This is absurd and sickening...
Tell us how you REALLY feel.
Seriously, the objective is to win the Governorship. The selection of Hunter Bates as running mate for Dr. Fletcher appears to be a good move. Mr. Bates will appeal to the younger voters. Plus Hunter Bates is apparently a bright guy, has demonstrated his willingness to work hard and is from a small Kentucky town.
Mt guess is we'll get down to a race between Fletcher/Bates on the Republican side verses Ben Chandler (D) plus his running mate. This promises to be quite a battle IMO.
Attorney General Ben Chandler and Louisville businessman Charlie Owen, who figured to be rivals in the Democratic primary for governor, instead became running mates Tuesday.
Chandler leads the slate as the candidate for governor. Owen is running for lieutenant governor. They are the first to officially enter the Democratic primary, and they began the campaign at a rousing rally in Versailles, Chandler's hometown, Tuesday night.
Owen, a multimillionaire who was perceived by many as being able to self-finance a campaign, said he agreed to accept a lower spot on a slate with Chandler in order to unite a significant segment of the Democratic Party. Asked whether he was committed to spending a full, four-year term as lieutenant governor or if he might run for U.S. Senate in 2004, Owen said talk of a possible Senate campaign was "really raw speculation. ... I am totally concentrated on the office of lieutenant governor."
In the speech launching his campaign, Chandler made no specific promises and worked his way carefully around some sticky issues, such as the sudden possibility of an unbalanced state budget as revenues decline. "I will not rely on higher taxes to address Kentucky's needs," Chandler told his audience. When asked by reporters if he was making the pledge against higher taxes, Chandler said only that he was "not interested in raising any taxes, and we'll just leave it at that." "We'll talk about specifics of a lot of things as the campaign gets going," he said.
Chandler, 43, is the grandson and namesake of Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, who was elected governor in 1935 and 1955. In between, the elder Chandler was a U.S. senator and commissioner of baseball. Ben Chandler has himself won three statewide elections, beginning with a campaign for state auditor in 1991. He is nearing the end of his second term as attorney general and cannot run for a third.
House Speaker Jody Richards of Bowling Green is scheduled to enter the primary on Thursday. A third candidate, Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, is expected to file in about two weeks. On Monday, U.S. Rep. Ernie Fletcher of Lexington became the first Republican to officially enter the race. His running mate is Hunter Bates, who was chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and also managed McConnell's recent re-election campaign.
Fletcher might not be my first choice, but you nor I can come up with anything that would make him bad for KY. Without demonstrated negatives, not personal dislike, I will back him. He is head and shoulders above the contemptous, corrupted crap the Dims will front so stifle your Goreish, Daschell inspired whining Democrat rant.
I thought it was politics.