http://www.kentucky.com/329/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Politics 60 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:06:37 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/396009.html http://www.kentucky.com/601/story/396009.html Mon, 05 May 2008 12:54 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464822.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464822.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:04 EDT
On trip to Mideast and Europe, Obama to meet with heads of state and opposition leaders ... McCain economic adviser Gramm leaves after 'nation of whiners' flap ... John McCain, Conan O'Brien agree that age jokes are getting old, look for new punch lines ...

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Obama to meet with leaders in Mideast, Europe

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama intends to sit down with European leaders as well as King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a campaign-season trip that aides described as substantive rather than political.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465358.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465358.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:34 EDT
So at a taping Friday night of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the host asked the Republican presidential candidate for some new material.

"We all agree on a take on you, which is your seniority," O'Brien said, as McCain, 71, pretended to fall asleep in his chair.

Speaking for all late night comedians, O'Brien said, "we're tired of this take on you," and asked the Arizona senator to give them some fresh material.

"Do you have a kooky uncle, do you have bad breath, webbed toes, anything?" O'Brien asked.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465306.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465306.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:04 EDT
The Illinois senator also is slated to meet with opposition leaders in Israel and Britain.

Officials have yet to provide precise dates for the trip, and have confirmed few details about the itinerary, citing security details. On a conference call with reporters, they said they were not yet ready to disclose where in Berlin Obama will speak when he delivers an address on U.S.-European relations.

"The trip is not at all a campaign trip, a rally of any sort," said spokesman Robert Gibbs. He said Obama would hold "a series of substantive meetings with our friends and our allies to talk about the common challenges that we face and the national security dangers for the 21st century."

Denis McDonough, a senior foreign policy adviser, said Obama would meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Conservative Party Leader David Cameron in Britain.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465195.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465195.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:34 EDT
McCain's sharply worded criticism was not limited to the ad. He said Friday that Obama would be facing a far less secure Iraq "if we had done what he wanted to do."

The 30-second ad, running on national cable and in 11 battleground states, is the hardest hit aimed at Obama so far by McCain.

"Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan," the ad's announcer says. "He hasn't been to Iraq in years. He voted against funding our troops. Positions that helped him win his nomination. Now Obama is changing to help himself become president."

The ad suggests that Obama was placing politics ahead of the country's interests. "John McCain has always supported our troops and the surge that's working. McCain. Country first," the ad states.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465053.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465053.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:19 EDT
Originally carrying a hefty price tag at $6.1 billion, the fleet of 28 helicopters being built to fly the next president is now projected to cost $11.2 billion.

At $400 million apiece, the helicopters far exceed a prime example McCain uses on the campaign trail to rail against congressional pork-barrel spending, a $230 million "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. The British have bought the same base model helicopter for $57 million each.

In separate interviews with The Associated Press, the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates pledged to look at the program but stopped short of saying whether it should be canceled. Any review after the next president takes office in January would butt up against the first deliveries of the helicopters, slated for 2010.

McCain labeled the contract growth a "scandal" before asking to revise his assessment "in a more polite way." He said the program is part of "an out-of-control procurement system that has to be fixed."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464980.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464980.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:31 EDT
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"We are worried that he might win the presidency and pull out (American) forces because chaos would prevail in Iraq and militias would return." - Mohammed Abbas, 19, Shiite primary school teacher in southern city of Hillah.

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"We hope Obama will fulfill his promise of pulling out American forces if he wins the election. If he is sincere with this pledge, we hope he wins." - Hussein Jassim, 35, Shiite laborer in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464979.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/464979.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:31 EDT
It's places like the dirt strip that crosses under a highway and leads to a small home - and a couple and their six grown children seeking to move forward in a city where violence has eased but life for many remains mired in economic miseries and few opportunities.

"I want to believe that the future for Baghdad is now better, that we've turned a corner," said Abdul-Karim Sami, a reed-thin 60-year-old who once hobnobbed with Baghdad's elite as a tennis coach. "I truly want to believe that."

Then he ticks off the family's list of woes: food costs so high they have cut back on all but essentials; jobs so scarce his oldest son peddles trinkets on the street despite a university degree in economics; not enough money left over for a doctor visit or any emergency.

"I pray every day that nobody gets sick," Sami said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/463309.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/463309.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
CINCINNATI . John McCain told the NAACP and some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private school.

The likely Republican presidential nominee addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights organization.

In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain said, to use vouchers and other tools such as merit pay for teachers to break from conventional thinking on educational policy.

Obama, he said, has dismissed support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/462231.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/462231.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
Americans are sharply divided by race heading into the first election in which an African-American will be a major-party presidential nominee.

Blacks and whites hold vastly different views of Sen. Barack Obama, the state of race relations and the way black Americans are treated by society, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The results of the poll . conducted against the backdrop of a campaign in which race has been a constant if not always overt issue . suggested that Obama's groundbreaking candidacy, although it has generated high levels of enthusiasm among black voters, is not seen by them as evidence of significant improvement in race relations.

After years of growing political polarization, much of the divide in American politics is partisan. But Americans' perceptions of the fall presidential election between Obama and Sen. John Mc.Cain also underline the racial discord that the poll found. More than 80 percent of black voters said they had a favorable opinion of Obama; the figure for white voters was about 30 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/462229.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/462229.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/461310.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/461310.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:17 EDT
FRANKFORT . Longtime state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, a Lexington Democrat, has decided not to seek re-election and will file Tuesday to run for a Fayette circuit judgeship in November.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Kathy Stein, a Lexington Democrat who is chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said she plans to run for Scorsone's Senate seat.

The Rev. Kelly Flood, former minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church on Clays Mill Road in Lexington and vice president of advancement for the Starr King for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif., said she has let Democratic Party officials in Lexington know that she is interested in replacing Stein in the House from the 75th District.

The change in the makeup of Fayette County's legislative delegation stems in part from Sheila Isaac's decision in June to step down as circuit judge in Fayette County's Seventh Division and enter the senior judge program. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/461261.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/461261.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:17 EDT
WASHINGTON . Barack Obama's campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is .tasteless and offensive..

The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands Monday, titled The Politics of Fear and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing sandals, robe and a turban, and his wife, Michelle, dressed in camouflage and combat boots with an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder.

The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantel in the Oval Office hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

.The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create,. said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. .But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/460860.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/460860.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:27 EDT
Adam Edelen, a 33-year-old longtime political junky and former restaurant executive, has taken over one of the most difficult posts in Kentucky politics: governor's chief of staff.

He replaced Jim Cauley, 42, who returns to his natural habitat of campaigns and elections after serving as Gov. Steve Beshear's top aide for the first six months of Beshear's term.

The chief of staff position has meant different things to those who held that post over the years. Democratic Gov. Paul Patton's chief of staff Skipper Martin served as a political compass. Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher's first chief of staff Daniel Groves tried to balance both politics and policy while Groves' successor, Stan Cave, focused more on policies and running the governor's office.

Edelen started in politics as a teenager working for Patton . even writing a key political speech for him in 1993 . has worked as an executive for Thomas . King, Inc., and has focused on education through various civic groups. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/462209.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/462209.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
FRANKFORT . The nearly 6,000 state employees who work in Frankfort and live outside Franklin County are keenly aware of the record-high cost of commuting to work.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced two initiatives Tuesday to help such state workers.

At a Capitol news conference, Beshear said the state is implementing a new carpooling Web site . www.kentucky.gov/carpool . to link commuting state employees.

And he is encouraging a more aggressive push toward flexible work hours instead of the traditional eight-hour Monday-through-Friday shifts. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/461314.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/461314.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:17 EDT
FRANKFORT . The officers in the brown cruisers who enforce commercial-vehicle regulations and safety laws on state highways soon will be working for the Kentucky State Police.

Gov. Steve Beshear has signed an executive order to abolish the Department of Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and make it a division in the state police.

Beshear said the reorganization will allow the new division to expand hours of operation at weigh stations to increase the inspection and records checks of hazardous cargo and save $750,000 to $1 million a year through efficiencies such as reducing fuel costs and centralizing facilities.

He said the 240 or so rank-and-file employees in vehicle enforcement will keep their jobs, but Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown said the two remaining managerial or non-merit positions might be lost or changed. Greg Howard left the vehicle-enforcement commissioner's spot last month. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/460577.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/460577.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:32 EDT
It's hardly news that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican State Senate President David Williams don't get along . or as Williams puts it: .I don't have any relationship with him..

But two of Kentucky's most powerful officials might be stuck with each other for at least three years, meaning that this fall's election season becomes a crucial juncture for the two men.

Williams will be working to keep his job as his chamber's president by helping Republican Senate candidates.

Beshear, the highest-ranking Democrat in Kentucky, also is expected to get involved on behalf of his party's Senate contenders in a bid to topple Williams. He has enthusiastically called for Democrats to .take back the Senate. in party rallies dating back to November. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/459180.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/459180.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:12 EDT
Facing potentially crippling jail costs, Kentucky's county judge-executives are looking to sue the state to recover the price of housing state criminals who are awaiting sentencing.

If they prevail, counties could save $60 million to $70 million a year, said LaRue County Judge-Executive Tommy Turner.

Members of the Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association, who are meeting in Lexington, voted unanimously Thursday to pursue a lawsuit, Turner said.

Specifically, they take issue with the state giving criminals credit for time served in county jails without reimbursing the counties for putting them up. County jails generally hold people charged with crimes until they are convicted and sentenced. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/458817.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/458817.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:07 EDT
The Kentucky Homeplace program, which helps rural residents get prescription drugs and other medical supplies, won't be ending its services in some counties after all.

The Department of Public Health, which provides the program's $1.9 million budget, is no longer cutting $80,000 from the program, as had been announced.

However, the restoration doesn't mean the program will be able to offer the same services as last year, said Fran Feltner, director of the lay health worker division at the University of Kentucky, which runs the program.

In Fulton, Hickman and Jackson counties, the offices will be open 75 percent of the time. In Warren County, the program will operate one to two days a week. Feltner hopes to .piece together ways. of covering offices in the northeast region. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/457138.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/457138.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:01 EDT
SHEPHERDSVILLE . As Kentucky politicians stumble over themselves to tout a three-wheeled electric car as a financial boon to the state and their gas price-weary constituents, an industry analyst suggests they use caution.

Two Republican state senators urged Gov. Steve Beshear Wednesday to sign an executive order allowing the use of three-wheeled electric vehicles on Kentucky roads except interstates in hopes of landing a ZAP electric-car factory for Integrity Manufacturing in Bullitt County that might employ up to 1,000 people.

But some skeptics say the Santa Rosa, Calif.,-based company known as ZAP, which currently makes the Zero Air Pollution cars in China, has a history of over-promising and under-delivering.

ZAP strongly denies the criticism and claims it stems from its competitors. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/635/story/414800.html http://www.kentucky.com/635/story/414800.html Sun, 25 May 2008 02:04 EDT
When Peters, Kennedy's Kanawha County campaign chairman, first took him around Charleston, W.Va., at least 20 percent of the people refused to shake his hand. So Kennedy spent 16 of the 30 days before the primary showing West Virginians "he wasn't wearing the pope's clothes," Peters said.

The campaign brought in Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., distributed 40,000 copies of a Reader's Digest story about Kennedy's heroism in World War II and spread around plenty of money. Kennedy won the primary, which helped propel him to the nomination.

The Obama campaign chose a different route -- a smattering of TV commercials and fliers about his Christian faith, but just one visit by the candidate to Kentucky and West Virginia this year. There was little direct conversation about voters' misconceptions of his religion, or about concerns relating to divisive remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

He lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton in both states by more than 30 points.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/204/story/460577.html http://www.kentucky.com/204/story/460577.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:32 EDT
It's hardly news that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican State Senate President David Williams don't get along . or as Williams puts it: .I don't have any relationship with him..

But two of Kentucky's most powerful officials might be stuck with each other for at least three years, meaning that this fall's election season becomes a crucial juncture for the two men.

Williams will be working to keep his job as his chamber's president by helping Republican Senate candidates.

Beshear, the highest-ranking Democrat in Kentucky, also is expected to get involved on behalf of his party's Senate contenders in a bid to topple Williams. He has enthusiastically called for Democrats to .take back the Senate. in party rallies dating back to November. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465444.html http://www.kentucky.com/727/story/465444.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:39 EDT
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, McCain spent more than $16 million on advertising during the month. That was five times more than he spent in May, when the Democratic presidential primary was still being contested by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3.

McCain also increased his spending on payroll in June by 9 percent to nearly three-quarters of a million dollars a month.

Overall, McCain's spending, more than twice what he spent in May, exceeded his fundraising in June by more than $4 million.

June was the best fundraising month of the Arizona senator's campaign, slightly exceeding his May fundraising. The increase was due to a better performance by a joint fundraising committee that McCain set up with the Republican National Committee.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/463310.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/463310.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. . Democrat Barack Obama warned Wednesday about the danger of .fighting the last war,. as he pledged to focus on emerging nuclear, biological and cyber threats if elected president.

Among those joining him for a panel at Purdue University were two potential running mates: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. As the ex-governor of a Republican state, Bayh could help Obama. Nunn, a defense expert from the South, would burnish the ticket's experience.

When asked whether he were interested in the job or had provided material to vetters, Bayh referred reporters to the Obama campaign.

Said Nunn: .Certainly I would talk to Sen. Obama if he wanted to talk about it, but I think the chance of an offer are pretty slim.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/463297.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/463297.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
FRANKFORT . Gov. Steve Beshear presented an $11 million check Wednesday for the building of the Kentucky Agriculture Heritage Center in Mercer County.

The center is a grass-roots project to preserve and promote Kentucky's agricultural heritage. It will showcase technology, provide workspaces and resources for farm organizations and interest groups, and contain educational resources, recreational activities and entertainment.

The state's agricultural history will be displayed through hands-on activities such as a walking farm tour, demonstrations, expositions and virtual agricultural experiences.

The center will be built on 50 acres of farmland at Anderson Circle Farm in Mercer County. ]]>