Long-time readers know of my dismissal of political endorsements. So I point to this Lexingont Herald-Leader
endorsement of Ben Chandler not to crow that it'll push Chandler over the top (the paper usually endorses Democrats regardless), but as an excuse to remind everyone what's coming in less than a week.
Kerr is a pleasant, well-meaning person who is way over her head in the Kentucky Senate. In six years in the legislature, her few accomplishments have come about when Republican leaders attached her name to a Democrat's bill. Nothing in her earlier experience qualifies her for Congress.
The best recommendation that she can muster for herself is her Republican connections. Being on the same team as the president and the majority in Congress, she says, will enable her to get things done and bring home the goodies.
She brought in House Speaker Dennis Hastert to insult Kentuckians' intelligence by promising a tobacco quota buyout if Kerr is elected, as if the Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and the White House, couldn't have accomplished a buyout long ago if they had wanted to.
Compare that ham-handed political blackmail with Chandler's efforts for agriculture. As AG, he helped small farms by putting proceeds from settlements with agrochemical companies into low-interest loans to tobacco farmers for diversification projects. He also signed the tobacco settlement that has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Kentucky farms.
Administrations come and go; majorities shift. Instead of entrusting the 6th District's interests to the current in-crowd, voters should look for the candidate who's best able to analyze their needs and express them. They should look for the candidate who's best able to advocate for the district's and the nation's long-term interests and to forge strategies and alliances to advance those interests.
Voters who want someone who does what her party's leaders tell her to do should go with Kerr.
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who hand-picked her as GOP nominee, promised to "do whatever it takes" to bury Chandler's political ambitions under an avalanche of Republican money. It's that mountain of money that's turned this campaign into the ugly, unintelligible muddle that it is.
Nice. Y'all know what you need to do. Either
donate to the race, stream into the district to
help out, or send positive vibes in the direction of Kentucky. While time and money may be tough for most of us, all of us can work on the "positive vibes" thing.