I guess I’m one of those stereotypically wild college kids, one who engages in irrational behavior. Behavior such as waving campaign signs on the corner of West Main and Cox streets in Lexington, Ky., at 9:30 a.m. in sub-freezing temperatures on Presidents Day.
Prior to this excursion, I had no connection to, and little knowledge of, Kentucky. I knew it was technically called a commonwealth, and not a state, and that Kentucky is known for its horseracing prowess. The second fact was confirmed while riding along Man ‘O War street. Man ‘O War is considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time, winning 20 races in 21 starts.
By the time I returned to D.C., I would learn much more about this state, er, commonwealth. First, I had to learn about the person for whom I was campaigning. Before reaching the bluegrass state, I knew three things about the politician the Democratic Congressional Coordinating Committee set me up with on a political blind date. I knew his name – Ben Chandler – his former position – Kentucky’s attorney general – and his view on gun control – an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. OK, so two out of three ain’t bad.
On the 13-hour bus ride – it would have been shorter, but the bus driver got lost in West Virginia – to Kentucky, we got a crash course on the race.
The congressional seat became vacant when Republican Ernie Fletcher defeated Chandler in the race for governor. The governor’s seat was vacant because of scandal with former Democratic Governor Paul Patton. Chandler, as attorney general, was key in investigating the scandal. Interestingly, in Patton’s first win as governor, he defeated Larry Forgy, the brother of Alice Forgy-Kerr, the Republican candidate challenging Chandler. Kentuckians must have figured out they can save money on running for office by having the same people, or at least people with the same name, always run for political office. Just cross out the old office on the sign, and write in a new one.
Part of the entertainment to help us cope with the long bus ride was a video collage of campaign commercials. The spots were the same level of enlightened discourse Americans have come to expect from political advertising. In other words, they had the pleasantry of first graders fighting over a toy truck.
This point of negative advertising was driven home by the first person I talked with while canvassing in Georgetown, Ky. He said he was a life-long Democrat but, with all the negativity, he wasn’t going out to vote.
Another woman I talked with said the women in her office decided they should vote for the libertarian candidate, simply because he didn’t have any ads. This woman was, by the way, a Democrat from Chandler’s hometown, Versailles (Kentuckians pronounce it Ver-Sales). It makes you wonder how many voters either side lost because of the ads.
Maybe the negative ads shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Kentucky politics has a history of being cutthroat, literally. Kentucky is the only state to have a governor assassinated while in office. William Goebel was walking into the Kentucky state house to be sworn in when he was shot. He was given the oath of office on his deathbed, and died shortly after. Makes those attack ads seem quite rosy, doesn’t it?
While canvassing, I couldn’t help but notice that I was trying to encourage people to get out and vote for a guy who, 36 hours prior, I couldn’t have picked out of a line-up that included the Harlem Globetrotters. Just so you know, if you see him around D.C., Chandler looks sort of like Bill Gates, if Gates were a politician.
Fortunately, I found Chandler to be the better candidate, in my clearly unbiased opinion. Even if he wasn’t, I guess I could have consoled myself with the fact that someone who would decrease the chance of Tom Delay as majority leader was better than someone who would increase it. Honestly, though, if I had to do it over again, I would have read up more on the race before going.
Feb. 17, the voters of Kentucky’s sixth district chose Chandler by a margin of 55 percent to 43 percent over Forgy-Kerr. The libertarian candidate got nearly 2 percent. Chandler’s win means the Democrats have gained one more seat in the House. Because this was a special election, he’ll have to defend it again in the fall. It looks like I may be going back to Cox and West Main to hold up some more signs in the cold.
-The writer, a freshman majoring in political science, is a Hatchet columnist.
