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Responding to comments 18 & 19:

I have never written that someone is not a “good Democrat” when they disagree with my opinion. So I don’t have to “have [anything] against” the letter-signers to disagree with their opinion that a truthful negative ad is unacceptable in primaries when state party leaders adapt Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment” to protect Bruce Lunsford.

And I don’t have anything “against” them. I disagree with them.

As for the elected officials’ letter proving whether any of us are “right” or “wrong” in our opinions…

Since when does it make something “right” because 4 elected Democratic elected officials — even a majority of Kentucky Democratic officials — agree on it? Is Jim Gooch now the “right” choice for Co-Chair of the Natural Resources Committee? Personally, I think “Operation Gooch” is brilliant:
http://www.bluegrassroots.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1069)
Does this February post say we should go along with what a group of elected officials agree to under pressure from party bigwigs in DC and Frankfort?:
The state of the Progressive movement in Kentucky
http://www.bluegrassroots.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1051

Who among us has ever expressed the opinion that the “unity pledge” was a good idea, much less Democratic or democratic? Fischer was up-front about his opposition to the pledge. So was Joe, in April:
Amen, Ditto, and Give ‘Em Hell, Media Czech!
http://www.bluegrassroots.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1344

These 4 elected officials would have signed the IDENTICAL letter if Fischer had followed Joe’s advice to air attack ads about endorsing Fletcher (betrayal of the Democratic Party) instead of about Lunsford’s accountability for top-down corporate malfeasance (betraying thousands of shareholders, patients, and employees, plus the US government and state governments). Does anyone really think that calling Lunsford a liar and political traitor in tv ads is not “a personal attack on a fellow Democrat’s character”? The elected officials’ letter does not agree with Joe that “Fischer’s campaign would be in dereliction of duty if it didn’t go after him of the Fletcher endorsement. His campaign is supposed to show that he’s the true Democrat.”

Are these 4 going to send a similar letter to Lunsford after he uses this letter in an ad/literature/mailings attacking Fischer’s character? As it is, Lunsford is airing an ad attacking Fischer’s character for airing an ad that’s far milder than what countless neutral parties said about Lunsford and his tenure at Vencor — both contemporaneously and in retrospect, both about official corporate policy and top management’s ethics.
http://www.lunsfordcollection.com/reviews.html

Finally, I hope that these 4 will send the same letter to Hillary Clinton. At the very least, I hope Mongiardo/Conway/Luallen admit that this sentiment means they must join Yarmuth in endorsing Barack Obama. Lunsford, too, of course.

http://barefootandprogressive.blogspot.com/2008/05/breaking-crit-yarmuth-conway-and.html

The Kentucky Republican Party is filing a complaint with the FEC, claiming democrat Bruce Lunsford violated campaign finance laws by failing to properly disclose that his campaign paid for a Lunsford appearance on a Louisville TV station.

According to SurveyUSA on 5/1/07, Lunsford polled at 29% when 7% of those polled said they were still undecided.

3 weeks later, Lunsford got only 21% of the vote. If you trust the polling methodology, he lost 8% of the total sample–28% of his previous supporters–if no undecideds broke his way.

I no longer consider Bruce Lunsford a Democrat. I will not ever vote for him again, regardless of the office. But I will never, ever, vote for a Republican again. Perhaps it just might show what an idiot Chuck Schumer really is.

As I’ve stated endlessly, Fischer’s campaign would be in dereliction of duty if it didn’t go after him of the Fletcher endorsement. His campaign is supposed to show that he’s the true Democrat.

Going after Vencor at this stage is campaigning for Mitch, though. That is quite obvious when the margin is this wide.

I’ve been completely consistent in my argument.

I’ve consistently said that if Fischer had actually started spending his money win he entered the race, he would have had a shot. He could have built his name ID up, and then gone after Bruce at this stage of the campaign as a DINO to show their differences. He did not, and you can’t go back and change reality, unfortunately.

No one is telling Fischer to “get out of the race”, as you say. Show me one person that has said that. He should actually try to show that he is the best candidate and the true democrat unlike Lunsford. But at this stage going after Vencor IS campaigning for Mitch.

Anyone with political experience or acumen knows that.

As to your first point, a lot of people in the “Netroots” have been calling this race over for well over a month now – I would argue those calls have been completely lacking in merit. Now they say that Fischer staying in the race is only helping McConnell by hurting Lunsford. By their logic, if one doesn’t have a race sewn up with 60 days to go to an election, he is somehow supporting the other party’s candidate? Anyone who has any political experience or acumen worth talking about knows that if a race is going to close it’s going to be in the last month. That’s what we are seeing here.

Will Fischer be able to overcome being down 25 points? That remains to be seen, but I certainly won’t villanize him for trying.

A month ago some of these same people were calling for Fischer to be aggressive and citing his nonagressive campaign and a lack of self funding as an excuse to support Lunsford. Now Fischer has outraised Lunsford 2-to-1 and started an aggressive campaign and suddenly they claim he supports McConnell? If folks want to support Lunsford, they should feel free to do so. But, they shouldn’t be embarrassed and try to couch it in some sort of disdain for Fischer.

Would this same logic have applied to Andrew Horne if he had stayed in the race? Would his lack of money have led the “Netroots” call Andrew Horne a Mitch McConnell supporter because he simply couldn’t compete with Lunsford’s money or name ID?

As to the numbers game, please see Jennifer’s comment above.

As for Kentucky netroots, well I can’t find the Fisher support you are touting. Over 90% of the bloggers here, when they are not calling each other vile names, are saying I have to hold my nose, and vote for DINO Lunsford in order to have a chance of ditching Mitch. (personally rather stay home)

And that was with multiple serious, well-funded candidates in the race.