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What to Watch for in the Kentucky Primary

Posted May 16th 2008 3:17AM by David Koller
Filed under: Politics, U.S. House, Young Turks

On Tuesday, May 20th the state of Kentucky has its turn in the 2008 Primary Circus. Yes, Hillary Clinton is still officially challenging Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, but nobody cares anymore - Obama is going to win the nomination. So is there anything left of interest in the Kentucky Primary? As it turns out, there are plenty of fun political sideshows in the Bluegrass State.Several Democrats are battling for the nomination to challenge Senate Minority Leader, Horrendous Republican Establishment, Bush-Loving, Iraq-War-Supporting Mitch McConnell in the November election. The two main Democratic contenders are Bruce Lunsford and Greg Fischer. Lunsford seems like a nice fellow, he's accomplished, with a CPA and a Law Degree. He brags that he's one of the prominent thoroughbred horse owners in America. Maybe he's a competent civic leader, but apparently he has a history of kissing up to Kentucky Republicans. Meanwhile, Greg Fischer is also a successful businessman. After graduating from college he took a solo backpacking trip around the world. Finally, and maybe most importantly, he's the candidate of choice of Act Blue, the organization that's been so successful in raising money for progressive candidates across the country. So Tuesday night, be on the look out for underdog Greg Fischer to defeat establishment Bruce Lunsford for the right to challenge McConnell in the fall.

In the Kentucky House races, Republicans are competing to take on freshman Democrat John Yarmuth, who was part of the wave of Democratic victories in 2006. The fun part of this is that his 2006 opponent, Anne Northup is running in the Republican primary. Who doesn't love a rematch? Let's root for Northup to win the Republican Primary in the 3rd Congressional District of Kentucky (as long as he wins again in the General Election rematch).

The 4th Congressional District in Kentucky has the misfortune of being represented by Republican Geoff Davis. Come on, does he have to call himself Geoff Davis in this day and age? (Jefferson Davis, one-time Senator from Mississippi and eventual President of the Confederacy, was born in Kentucky.) If Geoff Davis sounds familiar to you, it might be for the controversy he created last month when he called Barack Obama "boy". For some reason, two Republicans are challenging him in the Primary, GE Puckett and Warren Stone. Little is known about GE Puckett. Warren Stone is one of these people whose destiny fulfills the promise of his name - he is a construction contractor. More importantly, he studied Biblical Hebrew at Cincinnati Bible College, so he has the exact qualifications I look for in an elected representative. But seriously, he is kind-of-half-way against the Iraq War. For a Republican, that's good enough for me. Let's hope Warren Stone wins the Republican primary for the 4th Congressional District, then gets his butt handed to him by the Democrat Michael J. Kelley, another Act Blue candidate, in the Fall.

Other fun notes in Kentucky. The Representative from the 6th District is Ben Chandler, grandson of former Kentucky Governor, US Senator and Commissioner of Baseball, "Happy" Chandler. Democrat Heather Ryan will challenge incumbent "Exxon" Ed Whitfield in the November election in Congressional District #1. Ryan is another Act Blue candidate, and a personal victim of Mitch McConnell.

So there's plenty of election excitement this Tuesday in Kentucky, even with Obama already locking up the nomination. Stay tuned! And on Wednesday, tune in to The Young Turks for updates.

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