The Nation: Blue Tide In Kentucky--and Virginia

[marmar]

article | posted November 7, 2007 (web only)
Blue Tide In Kentucky--and Virginia
Bob Moser



In Tuesday's off-year elections, Democrats continued to gather steam in Virginia and Kentucky--making it even more obvious that these two Southern states are up for grabs in 2008.

Kentucky's Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher, hand-picked for the job by US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2003, did not merely lose his re-election bid to Democrat Steve Beshear--he got pummeled, obliterated and all-around embarrassed by a "has-been" candidate who'd dropped out of politics a decade ago after losing races for governor and Senate. Beshear won almost 60 percent of the vote. Much of Fletcher's trouble was Fletcher himself--he ran in 2003 on a promise to "clean up the mess in Frankfurt," where good-ol'-boy Democrats had long been in charge. Soon enough, though, Fletcher-the-reformer was being brought up on criminal charges for his state hiring practices--and when he struck a deal with prosecutors to drop the charges, he proceeded to pardon everyone in his administration who'd allegedly broken the law.

But this wasn't just about Fletcher--it was also about a rising Democratic tide in Kentucky that became apparent in 2006, when liberal John Yarmuth unseated one of George W. Bush's favorite members of Congress, Anne Northup. A strong antiwar movement in the state, along with a vibrant progressive blogosphere (see DitchMitch.com), has helped revitalize the party with a more progressive tilt. Now polls are showing that McConnell, who built the Republican machine in Kentucky that's now falling apart, could be in real peril when he runs for re-election next year. His water-carrying for the President, especially on Iraq and immigration, have taken his approval ratings to all-time lows.

Dethroning McConnell, probably the most powerful and certainly the wiliest Republican leader in Congress, would be a savage blow to the GOP. Democrats have a handful of promising candidates, including populist firebrand Greg Stumbo, the attorney general who went after Fletcher; Congressman Ben Chandler; and Iraq War veteran-turned-antiwar activist Lt. Col. Andrew Horne. In a state that Bill Clinton carried twice, the grass is turning blue again. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071119/moser

[Eurobabe]

1. Go VA and Kentuck!

I know VA has had changing demographics for years, but KY really surprised me in this election. I lived near Cincinnati for 18 mos. and never thought KY would go blue!

:applause: