I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader. While that won’t be me at this time, I will continue to work as as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: The people & their needs, dreams, and great potential.Actress Ashley Judd • Writing on her Twitter account about why she won’t be running for the Senate in Kentucky in 2014, despite much speculation that she’d take on Mitch McConnell. “Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth,” she added. The decision came after days of speculation that she was ready to announce at any time that she was running. (One group even made an ad attacking her.) The about-face is a bit of a surprise in that context.
(Source: NPR)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could see a primary challenge from local businessman Matt Bevin, who sources say is reaching out to Tea Party groups in the state to gauge support for a 2014 Senate run.
Sarah Duran, president of the Louisville Tea Party, told The Hill that Bevin had been in touch with her over the phone to discuss his run multiple times over the past few weeks, and that he met with the group two weeks ago to discuss his interest in the race.
While exploring one’s options is far from being the same as declaring candidacy, the emergence of a strong Tea Party alternative like Matt Bevin could hurt McConnell in the long run, particularly if it forces the Senate stalwart to move any farther to the right on hot button issues. With many expecting actress Ashley Judd to challenge McConnell as well, the five-term Senator could have his work cut out for him during the 2014 midterm elections.
We are doing a lot of reaching out to some of the tea party folks across the state. What we’re finding — at least in this stage of the race — we’re finding that our interests align. It’s unusual.Keith Rouda, a field organizer with the liberal PACS MoveOn.org and Progress Kentucky, on the shared interests of Democratic donors and tea partiers in Kentucky. Both groups want Mitch McConnell out of the Senate, albiet for different reasons, and so they’ve struck up somewhat of an alliance. Apparently, Democratic donors have told state tea party groups that they’ll help bankroll the primary campaign of a credible right-wing challenger to McConnell, and one state Democratic group has already circulated petitions urging potential candidates to challenge McConnell in the primary. This is the exact same tactic Democrats used in Missouri last year, and it worked out pretty well for Claire McCaskill. source
Robert McDonald learned the hard way that every vote counts.
McDonald, who is known to most people as Bobby, finished in a dead heat Tuesday with Olivia Ballou for the sixth and final seat on the Walton City Council.
Each candidate captured 669 votes, but one ballot McDonald is sure would have gone his way was never cast. His wife, Katie, who works nights as a patient care assistant at Christ Hospital and is finishing nurse’s training at Gateway Community and Technical College, didn’t make it to the polls yesterday.
“If she had just been able to get in to vote, we wouldn’t be going through any of this,” McDonald said. “You never think it will come down to one vote, but I’m here to tell you that it does.”
Did anybody else immediately think of Jerry Gergich, from Parks & Recreation, upon seeing this story? It might be good to keep this in mind, particularly if you think you’ll have friends questioning the value of an individual vote during the next round of elections. Unfortunately, for Robert McDonald, there won’t be a run-off either. The tie is likely to be broken by a coin flip some time next week.
Tornado outbreak leaves towns leveled, at least 33 dead. A series of tornadoes left 16 dead in Kentucky, 14 dead in Indiana, 2 in Ohio, and 1 Alabama. Officials have warned that additional fatalities could be reported, and early reports suggest that the Indiana town of Marysville has been almost completely destroyed. In an interview with CNN, Governor Mitch Daniels said, ”we’re not unfamiliar with Mother Nature’s wrath out here in Indiana, but this is about as serious as we’ve seen in the years since I’ve been in this job.” (photo by C.E. Branham/The News and Tribune via Associated Press) source
There are a few things the federal government should be doing, and one of them is national defense and the other is taking care of veterans.Sen. Rand Paul • Speaking to a group of veterans regarding the funding set aside for them. Now, obviously, Rand Paul isn’t exactly like his dad, but he shares enough of his views that this makes us scratch our heads just a little. Not so much the second part — it’s clear that if he’s in a room of veterans, he’s going to say that — but the first. Is this a deviation between him and his father, or is he simply emphasizing the need for a limited military streak that involves having a defense mechanism? Wonder what you guys think. source (via • follow)
» We were generally supportive of the 2009 stimulus package, but aspects of it are starting to seem a bit questionable, to say the least. Case in point: 2,200 students and staff in the town of Owensboro, Kentucky will soon be enjoying a free Macbook Air, courtesy of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While we’re all for providing students with the technical competency needed to compete in the 21st-century global economy, you don’t really need to give everyone a Macbook Air to do that. The cheapest Air is $999; if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Apple gave Owensboro a 50% bulk discount, that’s still over a million dollars of federal money being spent so kids can have free laptops. Opponents of “wasteful government spending,” your Exhibit A is right here.
Dear Rand Paul: Congratulations. Sincerely. You ran a better campaign than your opponent, and eventually you got past your gaffes to win in Kentucky without much trouble at all. While you’ll remain controversial to many for your small-government-heavy views, you didn’t win tonight in spite of your views. You won because you beat your opponent (see: Aqua Buddah). Sure, we had our beefs with some of your views, but as the campaign worked towards the end, we found ourselves actually respecting you a little. The way your campaign handled the head-stomper proved you’re past the point of gaffes. So, tonight, as the left accepts its fate, we’ll see more candidates lose. But let it be on the record that Rand Paul earned his victory tonight. source
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
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Hat tip to this headline writer.
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Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
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I am offended and outraged by the words of Tim Profitt. Profitt said the attack was ‘not a big deal,’ that Lauren ‘instigated it’ and that ‘she should apologize’ — words that are eerily familiar to many women who have faced assault and abuse.MoveOn.org spokesperson Ilyse Hogue • Chewing on the piece of meat thrown to her by Rand Paul head-stomper Tim Profitt. Profitt, see, had the gall to say this about the stompee, 23-year-old MoveOn.org volunteer Lauren Valle: “I would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you.” He also blamed his stomping on, get this, “back problems.” Are you sure you don’t live in San Diego instead of Kentucky, Tim? Because you certainly know how to stay classy. To be clear, guys, we’re not criticizing the Paul campaign: They’ve been pretty smart about dealing with this incident. No. We’re criticizing Tim Profitt. source (via)
To our activist friends, please don’t be like the head-stomper. Don’t physically assault the other side and justify it to the press so they have to write sentences like this one: “Profitt told the Herald-Leader that he was concerned the woman was trying to attack Paul and acted only to subdue her.” You’re gonna get charged for your actions and anyone with half a brain is going to be able to see through an argument like that. The Rand Paul volunteer, Timothy Profitt, will face fourth-degree assault charges for the incident and he’s no longer volunteering for the Paul campaign. Sounds right. source
Look, you disagree with someone, you don’t stomp on their head outside of a debate. That’s a basic rule. So, even though you disagree with this MoveOn.org supporter, you don’t stomp on her head. Because that’s not classy. Rand Paul’s people agree with us on this one: “Violence of any kind has no place in our civil discourse and we urge supporters on all sides to be civil to one another as tensions rise heading toward this very important election.” Let us be clear here: We think there’s a lot of tension going on with this election. Both sides need to chill. source
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