Associate Commissioner in the Kentucky Education Department. Corns is the former circuit judge who wrote the original ruling that led to the Kentucky Education Reform Act. Commissioner Jon Draud is leading the youth movement in the Department of Education. He's 70. Here's the release on Corns' hiring: ...It appears the Kentucky Revenue Department warned local PVAs not to hire their relatives. Some of them did it anyway, carrying on a longstanding tradition across Kentucky. ...WAVE-TV is now running the disputed at from the DCCC which attacks Brett Guthrie's firm for allegedly "moving jobs overseas." WAVE had pulled the ads at the request of the Guthrie campaign, which claims the ad is "demonstrably false." But I saw one on the air last night. ...
Critics of the U.S. Senate's $700 billion bailout for Wall St. firms are noting that legislation backed by Sen. Mitch McConnell has contributed to the current mess. Critics also wonder why McConnell was calling on Americans to take personal responsibility for their debts three years ago but is now calling on taxpayers to help Wall St. frims handle their debts. ...Sen. Mitch McConnell is defending his vote FOR the $700 billion bailout, tax cut, and hurricane relief bill that the U.S. Senate is expected to approve this evening. Here's McConnell's statement: ...U.S. Senator Jim Bunning isn't being swayed by the addition of tax cuts and hurricane relief funds in the Senate's version of the bailout bill. He's still voting "no". ...Governor Steve Beshear's job approval rating has gone up 6% since August, according to the latest Survey USA/WHAS 11 News poll. ...A WW2 veteran who is used in a Mitch McConnell ad bashing Valor Health Care and Bruce Lunsford, says in a new Lunsford TV ad that the McConnell folks used his words out of context. Adolfo Pina says he was "pretty angry" when he saw the McConnell ad misusing his ads. Pina claims the McConnell campaign used his words in a way he told them not to. Lunsford's new TV ad is up on his web page. Me... It appears Mitch McConnell will be forced to make a politically tough vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate today. ...Attorney General Jack Conway is suing Kentucky's Corrections Department over its new program that allows inmates who have previously been paroled, to get out of their current prison sentences earlier. The "street credit" that inmates now get for their time spent out on parole, causing no problems, is similar to policy in other states. Before July, inmates who committed a violation while on parole got no credit for time they were good boys an... House Speaker Jody Richards hasn't managed to round up the votes to try and reverse the decision to give LRC Director Bobby Sherman a $65,000 raise. ... |
|
|
WHAS11.com Political Blog
WHAS11 Reporters blog the latest political news from the campaign trail and beyond. 
|
|