Voter mood a big factor

Viewpoints

September 5, 2010

By Ronnie Ellis CNHI News Service The Richmond Register Sun Sep 05, 2010, 10:00 AM EDT

Frankfort — FRANKFORT — Kentucky is in the middle of a nationally watched U.S. Senate race, but the week’s news was dominated by the announcement that David Williams and Richie Farmer have formed a ticket to run for governor next year. Meanwhile, fears are growing the sluggish economic recovery is in trouble and the voter mood continues to sour.

For Democrats there are troubling numbers regarding the 2010 elections. For the first time since polling began in 1942, Republicans have a 10-point lead in the “generic” preference poll — would voters prefer an un-named Republican over an un-named Democrat? The same polling indicates Republican voters are twice as likely to vote in this year’s mid-term elections, a so-called “enthusiasm gap.” Privately, Republicans say their polling shows an even greater gap in both categories. President Barack Obama’s support continues to slide nationally (it’s even worse in Kentucky) and Republicans want the election to be a referendum on Obama and his policies.

Still, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul created an unlikely opening for his Democratic opponent Jack Conway with statements questioning the seriousness of the drug issue. (He contends he was misquoted, but the Associated Press reporter who wrote that Paul said the problem “is not a real pressing issue” has a recording with Paul’s comments which backs up his published story.) Earlier this summer, after several other controversial comments by Paul, my visits with voters outside of Frankfort indicated they were having little or no impact on the campaign. The drug issue may be different.

That’s because it illustrates a contrast between the theoretical appeal of Paul’s limited government philosophy and practical reality on the ground. The real implications of the loss of federal funds to combat the drug problem are easily seen by the voters who live in affected communities. Conway continues to hammer Paul on the issue but he needs to use it to prompt voters to question how Paul’s philosophy might affect them in other aspects of their daily lives.

On Wednesday, Paul visited the Big Rivers Electrical Corporation in Henderson to tout coal and highlight his opposition to cap and trade legislation. Big Rivers began as a generating cooperative, created and built with government funds supplied by the Rural Electrification Administration and owned by customer co-ops. REA, and later its successor, the Rural Utilities Service, operated out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture which Paul has criticized for funding wasteful programs. REA brought electrical and telephone service to rural America when it was not profitable for private companies to offer service to sparsely populated areas. Big Rivers was the brain child of powerful political figures who provided decades of support and patronage. Those cheap electrical rates and the aluminum smelters they attracted were the product of taxpayer loan subsidies and political patronage as well as Kentucky’s cheap coal.

But the mood of voters is a bigger factor in this year’s election than history or facts. Williams and Farmer are hopeful that mood lasts through next year’s gubernatorial election. Unless the economy turns around, it probably will. Williams, whose fingerprints are all over recent state budgets laden with debt and who has been the key figure in the Frankfort political establishment for the past 10 years, may have a harder time making the argument for change than the first-time candidate Paul.

But if the mood doesn’t improve, Gov. Steve Beshear may also have a hard time painting Williams as part of the problem. Just look at those poll numbers. Ask Jack Conway. Ask Trey Grayson. Sometimes timing is everything.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him atrellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ cnhifrankfort. The Richmond Register is a CNHI newspaper.

Text Only

Viewpoints

Europe’s economic tremors offer useful lesson for Kentucky
Americans paying even cursory attention to what’s happening on the other side of the Atlantic are about to get a stark reminder of an economic principle that too often gets pushed to the side – especially during troubling times: No government has ever taxed, spent or borrowed its way to prosperity.

May 27, 2012 1 Photo
Why would anyone not vote?
Should those of us who vote be disturbed that so few people voted in this past Tuesday’s election?
Only 17 percent of Madison County’s registered voters went to the polls. And, not everyone who’s eligible is registered to vote.

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Republicans are making some noise
FRANKFORT — Last week’s news was mostly about Tuesday’s primary election but some Republicans who were not on the ballot also had interesting things to say.

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Taking our Sunday night baths
There in the head of Blair Branch, when I was growing up in the 1950s and ‘60s, we always took our weekly baths, even during cold weather, every Sunday night, whether we needed one or not.

May 24, 2012 1 Photo
Obama pursues higher tax rates
In the run-up to this weekend’s G-8 summit at Camp David, journalists have unfavorably compared European “austerity” with Barack Obama’s economic policies.
European spending cuts, the argument goes, have hurt people and are arousing political opposition, while Obama’s proposals to keep federal spending at 24 percent of gross domestic product indefinitely are likely to succeed.

May 21, 2012 1 Photo
Graduation day
It’s that time of year. What’s the old song? “I can still remember...” And I do. It’s what I talk about when I’m invited to be a graduation speaker and what I write about every year at this time.
It’s about all those painful memories.

May 18, 2012 1 Photo
Recent news could cause panic for Obama campaign
Is it panic time at Obama headquarters in Chicago? You might get that impression from watching events – and the polls – over the past few weeks.

May 17, 2012 1 Photo
EPA goes medieval on Kentucky coal
EPA goes medieval on KRoman legions? Horrific crucifixions? Sacking dissenters and making examples out of their deaths?
These may sound like some of the gruesome tactics used by military commanders of the ancient world, but according to Al Armendariz, who, until recently, was regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s much more relevant to modern America than we’d care to believe.

May 13, 2012 1 Photo
Don’t just pick out a card
When Anna Jarvis launched the movement for a Mother’s Day observance in 1908, her intention was to have everyone write their mother a letter, putting some thought and sincerity into thanking and telling her what she had meant to them.
Unsurprisingly, the idea caught on quickly and became very popular. But, Jarvis was disappointed with the outcome.

May 12, 2012 1 Photo
Returning to a calmer situation
FRANKFORT – After a two-month absence, I’ve returned to Frankfort where things seem calmer than when I left.

May 11, 2012 1 Photo
More Viewpoints Headlines

Viewpoints

Search Results

Voter mood a big factor

A recent health ranking listed Madison County as the 20th healthiest county in the state. It measured factors such as exercise, access to health care and smoking. Do you smoke cigarettes?

Site Map