The crashing of our economy off a cliff is changing the complexion of the Congressional races in Kentucky. You see, one constant in the last decade or more has been the contingent of a strong Republican delegation to Washington from Kentucky. In that time, all the policies that crashed our economy were hatched, and enacted.
As the Lexington Herald-Leader pointed out earlier this week, Every Repubican currently running for re-election voted for the disasterous policies that have put us on the brink of another Depression.
This was no mistake. Our Congressional delegation at the time didn't care about the long-term consequences of their votes, they were beholden to the Banking Industry:
Donations from financial sector
Current members of the Kentucky congressional delegation who voted for Wall Street deregulation in 1999 and their donations from the financial sector since 1989.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. $4.3 million
Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. $2.4 million
Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville $697,116
Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Cecilia $551,266
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset $406,765
Source: Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.kentucky.com/...
The good part is that it appears that Kentuckians remember this too. In the Kentucky Senate race, what was a more than double-digit lead for McConnell has evaporated into a tie. Lunsford is gathering serious momentum for the stretch run. Here is the latest poll on this race:
.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford are knotted in a statistical tie for McConnell’s seat, according to the latest Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll.
The poll found that each candidate would get the support of 41 percent of likely voters if the election were held today. But McConnell nudged ahead 45-44 when undecided likely voters who were leaning toward a candidate were included into the poll results.
The telephone survey of 717 Kentuckians who identified themselves as likely voters was conducted Sept. 22-25 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington D.C.
http://www.courier-journal.com/...
Being in Kentucky, I sense that McConnell is in very serious trouble in this race. He simply can't hide the fact that he was involved in all these failures, and in fact was a leader in insuring their enaction. Ditching Mitch is a reality now.
Lets give Bruce Lunsford the resources to defeat McConnell. This seat puts us right at 60. It is past time Democrats bid adeu to Mitch McConnell, his corruption, and partisan hackery.
Donate to Lunsford here, and watch with glee as Mitch McConnell goes home early next year:
http://www.actblue.com/...
When Mitch McConnell is in trouble, you can bet all Kentucky Republicans are. In the First District, Ed Whitfield is known as McConnell's right-hand man and voted for over 90% of the disasterous policies that have crashed the economy, and has recieved $700,000 because of those votes. He knows he is culpable by the statement he issued in the above Herald-Leader article.
He is opposed by newcomer Heather Ryan. I had someone ask me to talk on exactly what Heather brings to the table the other night. To put it as simply as I can, Heather is young, bright, educated, courageous, and compassionate. She has a strong desire to fight for Progressive ideals of equality, and wants to end the gross incompetence in Washington of the wasting of TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars on things that don't benefit them.
She represents a new generation of Leadership rising up in our party. It took a lot of guts for her to run against the McConnell machine with the added albatross of attempting to be the first woman that holds this seat. Here is her latest interview. It is the third one down:
http://tv.westkentucky.kctcs.edu/...
She can unseat Whitfield if she gets the resources to get her message out. Please help:
This is an excellent interview!!