We’re heading into the home stretch of the 2014 elections, and new polling shows the U.S. Senate race may be as close as ever.
The panel on this weekend’s Comment on Kentucky discussed the latest Bluegrass Poll, which showed incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell with a 1-point lead over his Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes. Ironically, the McConnell campaign called the survey an outlier.
Joe Arnold of WHAS-TV in Louisville says Republicans challenged the Bluegrass Poll on two factors: they say an average of several recent polls gives McConnell a 4-point lead over Grimes. They also contend the incumbent has had a significant advantage with male voters, while the new Bluegrass Poll shows the two candidates nearly even with men. To further emphasize their point, the McConnell camp released an internal poll that puts their candidate up by 8 points.
Arnold says the survey also showed interesting trends in how voters view the candidates. While McConnell’s favorability numbers continue to be upside-down, his unfavorable percentage has decreased in recent weeks. The new poll also showed likely voters giving Grimes more unfavorable than favorable marks for the first time during the campaign.
So who can get more voters to cast ballots on Election Day? Joe Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal says both campaigns are launching “historic” get out the vote efforts. He explains that the Grimes and McConnell camps are micro-targeting individuals that don’t normally vote. They hope to convince these individuals that it’s in their best interests to vote in the Senate race this year.
Gerth says he also expects both candidates to continue their bus tours around the state. And he reports the Grimes campaign is working to schedule another visit from Hillary Clinton or former President Bill Clinton.
State House Contests
Kentucky Republicans hope their legislative candidates can pick up five seats in the state House and gain control of that chamber.
Joe Arnold says Republicans thought they had a good chance of taking the House going into this election cycle. Now he thinks their ability to swing the House looks somewhat less likely. Arnold and Joe Gerth outlined several key House races for voters to watch:
- In far western Kentucky, a national GOP group is using direct mail to target 3rd House District incumbent Gerald Watkins in his race against Randy Bridges. And Republicans are making a strong push in the 6th House District to help Keith Travis unseat incumbent Democrat Rep. Will Coursey.
- In the Louisville area, former Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney Dave Stengel is facing long-time Republican incumbent Rep. Kevin Bratcher in the 29th District. And two former state legislators are vying for the new 49th House District seat in Bullitt County: Democrat Linda Belcher and Republican Michael Nemes.
- Finally in central Kentucky, the 39th District race in parts of Jessamine and Fayette Counties is an open contest to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Bob Damron. Bill Bryant of WKYT-TV in Lexington says it’s a “tough and brutal” race between Republican Jonah Mitchell and Democrat Russ Meyer.
Bourbon and Betting
A new study from the University of Louisville’s Urban Studies Institute says bourbon has rapidly grown into a $3 billion business in Kentucky
Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Leader says that in the last two years, the number of people employed in the industry nearly doubled to more than 15,000. She says that’s more than now work in the state’s struggling coal industry. Blackford says she’s interested to see how bourbon producers will wield their increasing political power. She also explains that Kentucky distilleries currently get about 40 percent of their corn from state growers, and they have plans to purchase even more grain from local farmers.
And Lexington’s Keeneland thoroughbred track announced plans to partner with the Red Mile harness race track on an instant gambling parlor. Blackford says Keeneland had originally proposed building the betting facility at their track. The new parlor will be at the Red Mile, pending approval of the state racing commission.
Blackford also reports that Keeneland is proceeding with plans to build Quarter Horse track in Corbin. Keeneland officials will acquire the license for the new venue from a failing harness track in Prestonsburg.
–The opinions expressed on Comment on Kentucky and in this program synopsis are the responsibility of the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of KET.
