Archive for the 'KY Blogosphere' Category

Quick Hit: Lunsford Reaches Out to Netroots

Terri Whitehouse July 15th, 2008

Check it out here. Supposedly some Q&A to happen, per Page One.

Quick Hits: Bruce & Other Blog Goodness

Terri Whitehouse July 10th, 2008

So I don’t know how political campaigns and stuff work, or if Bruce Lunsford actually penned these words himself, but going after Sen. Mitch McConnell by insinuating that he dislikes puppies and rainbows? I love it! Taking the initiative to reach out to Kentuckians, instead of crying into your $1,000-dollar supper? I love it even more! Keep up the good work, Bruce.

Also, why not check out my favorite new blog and save your soul?

Quick Hit: Known Homosexual Has The Goods

Terri Whitehouse July 7th, 2008

Jake at Page One has a thorough Mitch McConnell roundup this morning. I hope everyone had a safe and happy Independence Day. USA #1!!!

It’s Been A Long Time Coming

Terri Whitehouse June 5th, 2008

Reading more national coverage about the posts below, it is clear that it’s not just us Kentuckians that are sick and tired of Sen. Mitch McConnell and his shenanigans. So I’d like to issue a little challenge for those of us who truly want to Ditch Mitch this November.

For every minute (~ 510) that it took a clerk to read the bipartisan climate change bill aloud, I’d like to urge you to to donate to campaign of Bruce Lunsford. At a rate of penny per minute, that would total a mere $5.10 donation. A nickel per minute would total $25.50. You get the picture. I know it’s not a great deal of money. But I think it would be a powerful gesture, regardless.

The people of Kentucky and of America are not pawns in Mitch McConnell’s political power games, and before we hit him at the polls, we must hit him where it *really* hurts - his pockets. The government’s business should never be political strategy. Not on my dollar. Not on my penny.

If you agree with me, please repost this blog entry wherever you think it may be welcome, and urge like-minded people to do the same. When a person such as Mitch McConnell makes it so crystal-clear that he has zero interest in representing the people of the Commonwealth, then we have no choice but to elect a person who does. And that person is Bruce Lunsford.

UPDATE: You can also sign up to volunteer for Lunsford’s campaign here. DO IT!

Bad News For The Trolls!

Terri Whitehouse March 5th, 2008

Republican Rep. Tim Couch is an idiot, and I have it on good authority from Mike Rotch that Rep. Couch has really bad breath, wears a Bro, and listens to Journey:

HB 775 (BR 1943) - T. Couch

AN ACT relating to information technology.
Create new sections of KRS Chapter 369 to establish definitions relating to Internet Web sites, blogs, or message boards; require registration prior to posting information to these interactive services; identify persons, businesses, or entities that post information to these interactive services; establish penalty provisions.

Mar 4-introduced in House

September 15 March on Washington

Matt Gunterman September 13th, 2007

I’m off Friday morning to DC to cover and participate in the September 15 March on Washington this Saturday.

I thought I would leave you with this video that The Nation compiled to celebrate the progressive community’s efforts in Kentucky to support the troops, end the war, and ditch Mitch McConnell. The mag posted it along with Bob Moser’s article, “Kentucky at War.”

Moser: Kentucky at War

Matt Gunterman September 13th, 2007

The Nation Cover “Kentucky at War”

Bob Moser’s excellent analysis of the development of the movement to support the troops, end the war, and ditch Senator Mitch McConnell (R) has hit the stands.

The piece is too long to block quote here, but I’ll include excerpts particularly relevant to the Kentucky progressive blogosphere. You can read the entire article here.

Kentucky at War
Bob Moser

[...]

As summer–and McConnell’s recess vacation–approached, two new sets of nontraditional allies materialized to help LPAC bird-dog the senator, who makes his home in Louisville with his wife, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Matt Gunterman, a 30-year-old rural Kentucky native and Yale University graduate student, launched the DitchMitch blog earlier in the year, bringing together a varied band of bloggers from around the state on a composite site with a common goal. And in June, two young native Kentuckians and a Navy veteran opened an Iraq Summer headquarters in Louisville, part of a national campaign by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) to target key members of Congress with a homegrown antiwar message before they returned to Washington to resume the war debate.

By mid-August McConnell was sending out fundraising letters complaining about being harassed by “the ’60s antiwar movement on steroids.” But as the Republican kingmaker well knew, the reality was something altogether different from that old stereotype–and considerably more formidable.

Jim Pence is a 68-year-old, Salem-smoking, pickup-driving, self-proclaimed hillbilly from economically devastated Hardin County, retired after thirty-five years in the factory at the American Synthetic Rubber Corporation. Politically inactive until 2004, when Bush’s re-election and the war in Iraq spurred him to “vow to fight with every ounce of my strength from then on,” Pence now makes some of the freshest, funniest antiwar and political videos anywhere–and as a result, he’s become the unlikely heart and soul of Kentucky’s DitchMitch campaign.

Linking from his own Hillbilly Report website to DitchMitch and YouTube, Pence puts up snappy vignettes on subjects ranging from Kentucky’s annual bipartisan political hoedown at Fancy Farm–where McConnell made a hasty exit this year after being jeered by protesters carrying signs showing him as Bush’s hand puppet–to a fanciful take on Bush and Condoleezza Rice’s relationship, set to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” to a hard-hitting series of exposés of liquor-industry fundraising by Ron Lewis, the holy-rolling Congressman from Pence’s district. “I don’t know, I just disappear into them,” Pence says on a dog-day August morning, navigating Louisville traffic en route to the Iraq Summer office. “I stay up some nights till 4 and 5, editing these things.”

DitchMitch creator Gunterman, whose postgraduate goal is to fire up an Internet-based “Ruralution,” connecting grassroots progressives from rural America to spur political action, sees Pence as a prime example of the passion and wit that generally go untapped by Democrats and urban progressives. “There’s no one like Jim in the entire United States,” says Gunterman. “Not with his age and his ornery attitude. He is very much a hillbilly, and he’s reinvigorated the term.”

In his three years of crisscrossing Kentucky to publicize its antiwar and progressive insurgencies, Pence has also stirred up the state’s traditionally timid left-wingers. “When I first went out with my camcorder, I’d go up to people at peace rallies and ask them, ‘Would you like to say something to Mitch?’ and they’d just go, ‘Uhhh…’ Or even if they would say anything, they’d say, ‘But I don’t want my picture taken.’ I just kept saying, ‘The newspaper’s not even going to cover this, and if TV does, it’ll be for ten seconds. Whereas this video’s going up on YouTube tomorrow.’” As Pence kept filming and posting his increasingly popular videos, the activists opened up and embraced this new mechanism for showing that, yes, the military stronghold of Kentucky has a vigorous antiwar effort. “People are stepping out more than they would a few years ago,” Pence says. “Now I can’t get them to stop talking when they see that camera. People know me now, and for the most part they trust me–whether or not they should!”

While Pence and DitchMitch have inspirited Kentucky activists, they’ve also pushed the state’s more established media to take notice of the progressive groundswell. “DitchMitch gives us the power to hold the media accountable in Kentucky for the first time,” says 24-year-old Shawn Dixon, a native of rural western Kentucky who’s just started his first year at NYU law school. In 2004, when Dixon was working as deputy policy and communications director for Democrat Daniel Mongiardo’s uphill Senate challenge to Republican Jim Bunning, he spent much of the campaign in a state of frustration over Kentucky newspapers’ assumption that the incumbent would cruise to victory. “There was no recognition that this would be a competitive election and that this guy was beatable until about a month before the election, when it became impossible to ignore.” Bunning wobbled back to Washington with a slender 23,000-vote victory, but this time around, with LPAC continually raising eyebrows and DitchMitch helping to popularize the anti-McConnell movement, “the media don’t have a choice,” Dixon says. On the same day in late July that Louisville’s Courier-Journal ran a column about McConnell’s dip in popularity (below 50 percent approval), the Herald-Leader in Lexington ran a story, sixteen months before the election, titled “McConnell Vulnerable.”

That’s music to Pence’s ears. “It’s not just what he’s done to perpetuate this war,” says the high-tech hillbilly. “It’s what he hasn’t done for Kentuckians, with all his power, on healthcare and so many other issues that really matter to folks at their kitchen tables. We’re trying to cut through the kind of moral-values crap that McConnell’s been using for twenty-five years to get himself elected. We’re doing what we can to show the emperors without their clothes. And show that the folks who don’t like Mitch, and can’t stand this war, are just regular people like me who finally woke up and spoke up.”

[...]

Kentucky’s progressive community about to rock America

Matt Gunterman September 12th, 2007

Coming to a newsstand near you: The Nation with Bob Moser’s cover story entitled “Kentucky at War,” which examines Kentucky’s progressive grassroots community and how it’s reshaping the political and ideological landscapes of that state — and doing so outside the rigid, tepid, and unresponsive party structures.

It’s gonna be a hell of a read!

The Nation Cover “Kentucky at War”

KY Democrat Interviews Potential 2008 Challenger Lt. Col. Andrew Horne

Joe Sonka September 6th, 2007

Daniel Solzman of The Kentucky Democrat has a great interview with Lt. Col. Andrew Horne, who has been quite active this summer with Vote Vets, assisting the Iraq Summer Campaign, and continuing to pressure Mitch McConnell on his rubber stamping of Bush’s failed Iraq policy.

Some interesting comments in the interview, such as his discussion on how KY blogs have been able to coordinate with activists, using the wildly successful protests at Bellarmine, Mitch’s apartment and Berea as examples. He also discusses the 2008 race against McConnell, and what it would take to get him to join Stumbo in the Democratic primary next Spring.

Some excerpts:

DS: Did you ever outreach to bloggers on Kos or MyDD during your campaign? Also, do you have any thoughts on the way that blogs have revolutionized politics altogether?
AH: During the campaign I never personally initiated contact directly with any bloggers. I had some contact me and I know my supporters were very active in that regard.

I was and still am impressed with the way the blogs can disseminate information in a way that mobilizes people. However, there are blogs where the participants are simply talking but not getting involved. The important synergy is between the blogs and grass roots that can turn words into passion and then into action. A good example is the Iraq Summer Campaign. The blogs disseminated information across the state and the nation so that a small group of people in Berea, KY knew they were not alone in opposing the war and challenging McConnell to bring a responsible end to it. I have no doubt that some of those 100 people in Berea were there because they heard about 800 people in Louisville, KY or 400 in Boise, Idaho, or one of the other 40+ locations across the nation. That would not have happened without the blogs. The people in Berea did not hear about other events through the traditional media and would not have heard or seen the passion without YouTube and the blogs. I believe this trend will only continue as people who participated in the Iraq Summer Campaign and other similar causes adapt these tactics to their own agenda. I would call it non-linear activism.

…..

AH: If the right race comes around I am not done in politics. Regarding 2008 against McConnell, the encouragement I am getting is humbling but that is a race that should not be taken on lightly. Because of the amount and breadth of support I am getting I will take a very serious look at it, but in the end I will base my decision on what is best for my family and whether my candidacy will be in the interests of the people.

The entire interview is at The Kentucky Democrat.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R) and his goons are behaving like bloggers, and that’s a problem

Matt Gunterman August 20th, 2007

I’m pasting today’s Political Notebook from the Courier-Journal’s Joseph Gerth below. It’s especially fun to read today, and he even offers a contest at the end: email him your ideas for doctored photographs of Ernie Fletcher.

Okay, very briefly, let me tell you how I see the world of politics, political journalism, and political blogging evolving in Kentucky.

First, professional political journalists now produce (and will continue to produce in the future) the vast majority of raw factual, objective materials that bloggers use. That’s the case because journalists are trained professionals, they get paid to do what they do full time, and they build up the networks needed to get the information they need to produce their craft.

Second, bloggers — on the left and the right — take the raw material that journalists produce and put it in a partisan context. Now, of course bloggers do upon occasion produce news of their own, but that’s the exception and not the rule. As an aside, I would never, ever, ever want to blog full time. I enjoy my day job too much, which is probably what these journalists would tell you about their experience with blogging, too. There is a real need among political junkies for our partisan context, however. We also spur dialog and provide a platform that allows for ideological issues and differences to be vetted.

In the end, with all this talk in the national media and traditional press about the inherent friction between bloggers and journalists, I think the biggest threat to political journalists, their profession, and trade is apathy among the public and a population that is so disconnected and uninformed from politics that it can’t digest and engage with it at the level of complexity that is needed in an increasingly complex American society.

In short: political bloggers number among political journalists most ardent readers, and political blogging has introduced me to the work of several journalists that I was previously very unaware of. Political blogging and political bloggers, as they both mature as a medium and community, might well serve to strengthen and broaden the impact of political journalism.

That having been said, I want to say that I’m a little bit disturbed by the behavior of Governor Ernie Fletcher (R) and his goons as of late. This altering of the image of Democratic candidate Steve Beshear takes the cake. Why?

As a transparently and viciously partisan and vicious blogger, I can and do say very ornery things about incompetent Republicans in Kentucky. That’s the luxury of being a blogger, especially one sitting a thousand miles away in the quiet seclusion of Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library, where the only thing distracting me at the moment is a beautiful creature standing a few feet away from me and looking at the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia.

I doctor photographs, like this one and this one. I say things like, “Ernie Fletcher has a vagina up his asshole,” and, “Robbie Rudolph is a redneck idiot with no formal education,” and, “Stan Lee mixing his Christian fundamentalism with our politics makes him no better than a radical Islamicist.” I say these things because there’s a lot of truth to them and I say these things because I can. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to read my blog.

Yet, when our governor and his campaign start behaving like me, I think it betrays a great deal–that we already knew–about why the Fletcher administration is where it is. Ernie Fletcher and his goons never really understood the gravity and responsibility of the office and the unique opportunity they’ve been given. They still don’t understand it, and they never will understand it. But the people of Kentucky do understand it, and that’s why they’ll elect Steve Beshear this November.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Joseph Gerth | Political Notebook
Look before you leap

State Auditor Crit Luallen recently produced an audit mildly critical of the way state tourism funds have been spent, saying that Kentucky needs to develop a better strategic plan for spending new marketing money and determining if the money was spent wisely.

That upset at least one Republican blogger, Jessamine County Attorney Brian Goettl, of Conservativeedge.com, who asked in a headline: “What does LuAllen know about tourism?”

In the blog report, Goettl goes on to ask, “What does LuAllen know about tourism or marketing? What does her audit staff know about it? I would venture to say very little … LuAllen has no business making such pronouncements unless she can demonstrate her competence in the area or show that she relied on competent experts.”

Well. Luallen, a Democrat, points out that she served as tourism secretary under former Gov. Brereton Jones and continued to work on tourism projects as executive cabinet secretary under former Gov. Paul Patton.

During her time in those two roles, the state expanded or built convention centers in Louisville and Northern Kentucky, passed a $100 million bond issue to upgrade state parks and saw the private development of numerous attractions, including the Newport Aquarium, Louisville’s 4th Street Live and Kentucky Speedway, which she said were partly the result of changes she and the administrations she worked for sought in state law.

“The record is there,” she said. “I have a strong background in marketing, in economic development and in tourism and that was one reason we looked at this issue.”

Goettl said in an interview that he would like to review Luallen’s record as tourism secretary more closely before determining whether she and her office are qualified to make such recommendations.

The doctoring is in

Last week state Republican Chairman Steve Robertson said that doctoring photos is fair game in the governor’s race between Gov. Ernie Fletcher and his Democratic opponent, former Lt. Gov. Steve Beshear.

In its first salvo, the party unveiled brochures that have Beshear’s head Photoshopped onto a body wearing a white blazer, a white, open-collar shirt and a necklace, leaning against a roulette table and holding a glass of what looks to be white wine.

“Easy Money Steve” they call him because of his proposal to bring casino gambling, and $500 million annually in revenue, to Kentucky.

But we were a bit surprised by Democratic Party Chairman Jonathan Miller’s response condemning the practice. We figured the Democrats would view the Republican attack as tacit approval for such shenanigans if they chose to do the same.

If you were running Beshear’s campaign, how would you doctor a photo of Fletcher? And if you were running Fletcher’s campaign, how would you follow up the “Easy Money Steve” brochure?

E-mail me at jgerth@courier-journal.com, and we may run some of your responses in upcoming weeks.

Poll dancing

Last week we led with a couple of items about a poll by the Lexington public relations firm of Preston-Osborne, which drew questions on the Courier-Journal Web site from some readers who wondered if we had been “snookered.”

The poll, commissioned by The Lane Report, a Lexington business journal, dealt with issues ranging from the governor’s race to casino gaming and seemed to give Democratic gubernatorial nominee Steve Beshear an edge on several fronts.

The basic argument that we had been “snookered” is that Preston-Osborne was founded by Tommy Preston, a longtime friend of Beshear, and the firm also has a contract to do public relations work with the Kentucky Equine Education Project, which supports casinos.

The fact of the matter is that Preston sold his interest in the firm to Phil Osborne in 1997 and hasn’t been involved in the company since (although he and Osborne are friends and still talk regularly). As far as the KEEP connection, Osborne notes that if he fudged numbers for one client to benefit another, he wouldn’t be in business very long.

I don’t doubt he’s correct on that. But what ultimately led us to run the Lane Report results was the fact that the numbers were right in line with other polling data we’ve seen, which gives them some measure of reliability.
Outta here

I’ll be taking some much-needed vacation over the next two weeks. The column should return Sept. 10 but keep the cards and letters coming. I’ll be checking e-mails while I’m away.

Mitch McConnell Reads DitchMitchKY

Joe Sonka August 16th, 2007

Well, it looks like we’ve really gotten under someone’s skin.

Mitch McConnell is sending out fundraising letters to supporters in which he whines about the "liberals, radicals, far-left, unions, Hillary, Schumer, etc…" who are hounding him about his pathetic record and his obedience to corporate contributers and George W. Bush rather than his constituents in Kentucky. In fact, we are "the 60’s anti-war movement on steroids!". That’s probably the greatest unintentional complement I’ve ever received. I think I’ll have that put on my gravestone/obituary: "one of the leaders of the 60’s anti-war movement on steroids".

Anyway, Mitchy even gives a big shout out to the good folks at Ditch Mitch!

"Liberals on the internet have already created a website called "Ditch Mitch," and 6,000 radicals from across the nation have already signed up."

Hey, Mitchy, glad to see you’re reading the site! We feel humbled by your presence.

And as far as being a "radical", I wish. I don’t think you can have an 8-5 Mon-Fri non-political office job and be defined as "radical". But I aspire to prove you right someday, Mitchy. And we’re FAR more than 6,000, I can guarantee you that.

On second thought, maybe I’ll have "the leader of 6,000 liberal radicals" on my gravestone/obituary, that’s even better. (Though that honor technically should go to Matt Gunterman or Aniello, amongst a few others.)

And look what we have here. Why it’s Mitchy’s full faundraising letter, in all of its paranoid glory. It’s funny, you can almost smell the desperation in here. For Christ’s sake, have a little more dignity Mitchy.

Mitch_001 MitchMitch_002_2

Mitch_003

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

DitchMitchKY at Yearly Kos

Joe Sonka August 6th, 2007

I’m back from the amazing YearlyKos Convention in Chicago, otherwise known to me as "the most wonderful place on earth". I was in Vegas for last year’s inaugural gathering, and this year was even better. In Vegas, I was in full "star watching mode", as I basically went to panels to see all of my favorite bloggers in person. This year, my main objective was to learn. Particularly, learn how to build Kentucky’s local/state blogosphere into a force to be reckoned with, just like so many others have over the past year. Specifically, I went to find out how we can Ditch Mitch.

And speaking of Mitch, let me tell you something. People here? They weren’t big fans.

The Ditch Mitch stickers were in high demand (Markos himself happily taking one) and our reputation preceeded us (Shawn and I). At a small state/local blogger panel in which everyone introduced themselves and told of where they blogged/commented, my mention of BlueGrassRoots and DitchMitch produced an unsolicited round of applause. Shawn Dixon spoke on the Southern Bloggers Caucus Panel and let everyone know that, yes, Mitch really is in that much trouble back home. Mitch is a marked man, and everyone from California to Maine gave us their best wishes and told us that they would root us on.





In 2006, state/local blogs were able to rid our Congress of the likes of George Allen, Conrad Burns and Richard Pombo, just to name a few. Their lessons were shared with bloggers/activists from all over the country at Yearly Kos, and in 2008 we will see even more progress from our wing of the blogosphere.

As for Mitch, he’s already scared enough to specifically name our website in his fundraising letters. Unfortunately for him, Kentucky’s progressive blogosphere is just get started.

Fancy Farm Roundup

Shawn Dixon August 5th, 2007

I’ve been going to the Fancy Farm Picnic for a long time, I only live 15 minutes down the road in Columbus, but this year was my favorite — the political energy and excitement were palpable. I hope you had the good fortune of being there, but incase you didn’t here are some of the highlights.

BIG WINNERS:

Democratic Party

Without any exaggeration, Dems outnumbered Republicans by at least a 4-to-1 margin and that is probably an understatement. I’ve never seen the crowd so heavily Democratic. And, incredibly fired up, I might add. Even the heat (about 120 degrees in the shade) couldn’t stifle the rowdiness of the crowd.

The favorable political environment for Dems on the state and national level certainly helped to turn out the crowd. But, hats off to the leadership of KDP Chairman Johnathan Miller and the Beshear-Mongiardo ticket who have been able to capitalize and organize around that momentum and turn it into a base of support that will hopefully serve as a strong foundation for several years to come.

Crit Luallen, State Auditor

Crit Luallen set the kind of tone and message that all Democrats should be using in their races this fall. I heard her speak at the Graves County Democratic breakfast and at Fancy Farm. Both of her speeches were fiery and hammered home a values based message centered on the simple beliefs that everyone deserves quality healthcare and a quality education. As she told the crowd, these are the social issues we should be talking about.

This kind of message speaks to working class families. Also, it helps Dems set the agenda so the Republicans can’t perpetually drag us into useless debates about the scare tactic issue de jour. With a substantive message based on strengthening the middle class through access to healthcare, education and high quality jobs, we will beat Republicans at the ballot box every time.

Hopefully more Dems will adopt her strategy because it resonates with Kentucky voters and I believe it’s how Dems will start to win back rural American voters.

BIG LOSER:

The Demoralized Republican Party

The most obvious thing everyone took away from Fancy Farm is that the Republican Party in Kentucky is totally deflated and fractured. If they weren’t so tactless you would almost have felt sorry for them.

Mitch McConnell and Ernie Fletcher owe Secretary of State Trey Grayson big time. He is the only Repub who turned out any volunteers for Fancy Farm. However, one little Repub on the right did give McConnell credit in a sign that read “Welcome to the House that Mitch Built.” Too bad for him it was built on cards.

Also worth noting, Grayson tries to brand himself as a new Repub who doesn’t share the same visceral disdain for Dems or bipartisanship as some his colleagues on the right. However, you certainly couldn’t tell it from the crowd he brought with him. As Daniel Mongiardo spoke the Grayson crew all dangled their hands out in front of their bodies in an attempt to look as though they had “limp wrists” and gay-bait.

Shame on you, Trey. If your minions are going to be so blatantly offensive, at least have them attempt to be clever.

T.G.I.F.

Terri Whitehouse August 3rd, 2007

The DM-KY team has a jam-packed weekend, and while I won’t be attendance at Fancy Farm, my posting, too, will be sporadic. Don’t let that stop you from checking in, though, as I know that I am looking forward to hearing about YearlyKos and Fancy Farm from some of my favorite bloggers. (I’m not just saying that, I promise.)

To kick things off, check out Sam Youngman’s national coverage of Kentucky’s governor’s race and the impact it will have on the 2008 U.S. Senate campaign. I think all this interest will make for a very interesting picnic!

Speaking of Fundraising, Beshear is Kicking Ass

Joe Sonka July 28th, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Remember how everyone was talking about Fletcher still having a chance to make a comeback and beat Beshear? The poll that showed a close race last month? The predictions of Fletcher raising a tidal wave of cash that would be converted into a tidal wave of attacks ads on Beshear that would overwhelm him?

Well folks, those days have come and gone.

Last week, Stamper reported that in July, Beshear outraised Fletcher in primary election account contributions with $78,000, compared to Ernie’s pathetic $6,000.

And remember when Beshear told us in the Progressive KY blogger conference call that he was hoping to raise $4-5 million? Well, I’ve received word that Beshear has already raised over $2 million for his campaign and is right on pace to meet its goals.

And you all know that the poll showing a close race a month ago was an anomaly, as the latest SUSA poll showed Beshear stomping Fletcher in absolutely epic proportions, 59-36.

I think this poll pretty much convinced everybody that Fletcher is a lost cause, and their money might be better spent on a candidate that actually has a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. So if you’re a rational conservative bigwig, intent on sucking up to the next Governor, you’d be better off either ripping up the check to Ernie, or sending it over to Steve’s campaign.

Columbus, Kentucky: The little town that could (and will, if you vote for it)

Matt Gunterman July 17th, 2007

UPDATE (2.15pm ET): CNN now has a story up about the contest and Columbus and Shawn’s success. Click here to read it.

The DitchMitchKY team is happy to say that the campaign of its very own Shawn Dixon to bring Democratic presidential contender John Edwards to his hometown of Columbus, Kentucky in Hickman County is going very well.

So well, in fact, that the story of the little town that could and the blogger who made it happen is scheduled to be featured on CNN this afternoon in Situation Room today at 4pm during the tech segment.

The contest, which is sponsored by Eventful.com, ends this Thursday. You still have time to vote for Columbus, if you haven’t already.

Shawn has provided a direct link at http://www.WhyNotColumbusKY.com/.

Columbus, Kentucky (pop. 229)

Steve Beshear’s KY Blogger Conference Call

Joe Sonka July 6th, 2007

In an effort to reach out to the progressive KY blogosphere, soon-to-be-Governor Steve Beshear (D) conducted a conference call with several local bloggers. The roll call included: Matt, Shawn, Cliff, Jim and I from DitchMitchKY; Jonathan Singer from MyDD; and Ted Shlechter from The Bridge. (there might have been others, fill me in if I missed someone)

Beshear noted that the blogosphere is going to continue to play an important role in KY politics, not just in this year’s Governors race, but next year with the Congressional and Presidential campaigns. He felt that this call presented an opportunity to hear some concerns and feedback from us, and the gesture was greatly appreciated by all. Any candidate that wishes to have success in the next 2 years would do well to embrace the post-Bluegrass Report blogosphere.

Steve also noted that he was glad he avoided a run-off election in the primary, as the Kentucky Democrats appear to be united on all fronts and in good shape for this Fall. Though polls show him well ahead of Fletcher, he cautioned that we shouldn’t be overconfident. Fletcher is sure to raise and spend plenty of money for attack ads, which could always make it a close race. He did note that he plans on raising $4-5 million himself, excluding outside dollars.

Several of the questions and concerns dealt with Beshear’s advocacy of "clean coal" as the future of KY’s energy policy. Beshear said that he would sit down with leaders from all sides of the issue to reach some kind of common ground; allowing union leaders, environmentalists and industry to meet at the table. He also expressed a desire to enforce regulations on strip mining and mountaintop removal that are not currently followed through on. Additional funding for alternative technologies at universities will also be a top priority. He noted a quite interesting tidbit on the Peabody deal- that Peabody wouldn’t even have the feasibility study done for one of its plants until April. Which makes the special session plan a little….shady?

Beshear also talked a great deal about improving Kentucky’s economy. He noted that KY’s budget is currently woefully inadequate to fund everything that we are in need of. One method of increasing revenue, of course, is his plan to expand gaming. He also criticized the tactic of offering outside businesses tax breaks to move to KY as rather short-sided, in itself. He noted that such companies often move here for a few years, only to leave for Mexico or somewhere else where they can get even cheaper labor. Beshear wants to give small and medium sized independent businesses incentives to stay and thrive here in KY, and he also wants to fund job training programs.

When asked what he would do as Governor in the instance that a bill is passed which prohibits UK and UL from implementing its domestic partner benefits plan, he said that he would veto it. We need to help our universities compete nationally, and having the government impose such a restriction will not allow them to attract and keep our best candidates.

The folks at DitchMitchKY, BlueGrassRoots, The Bridge and MyDD thanked Beshear for setting up this conference call, as it shows a good deal of respect for both the KY blogosphere and grassroots activism. As local blogs in Connecticut and Virginia showed last year, we can have a huge impact on the political scene. We’re glad that Beshear and his staff have recognized this new political reality.

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Elizabeth Edwards Rocks Lexington (and chats with Jim and Joe!)

Joe Sonka July 2nd, 2007

I’m not really sure how many supporters John Edwards had in Lexington on Friday morning, but I know that he has a lot more now. The line on John Edwards that is making the rounds is that his best asset in the campaign to win the presidency is not his humble Southern background, health-care platform or charm, but his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. After watching her performance during Friday’s Small Change for Big Change event in Lexington, I think that statement isn’t too far off base.

Elizabeth Edwards performed a rather spectacular hour+ Q & A session with over 200 contributors, fans, and potential voters. And due to the online outreach efforts of the Edwards campaign (thanks to Tracy and Amy, via DMKY’s Shawn Dixon) and the southern charm of DMKY’s own Jim Pence, Jim and I were able speak with Elizabeth face to face for roughly 10 minutes before her public Q & A session.

Though the Edwards staff thought we had a decent chance of chatting with her for a couple of minutes, shortly after we entered the venue and set up our cameras (Jim and fellow film guru Erica), we were told that there was no time for an interview. After Jim disappeared for a few minutes to chat up the Edwards folks, he came back saying that she might be doing a short “meet and greet” with some people.

“What’s a meet and greet?”

“I’m not sure”

“I’ve never been to a meet and greet”

“Yea, me neither”

Ten minutes later, Jim pulled me backstage and one of the staff stopped us and asked if we were the guys from DitchMitchKY and told us that we could speak with Mrs. Edwards in a few minutes, but not on camera or on tape. So while all of the slick, dolled up TV reporters waited for Elizabeth to come out for the Q & A, the blogger in ratty Chuck Taylors and ripped pants, and the hillbilly with the Acapulco shirt were whisked upstairs to meet her.

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C-J: Blogger’s actions bring scrutiny, Phone records posted on Web

Matt Gunterman June 5th, 2007

The Courier-Journal has this story from Joseph Gerth on the possibility that the attorney general’s office will pursue an investigation of how right-wing blogger Brett Hall obtained phone records that he’s using against Democratic candidates.

When I was collecting stats for the snapshot of the Kentucky blogosphere I made this weekend, which compared the influences of the state’s lefty and righty blogospheres, I came across Brett Hall’s KYPolitics.org (I’m not giving it the justice of having an active link). I had forgotten all about it, and hardly any of the right-wing bloggers in the state link to him. And, his blog didn’t make the cut for my comparison because it only has a Google PageRank of 3 and it doesn’t even register on Technorati.

So, Hall’s in all sorts of trouble now, and my guess is that it’s calculated trouble on his part. It’s just after the primary election; we’re in a political news lull; and Hall is manufacturing some attention for himself and his blog by using these phone records that he’s obtained to stir up trouble on Democratic candidates (and by his own admission today on his blog, he lied to the Courier-Journal about how he obtained them; it was not through an open records request, but an anonymous source, or so we’re now told). If his main purpose in all this were to damage candidates with this material, after all, he wouldn’t be spinning it six months outside of an election. He’d wait until much closer.

My assumption is that now that Mark Nickolas is leaving Kentucky, Brett Hall is going to try and remind us that he and his blog are still around. But, I have some news for Mr. Hall. All this controversy won’t do you a bit of good as far as traffic is concerned unless you have the content to bring people back time and time again.

And, you know, he doesn’t.