Tagged: Kentucky

Several Kentucky delegates are headed to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention this week.

The delegation will include Governor Steve Beshear, Attorney General Jack Conway and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who are all backing President Obama’s re-election bid this year. But Sixth District Congressman Ben Chandler is skipping the convention to campaign in central Kentucky instead.

Critics also point out that 42 percent of Kentucky Democrats voted “uncommitted” over the president in the May primary and are not all supportive of Mr. Obama’s agenda.

Third District Congressman John Yarmuth is among the delegation. He says he is concerned about a split among the delegates, but remains optimistic that their vote will be unanimous.

"I and others will spend part of the convention trying to argue with those uncertain delegates that unanimous support for the president is important because we’ve got down ballot races across Kentucky. We’ve got many state House races that promise to be competitive and we need to be unified in the fall campaign," he says.

A new book about Kentucky’s minor league baseball teams is out. Written by journalist Katya Cengel,  “Bluegrass Baseball” (University of Nebraska Press) is an intimate look inside the 2010 baseball season, starring Kentucky’s minor league teams: the Lexington Legends, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, the Florence Freedom and the Louisville Bats. The book documents the highs and lows of the players, groundskeepers, managers and fans of the game’s smaller outfits. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington woman has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for threatening to kill U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman handed down the punishment for 50-year-old Susan Mary Collins Thursday for mailing a threatening communication.

Collins previously pleaded guilty to sending the letter on September 2 threatening to kill the U.S. Senate’s top Republican.

According to Collins’ plea agreement, McConnell perceived her letter as a genuine threat that could cause him harm.

Former Democratic Governor  John Y. Brown Jr., is disappointed with President Barack Obama's job performance and is criticizing the national party for "acting like socialists" over free enterprise.

Brown served as Kentucky's governor from 1979 to 1983, and is successful businessman and a revered patriarch among state Democrats past and present.

In an interview with Pure Politics, Brown said Mr. Obama doesn't understand the economy and is more interested in "taking care of people instead of taking care of our Constitution" and getting people back to work.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala and Republican commentator Bill Kristol were in Louisville on Tuesday evening to discuss the ongoing presidential campaign at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s annual business summit.

Polling numbers shows President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are locked in a tight race this fall with a small margin of undecided voters. The negative attacks are beginning to escalate with both campaigns accusing the other of misleading voters. 

Political observers note that Mr. Obama has run harsh ads against his GOP challenger on television, which is unusual for an incumbent president seeking re-election.

Begala a CNN analyst and  an adviser for Priorities USA, a super PAC supporting the president. He says Mr. Obama needs to run as a challenger who will outline what the next four years will hold if he is re-elected.

"When times are tough and the president tells you, ‘I’ve done a great job’ people get resentful. They say ‘really, cause I’m still hurting out here.’ What I would do instead is lay out my agenda for a second-term and run as if he were a challenger," he says. "I’m all for attacking Romney and I’m doing it full-time. But he’s also got to say what I can’t do, which is here’s what I will do if you give me this job for the next four years."