Less than a week before the annual Fancy Farm picnic, a new poll shows Democratic Governor Steve Beshear with a crushing 24-point lead over Republican challenger David Williams in the Kentucky 2011 gubernatorial race. According to the survey of 512 likely voters, Williams, who is the state Senate President, has a likability problem that is holding him back among likely voters.
The US House and Senate still haven’t reached a deal on how to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, which has some Kentucky lawmakers worried that the nation is headed towards its first default. Kentucky Democratic Congressman Chandler says the far right wing of the Republican Party is to blame for the current impasse.
A Christian social justice group is running radio ads targeting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for neglecting Biblical teachings and the poor during the debt ceiling negotiations. The minute-long spot is paid for by Sojourners, a progressive coalition of Christians led by Rev. Jim Wallis, who led hunger strikes to oppose budget cuts earlier this year. The group produced three ads that are running in Kentucky, Ohio and Nevada to target congressional leaders. The group criticize GOP leaders over neglecting the needy while “protecting tax cuts for the rich and powerful” but also challenges Democrats to do more to protect social programs.
After mocking the Tea Party while discussing the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Az., is being pummeled by freshman members of Congress and activists for the remarks. The former Republican presidential candidate called activists associated with the movement “tea-party hobbits” while dismissing the possibility of a Balanced Budget Amendment passing the Senate.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is urging members of his state’s federal delegation to support Speaker John Boehner’s plan aimed at averting the first default in U.S. history. What’s interesting is that Daniels, who served as Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under former President George W. Bush, indicts his former administration when criticizing “past…overspending and future overpromising (sic)” in the federal government.
A group protested outside Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) Louisville office on Tuesday. The protest was meant to raise awareness of a bill being considered by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions, which Paul sits on. The legislation was drafted by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA). It will help protect youth with disabilities from sub-minimum wage employment and will help them into the competitive workforce, Harkin wrote in an email.
Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Moffett will be named the new president and CEO of the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions, a conservative think tank in Kentucky. The Louisville businessman was heavily backed by tea party activists during the campaign and came in second to Republican nominee David Williams in the GOP primary, but not after upsetting the state Senate President in the state’s most populous counties.
Dismissing both plans as insufficient, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., quickly released a statement opposing the dueling debt ceiling deals being proposed by House Republicans and Senate Democrats on Monday. The proposed deals being discussed today by House Republican and Senate Democrat Leaders do not make cuts to our debt. They do not solve our debt problems. They do not balance the budget, ever,” says Paul.
Keeping the pressure on Democratic Governor Steve Beshear, a group fronted by the Republican Governor’s Association has launched a second advertisement in support of gubernatorial candidate David Williams, highlighting the state Senate president’s toughness and personalizing unemployment in the state.
The newly-formed federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has the power to regulate payday loans. But a Kentucky lawmaker who has repeatedly attempted to cap payday loans says the feud in Congress over the bureau doesn’t make him confident that any progress will be made. State Senator Gerald Neal, D-33, has spent years trying to cap the annual interest for payday loans at 36 percent. That’s something the protection bureau could theoretically do…if it had a director. Currently, a Republican-led effort in the U.S. Senate has kept the president’s appointment to the bureau unconfirmed.
Independent gubernatorial candidate Gatewood Galbraith filed the necessary paperwork with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office Thursday to be on the November ballot, but the perennial contender forgot to bring his campaign treasurer with him. Independent candidates must turn in at least 5,000 signatures to be placed on the general election ballot and Galbraith, who has run for governor four times before, carried 7,396 signatures with him. But state law also requires a candidate’s treasurer sign the proper documents as well.
In their first joint appearance of the 2011 Kentucky gubernatorial election, Democratic Governor Steve Beshear and Republican state Senate President David Williams traded barbs on a range of issues at a forum Wednesday. The Kentucky Farm Bureau hosted the discussion, which covered a number of topics such as agriculture, tax and education policy, along with federal regulations and expanded gaming.
In their first joint appearance of the general election, Democratic Governor Steve Beshear and Republican state Senate President David Williams discussed their differing views on a range of issues at a forum Wednesday in Louisville. The Kentucky Farm Bureau hosted the discussion, which covered agriculture, tax and education policy. Williams said Beshear has not led on those issues and the commonwealth has fallen behind states such as Tennessee, which doesn't have a state income tax.
Two Western Kentucky congressmen said Tuesday that they had aligned themselves with a bill that would raise the debt ceiling while also cutting spending. The bill, known as “cut, cap and balance,” passed in the U.S. House on Tuesday night and now moves to the Democratic-controlled Senate, where it faces a much tougher road to passage.
A new CBS News poll shows average Americans aren’t pleased with anyone involved in the debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, but congressional Republicans are taking the brunt of the blame. The survey shows 71 percent disapprove of the GOP’s handling of the talks while 58 percent blame Democrats and 48 percent point the finger at President Barack Obama. Though the president received the lowest disapproval ratings, Mr. Obama’s negatives are still higher than his approval ratings on the matter.
