Tater Days and The Pearl of the Purchase (with Josh)
We began this week’s U.S. Senate Campaign sweep through the state bright and early at Kentucky Lake and drove to Benton in the Purchase for the Tater Day Event. Tater Day is an annual three day event in Marshall County from April 5 through 7. It is in celebration of the sweet potato and several thousand Kentuckians who take pride in their Purchase lifestyle participate in it.
Started in 1842 with the trading and selling of sweet potatoes, this year’s “old time country fair” featured activities for every interest and taste: a flea market, cook-off, arts and crafts show, fiddler’s contest, beauty pageants, gospel singing, carnival, parade and the Tater Day Trot.
The pancake breakfast was given by the Lion’s Club at Benton Elementary School: a big shout out to Rich Hendrickson (president of the Benton Lion’s Club) and all the volunteers for putting on a great benefit. Herman Ford (frm. Marshall County Jailer) stopped by as did Deputy R.K. Byars, just to keep order I assume. Couldn’t possibly be those pancakes!
From there Greg did a radio interview and we prepared for the parade ride in a convertible. We picked up Greg and the volunteer folks at the Marshall Judicial Center. Armed with tons of candy, we set out to satisfy the sweet tooth of everybody in town.
We had the only Senatorial candidate in the parade whose theme was “Remember the Troops.”
After the festivities, Greg we went south to Murray for lunch with City Councilman Dave Ramey; then Greg met with Mayor Rushing, County Judge Executive Larry Elkins and the County PVA Ronnie Jackson. We also went to the Calloway County Jail to shake hands with Calloway County Jailer Phil Hazle and Zee Enix. Check out the story in the Murray Ledger and Times about Greg!
Then we went west to “The Pearl of the Purchase”, Mayfield, Kentucky in Graves County. It’s the home of author Bobbie Ann Mason and Alben Barkley—Harry Truman’s “Veep”. There Greg had a very welcoming and productive meeting with Barry Kennemore the County Clerk. We finished the day with dinner and TV interview at the Oasis Restaurant near Eddyville.
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What Say You?
Today is the second day of testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the American Ambassador to Iraq over the status of the Iraq War.
General Petraeus says:
“We haven’t turned any corners. We haven’t seen any lights at the end of the tunnel.” New York Times, April 9, 2008
Here’s what my opponent Bruce Lunsford says: “I pray for the safe return home of our troops.”
I too pray for our troops’ safety but I also offer a real plan to safely and responsibly end America’s participation in this war and bring our troops home swiftly, safely and responsibly.
Mitch McConnell has recklessly offered George Bush a blank check to fund this irresponsible and misleading war. We’re spending $12 billion per month, more than 4,000 American troops killed and losing our moral authority in the world. Meanwhile, those in Kentucky fear losing their own homes and fore go the building of schools and roads so we can build them in other Iraq.
It’s time to responsibly and safely end our commitment in Iraq.
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Blue America Welcomes Greg Fischer
Greg was endorsed on Saturday by the Blue America PAC which is comprised of the prominent Crooks & Liars, Firedoglake, Digby, and Down With Tyranny Blogs. Their motto is,"We have got to elect more and better Democrats.” To view the original posting click here.
By: Howie Klein Saturday April 5, 2008 11:00 am
It would be hard to imagine anything more politically satisfying than seeing Bush’s #1 Senate obstructionist, Mitch McConnell, defeated in his re-election bid this November. Back in February we had a little Blue America session with a man claiming he wanted to run against McConnell, Andrew Horne. It was the only candidate chat we’ve ever had where we didn’t endorse the candidate or put him on our Blue America page. Horne seemed ok but… there was something that wasn’t quite right. And, sure enough, a few days after our session, he pulled out of the race under odd circumstances and 2 days ago he endorsed the man he had denigrated and castigated right here. I hope he was rewarded handsomely enough to sleep at night.
Fortunately there is a progressive Democrat running against McConnell-- Greg Fischer, who I’ve been talking with on the phone and corresponding with for a couple of months. And Greg has won Blue America’s endorsement and is on our Blue America page (which I hope you’ll visit and make use of to help defeat LunsfordMcConnell).
Before Greg can get to McConnell, he has to take on one of McConnell’s long-time allies, a fake Democrat many of us will remember from when he tried defeating first Ben Chandler and then, last year, Steve Beshear in gubernatorial primaries in which Kentucky voters, smelling a Republican in Democrat’s clothing, firmly rebuffed him both times-- although not until he had spent $14 million. Don’t cry for him; he’s stinkin’ rich. Which is why he has a powerful ally this time, a senator who has a nose for the smell of money as acute as McConnell’s; yep, the Kentucky version of Zell Miller/Joe Lieberman is being pushed by… Chuck Schumer.
It’s hard to imagine that there’s anyone who reads any of the Blue America blogs who doesn’t understand why Mitch McConnell is one of the worst members of the U.S. Senate. But for anyone who’s just accidentally wandered in here looking for Barack Obama’s bowling score, here are some key points to remember from now until November:
On the Economy:
• McConnell voted NO on repealing the tax subsidy for companies that move U.S. jobs offshore.
• Voted against the Temporary Relief Act of 2007 that would have provided 23 million middle-class families with more than $50 billion in tax relief by protecting them
from paying the Alternative Minimum Tax.
• Voted NO on increasing tax deductions for college tuition.
• Voted to block the Foreclosure Prevention Act in February and yesterday caved into pressure and voted to negotiate with the Senate Democrats on compromise
legislation.
• Has a lifetime 11% rating from the AFL-CIO.
On Health Care:
• McConnell voted NO on expanding SCHIP eligibility.
• He voted against allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices just as the Veterans Administration presently does.
• Supports President Bush’s health care policy of personal Health Savings Accounts.
On Iraq:
• Last July he led an all-night filibuster in favor of an open-ended commitment in Iraq.
• Last September he blocked the proposal, introduced by Senator Webb (D-VA), that would have added time between deployments, forced the withdrawal of troops on
a substantially swifter timeline and protected troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.
• Has continued to block legislation to withdrawal our troops from Iraq.
That’s why Greg is running for office. I’m going to let Greg, who-- like Lunsford-- hasn’t held elective office, speak for himself on the issues. He fits the Blue America requirements of advocating a safe and speedy withdrawal from Iraq, favoring privacy and choice, favoring equality for all Americans, and favoring real campaign finance reform.
His positions on health care come out of his business experience. And it was his business experience that attracted me to his candidacy, since it was something I was able to assess in terms of my own experience. Like Greg, I founded a small company. Each of us also ran large companies. I learned early on that the most successful way to run a business is to run it for the long term, not just to squeeze out short term profits. A business run with employees, customers, shareholders and the community in mind is a business to be proud of and is the kind of business that succeeds. It’s the way I ran my company and it’s the way Greg runs his.
Lunsford’s business history is a nightmare of lawsuits, Medicare fraud, government raids and bankruptcies. Lunsford has a record of ethics questions to rival McConnell’s own. And as Lunsford’s newest supporter, Andrew Horne, told us, “We can’t beat McConnell with McConnell-lite.”
Please take a look at this video of Greg talking about why he’s running when you get a chance. And please consider even a small contribution to his campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page.
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On the road with Greg - Princeton and Madisonville visits
From Josh Mather-
This weekend was a great one for our campaign. On Saturday we left Louisville and drove to western KY, arriving at the Majestic Restaurant in Princeton for the First District Democratic Woman’s Club Meeting & Lunch in Princeton. This inspiring group of women is working hard for change. Kathy Jo Stubblefield, Director of the First District Woman’s Club, and Diane Wood, state president of the Kentucky’s Democratic Woman’s Clubs are leading the charge.
After the lunch in Princeton we traveled to Madisonville for the Gov. Ruby Laffoon Dinner where all routes to the event were cover by Fischer for Senate signs. This event normally draws 300 people but attendance ballooned to 3000 this year because Hillary Clinton signed on as the keynote speaker. Our campaign clearly stood out as the most organized friendly and vociferous force for change at the dinner. Our volunteers were alive with energy as our message of restoring common sense to Washington and the promise of Kentucky resonated throughout the night. Great job to the Fischer team!!
The Hillbilly Report will have video of the event posted at http://www.hillbillyreport.com soon.
Noticeably absent, once again, from the candidates was Bruce Lunsford who was in Dubai at a horse race. His campaign staff did not even seem to think that there was anything wrong with that given that the Laffoon event is the biggest gathering of Democrats in western Kentucky. Here we are shaking hands with the good folks of western Kentucky while Lunsford is shaking hands with the sheiks in Dubai – what’s wrong with this picture?! Anyway, the other candidates are taking the Senate race seriously and treating the people of Kentucky with the respect that is deserved when a person wishes to serve as a US Senator.
As a final note, the Hopkins County Democratic Party, chaired by Brenda Harris Glover and the entire city of Madisonville, led by Mayor Will Cox, did a world class job organizing the growth of the event with only a few days notice after they learned that the Clinton campaign would be attending – very impressive organization!
We arrived back in Louisville around 2am - a little tired, but feeling good about a productive day on the road.
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