Catching Up on Kentucky Races

Apologies for the light blogging recently. I have been otherwise occupied, and quite frankly, depressed about our  the state of the Republican slate in Kentucky.

David Williams is a ball and chain around the necks of the rest of the ticket. He just is. Worse, he appears to have given up.  At the Bluegrass and Burgoo Festival in Louisville recently, he was there and yet lacked any presence.  His family joined him, but there did not appear to be any staff passing out bumper stickers or pamphlets. He said hello to a few people. No real effort to work the crowd, however. And this should have been a friendly crowd.

My son met him only because they were in the Burgoo line together and Robin Williams introduced herself.  My son's take was that David was "shy" and "awkward."  Surely this is the first time in his adult life that David Williams has been described as shy.  The more accurate word is probably "defeated."  It has to be very discouraging to keep campaigning when one is 20-plus points down in the polls. Nonetheless, Williams has an obligation to the rest of his slate to close the gap, even if the lead is so vast that he cannot win.

If Williams can close the gap to 12 points or so, then Todd P'Pool and Jamie Comer and the rest of the ticket might be able to pull off a win. P'Pool argued on the Joe Elliott show this week that he has been elected in a district that is 70 percent Democrat -- and is the first Republican elected there since the Civil War. It follows, according to P'Pool, that he can win regardless of what happens at the top of the ticket.

That is wishful thinking, I'm afraid. P'Pool needs to go negative.  P'Pool needed to go negative a month ago. He is running out of time.  There is so much material with which to attack Jack Conway -- take Conway's "time to destroy evidence" call to his brother. Why on earth is P'Pool holding back?

Jamie Comer, meanwhile, continues to impress; he is building momentum for a future of service to the Commonwealth. At a recent Louisville fundraiser for Comer, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was all smiles as the hostess set a backdrop that included not only bales of hay and antique pitch forks, but live animals:  a baby goat and a calf.  In the world of stodgy political fundraisers, a little levity goes a long way.