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Former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear offered the Democratic response to President Trump‘s speech before Congress Tuesday night. No matter what Beshear was saying — and no doubt he said a lot of inspiring stuff — it was a little hard to take him seriously because I couldn’t stop thinking about the late religious whacko Marshall Applewhite. Applewhite, who organized the Heaven’s Gate Cult, gained notoriety in 1997 when he convinced 39 people to commit suicide by telling them that martians would give them new bodies. No doubt the two men don’t have a lot in common except for those piercing...

Dem response... What more can be said of that sad crowd with Governor Beshear...

Hillary Clinton says it’s “time people stopped listening to Republican propaganda.” The remark was pushback from the likely Democratic presidential nominee against a vocal critic during a rally in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on Monday. Clinton was praising the record of former Gov. Steven Beshear, a Democrat, noting education and employment gains, as well as his expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Clinton then said that Republican Gov. Matt Bevin is “trying to undo it all.” …

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit that a Kentucky clerk filed against the state for requiring her to issue marriage licenses that contained her name to same-sex couples. […] Davis sued then-Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and another state official, but Beshear left office in December. Republican Gov. Matt Bevin replaced him and signed an executive order removing the names of county clerks from marriage license forms. …

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Records have revealed that on its last day in office, Kentucky's Steve Beshear administration awarded a no-bid contract of about $3 million to a technology company that retains the husband of one of Beshear's top officials as a consultant and employs one of Beshear's former officials as a lobbyist. Citing records it obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act, The Courier-Journal reports that on Dec. 7 the administration awarded a contract to SAS Institute of Cary, North Carolina to extend work that SAS was doing in analyzing data to detect fraud in billings made to Medicaid...

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear on Tuesday signed an executive order restoring voting rights to most felons in state in an action that he said will affect some 180,000 people. Once felons have completed their sentences, including any probation or parole, and have made court-mandated restitution, they will have their rights automatically restored as long as they have no additional cases pending, Beshear said. Previously, felony offenders needed to apply to the governor's office to have their voting rights restored. Now, Beshear said, the Department of Corrections will make the determination. "The old system is unfair," Beshear said. "It's counterproductive. We...

Gov. Steve Beshear gave a forceful defense of federal health programs he enacted during his final term in office, urging Gov.-elect Matt Bevin, who campaigned aggressively on scrapping the state-based exchange kynect and altering expanded Medicaid, to reconsider his position on Friday. Beshear mentioned Bevin by name repeatedly during a Capitol news conference highlighting recent health progress in the state, pointing to statistics showing increased health coverage and economic activities in his appeal to the Republican. “During election season the political rhetoric tends to be strong and the promises bold,” said Beshear, a Democrat. “But the fun and games are...

Last night's off-year elections produced a number of noteworthy outcomes, none larger than Republican Matt Bevin's upset victory in Kentucky's gubernatorial race. Bevin ran as a hard-charging outsider conservative, warts and all. Public polls gave his opponent, Democrat Jack Conway, a modest but stable lead throughout the race's home stretch, averaging out to a three-point Conway advantage in a three-way contest. They were off by double digits. Bevin won handily:DailyKos tweet at link ... Bevin, boosted by a massive investment from national Republicans and help from his former nemisis Mitch McConnell, nationalized the race, tying Conway to President Obama at...

LOUISVILLE (AP) - Here is a look at Kentucky's top races in Tuesday's general election, from the contest for governor at the top of the ticket to down-ballot races for statewide offices: GOVERNOR Democrat Jack Conway and Republican Matt Bevin square off in the race to become Kentucky's next governor in a pivotal off-year election. The winner succeeds Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who could not seek re-election because of term limits. The campaign turned into a referendum on President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Outgoing Gov. Steve Beshear used an executive order to expand the state's Medicaid program to...

<p>Incredible - after the scathing auditors report, they are able to do this - read the excuses given.</p>

The campaign of Democratic attorney general candidate Andy Beshear is attempting to have an ad by the Republican Attorneys General Association removed from Lexington airwaves. The ad first was launched on Tuesday in the Lexington market where the 30-second spot is airing on: WLEX-TV, WKYT-TV and WTVQ-TV. As previously reported, the spot highlights Republican candidate Whitney Westerfield, a Hopkinsville attorney and the state Senate Judiciary chairman, as having spent time as a prosecutor “who put criminals behind bars.” The ad targets Beshear for having a lack of law enforcement experience, having a campaign “funded by special interests he would oversee...

As throngs of Kentucky Derby-goers packed Churchill Downs on Saturday, Kentucky Democrats are enjoying another race that could come down to the wire later this month: the Republican gubernatorial primary. “It’s a lot of fun,” House Speaker Greg Stumbo said of the four-way GOP primary. Gov. Steve Beshear added: “They’re having a good time it looks like among the four of them going back and forth.” This year’s race for the governorship is an oddity, with only Attorney General Jack Conway seeking the Democratic nomination among prominent contenders after a rich history of competitive primaries when that office is open....

Governor Steve Beshear says Kentucky risks running off the “progressive path” it’s on if voters give the GOP a majority of state House seats. Beshear made the comments in Barren County Thursday. Democrats currently hold a 54-to-46 advantage in the chamber, but Republicans have made a major push to win control of the House for the first time in more than 90 years. To help Democratic incumbents, Beshear has been on the road this week, announcing funding for infrastructure projects in districts where these members are facing competitive challenges by Republican candidates. Beshear said if the GOP does gain control...

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is betting bottles of big name bourbon on the Final Four game when the University of Kentucky takes on the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday in Dallas. Beshear and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made a friendly wager Tuesday on the game, betting items from the signature industries of each state. The Kentucky bourbon basket wagered by Beshear will include some of the state’s most well-known Bourbon brands such as Woodford Reserve, Maker’s Mark, Four Roses, Elijah Craig and others as well as glasses and apparel. If Kentucky wins, Beshear will receive a gift of some of Wisconsin’s...

Andy Beshear, the first Democratic candidate to announce for attorney general in 2015, will raise money in Louisville on Feb. 25 — hours after Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes’ event with former President Bill Clinton. Grimes and Clinton will be appearing at the Louisville’s Galt House for a fundraiser at 11 a.m. The campaign manager for Beshear, a Louisville lawyer and the son of [Ky.]Gov. Steve Beshear, said in response to questions from Pure Politics that the Beshear fundraiser was “scheduled several months ago” and will start five hours after the Grimes event ends. Jared Smith, Beshear’s campaign...

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address once again highlighted to the nation the political dichotomy that the Affordable Care Act has created in Kentucky. One minute Obama was giving a mid-address shout-out to Gov. Steve Beshear over his implementation of the health care law. And the next minute, Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell was issuing a critical three-paragraph response to Obama’s speech focusing on the Obamacare section particularly. “Obamacare is wreaking havoc with Kentucky’s economy and for the nation’s economy and unfortunately the president’s doubled down on that,” McConnell said in his statement. “So, it’s discouraging to see...

Gov. Steve Beshear said Tuesday he has now talked with actress Ashley Judd about how “seriously” she’s considering running for U.S. Senate in 2014 against Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. While Beshear would not go into detail on the conversation, he did say that he is convinced that Judd is “seriously considering a race for United States Senate in the Democratic primary.” Beshear told reporters Tuesday at a bill signing that he thinks Judd could be an “effective and formidable opponent” against McConnell in a general election. Beshear has a good idea of what that takes having lost by double-digit...

Cincinnati Fire Fighters (IAFF) member Doug Stern says yesterday’s overwhelming rejection of Gov. John Kasich’s (R) attempt to eliminate collective bargaining rights of workers like firefighters, nurses, teachers, bridge inspectors and others shows: [T]he citizens of Ohio spoke and they made it loud and clear that the focus of government should be on creating sustainable middle class jobs, rather than  pushing a partisan political agenda. Stern, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Louise Foresman, a member of Working America from Cleveland, took part in a telephone press conference this afternoon about the stunning victory for working families that sent Issue 2 down to...

FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear on Thursday signed into law a controversial measure that will let optometrists perform some laser eye surgeries. Ophthalmologists — eye surgeons who graduated from medical school — fought the bill, arguing that optometrists are not qualified to perform surgery. Optometrists do not attend medical school, but they do receive four years of optometry training after graduating from college and are trained to detect vision defects and prescribe corrective lenses. But Beshear sided with the optometrists, who promoted Senate Bill 110 as offering better access to health care. Many rural areas of the state have optometrists...

Yesterday, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that his state’s Creationism Museum will soon be joined by a creationism theme park named “Ark Encounter,” making Kentucky the unofficial creationism capital of our 6,000-year-old world. Some of the “edutainment” promised by the park include a Walled City, a Tower of Babel, and a “500-foot-long wooden replica of Noah’s Ark” that, as was revealed in the press conference, will feature dinosaurs. A representative from Answers in Genesis, the group that will operate the theme park, stepped in yesterday when Gov. Beshear was asked by a reporter, “Will there be dinosaurs on the Ark?”...