Pol Watchers
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler , who has had a rocky history with U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford, used his time before Kentucky’s delegation at the national convention to endorse his former rival.
Chandler, after weeks of avoiding questions about a possible endorsement, made the announcement at the Kentucky delegation’s breakfast in Denver at around 11 a.m. EST or 9 a.m. Denver time.
Read more .

Thanks Ben.

By STEVEN K. PAULSON
DENVER (AP) — Federal authorities are looking into reports that a man arrested with rifles, ammunition and drugs in his truck may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.
Two other men were arrested in the case.
"It’s premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out," said a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Obama will be in Denver later this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president.
FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed the FBI was investigating the reports but declined to elaborate. The Joint Information Center — a command set up by Denver, state and federal authorities to field media inquiries during the Democratic convention — said it had no immediate comment.
Tharin Gartrell, 28, was arrested during a traffic stop early Sunday by police in the eastern Denver suburb of Aurora. In his truck, officers found two rifles, including one with a scope; a bulletproof vest; boxes of ammunition; walkie-talkies; and suspected narcotics, said Aurora police Detective Marcus Dudley.
Police alerted federal authorities, who soon arrested Nathan Johnson, 32, at a hotel in Denver, Dudley said. A third man, Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, was arrested at a suburban Glendale hotel, Dudley said.
Adolf allegedly tried to escape officers by jumping from a sixth-floor window. He was hospitalized and was being held on $1 million bond for several outstanding warrants involving drug charges. Johnson also was being held on drug charges and his bond was unknown, Dudley said.
It wasn’t known if the three men had attorneys, Dudley said.
Dudley didn’t say what tied the men together but that more arrests were possible. One of the rifles was stolen, and authorities had traced it to Kansas, Dudley said. He declined to say to whom it belonged.
Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened security surrounding the Democratic convention, Dudley said.
"Clearly we found there are federal implications — otherwise we would not have notified them," he said. "The weapons clearly would cause great concern."
U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said the case was under investigation. "We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado," Eid said in a statement.
Officials with the FBI, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Aurora police set a news conference for Tuesday afternoon.
Law enforcers in Denver are trying to find out whether the reported threats to Obama were valid. "It could also turn out that these were nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads, meth-heads," the U.S. government official said.

Heather Ryan opened her campaign headquarters yesterday in Paducah, Kentucky. Click here to view photos, shot by Mike Watt, of the event.
Don’t forget to vote:
Heather Ryan is one of nine Congressional Candidates selected by Senator Russ Feingold’s Progressive Patriots Fund, eligible to receive a $5000 campaign contribution from the Progressive Patriots Fund for the 2008 election if she receives the most votes in their web based poll. Click here to vote for Heather.
Voting ends at midnight Friday, August 22 , so vote early and vote often for 1st District Candidate Heather Ryan.

Of course, someone should let the usual suspects know that their privilege is showing. Because unless you’re a woman living in one of the wealthiest burgs in the state, Kentucky can be a pretty inhospitable place when it comes to those trivial little things like jobs, education, and health care.

Ryan Alessi has a wrap up of the debate today between Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford, and it sounds like Bruce got in some zingers and called Mitch a failure, while Mitch did nothing but brag about what a Washington insider he is.

As Matt Gunterman has repeatedly pointed out, this kind of strategy from McConnell is political suicide. With the country pissed at Washington, D.C. right now, all this does is (1) show how entrenched McConnell is in Washington (which fits with Lunsford’s “24 years is enough” theme), and (2) shows how despite his power, he doesn’t get results for Kentuckians, just his big money donors. All of those millions of $ worth of ads he aired the past 10 months bragging about what he accomplished bumped his approvals up absolutely zilch.

Keep it up Mitch. Please.

Here’s the juicy stuff:

Lunsford, in fact, used his closing remarks during a two-hour forum at the Kentucky Farm Bureau to talk directly to McConnell rather than the audience. He leveled his strongest criticism of McConnell to date.

“The last 24 years, you’ve had an opportunity to do some great things for this state and this country. And in my opinion, you’ve failed,” Lunsford said. “I think you have worked with a president for the last eight years closer than anyone. I think he’s failed. In my judgment he’s the worst president in my lifetime.”

************

Lunsford used his childhood experience working on his father’s tobacco farm to try to connect with the audience. At one point he mentioned how, when he was in high school, he kept a tobacco spear and a knife in the trunk of his car.

“I always got the feeling with Sen. McConnell’s background that he had a briefcase in the back of his car,” Lunsford said

Kudos to whoever came up with that line, btw…

PS- I’m shocked that Kentucky Farm Bureau even let Mitch into the building today…