Speaking of endorsements, we hear Greg Fischer’s campaign is pressuring legislators under the control of Christie & Owsley Brown II the appear at an endorsement press conference this Thursday. Names on the list include Mary Lou Marzian and David Karem. So it’s mostly folks who have already been working for Fischer for months.

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, State Auditor Crit Luallen, Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo all told him to stick his misleading attack ad where the sun doesn’t shine. While at the same time sending the hushed message across the bow of Fischer’s sinking ship that he is finished in Kentucky politics if he doesn’t heed their warning. (Yes, that’s the same John Yarmuth backed by wealthy Fischer backers Christie & Owsley Brown.)

So, what’d Greg Fischer decide to do? Besides begging the press to dig out the skeletons in his closet? Why, he’s decided to snub the noses of the Courier-Journal, Paducah Sun, and those four powerful Democrats named above.

Greg Fischer has sorely underestimated the influence of Bruce Lunsford’s quiet backers with every action his campaign has taken. And now he’s insulted them all. His high-level campaign staff has already started jumping ship, as we exclusively reported, and he’s still 25 percentage points behind Lunsford in the polls. How well do you think that’s going to work for him just two weeks shy of the election?

In the wake of the controversy/disagreement/whatever surrounding the Council on Postsecondary Education and Governor Beshear, Brad Cowgill has resigned. Regardless of your personal opinion, now Steve Beshear gets what he a wants– a national search for Cowgill’s replacement. [Hebert]

With stories like these, we’re not sure how Holocaust education isn’t mandated in all of Kentucky’s schools. Without it we’ll continue to have genocidal maniacs like those in Darfur, Rwanda and Nazi Germany. [C-J, C-J]

This has nothing to do with Kentucky, but check out this Greene County (MO) Sheriff’s comments on former “American Idol” contestant Jason Yeager. “The way I hear Jason sing the national anthem makes you want to go out and kill a communist,” Merritt said. “If that doesn’t make you patriotic, nothing will.” HAHAHAHA. What. [News-Leader]

Oh, right. Owsley Brown II– a man responsible for raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for George W. Bush and Mitch McConnell– says Steve Beshear is remaining neutral in the race.

Take a look at the video from yesterday and hit Google a few times. You’ll quickly learn that Steve Beshear personally pressured/asked/coerced Bruce Lunsford to jump into the Senate race after Greg Fischer had made it clear he was going to run.

And this video of Mark Hebert on Comment on Kentucky announcing that Steve Beshear is backing Bruce Lunsford for Senate.

What was that again? Steve Beshear? Neutral in the Senate race? Right.

We have a lot to say about the endorsement, but will keep it brief for now.

If Andrew Horne– who has a support base in Louisville– is endorsing Bruce, why have the press conference announcing such an event in Frankfort? That alone alienates the blogosphere and dampens any impact Andrew could have on his following.

More after the jump…

Like Mark Hebert, we’re not sure this is such “a big deal.” Bruce already leads the pack of Democratic Senate contenders by leaps and bounds. He is the obvious Democratic nominee come May. This won’t bring supporters to him. Must be ceremonial?

We’re fans of Andrew here and consider Bruce a friend so it’s tough to be too critical. We understand why he’s doing it, but think it’s silly for a man like Andrew Horne to publicly get behind the very person who caused him indirectly to be pushed out of the race. Things change, sure, but what happened to sticking to your guns? He should have remained silent, allowing the message that the DSCC/Beshear/et. al. strong-armed him to continue to spread while Bruce waltzes through the primary. Now we have to dredge up all of this anti-Schumer sentiment again.

The one thing this does is solidify in the minds of many that Christy & Owsley Brown are no longer the kingmakers they once thought they were. We can safely say that their chosen candidate, Greg Fischer, is done. His goose is cooked (now that Horne supporters know who not to back, as if they didn’t already know). The small grassroots community officially isn’t standing behind Fischer after all, as his campaign has alleged. Interesting to note: We hear the Browns are upset with Greg because he refuses to spend his own money on the race. We told you so.

Long story short, strange things happen in politics. Ironically, we bet that thousands will still vote for Horne in the May primary instead of casting their vote for Lunsford.

This is just going to be another random smattering of crap about last night. No particular order or importance. Just thoughts as they come to us. Some photos thrown in here and there. And don’t ask us what anyone talked about because we don’t remember. You can go read Hebert’s take on things if you want serious discussion. Or Jeff Noble’s take. Because, as Rick points out, every major media outlet ignored the event. Even though one of their own was the moderator.

We stood in the back of the room watching the huge crowd. Joe Sonka was there and so were some others folks of importance. Importance to us, anyway. Someone very important gave us two (2!) boxes of Samoas!

You see that? Crunchy, tasty, goo-y, chocolate-y, coconut-y goodness. Better than a Kit-Kat.

Mark Hebert was the only real entertaining part of the event. He had an interesting exchange with congressional candidate Heather Ryan that nearly made us and our super-handsome guest wet ourselves. For real. We take our Heeeeb for granted sometimes but we’re glad to have him on the tube talking about politics and cats in trees. Everyone send him thanks for moderating the “debate” last night. We heart him.

Waaaay more drama, photos and all-around muckraking after the jump. Don’t miss it.

First, let me just say it: verbally attacking our Republican friend with the video camera was complete cowardice horse shit. I don’t care what your reasoning is, Google civility, people. You should be ashamed. Had we been within earshot of your attack we totally would have had a homo moment. Nails would have been snapped off, earrings put in our pocketbook and the weave woulda been snatched right offa your head! Not cool. Holding differing political beliefs and social opinions or whatever is not a reason to treat anyone like they’re from Southern Indiana.

Can’t even begin to tell you how infuriated we are. People we admire were behind the rudeness, even. Ugh. Stop it! For the record: We’ll be personally inviting him to every Democratic gathering involving our senatorial candidates from now on so everyone can just hold their pissy little horsies.

Wait for it… Greg Fischer doesn’t suck. He’s gotten fairly decent on the stump and has learned to share his personality with the crowd. Though he didn’t remember to tell everyone how skinny we are (didn’t bring us cookies/gin/tequila either), well, we’d be lying if we said we didn’t like him and what he had to say. (Note: If anyone remembers what he said, please let us know because everything everyone said was so boring.)

Fischer had a photographer filming his every move (he’s a local, even, because that apparently matters) throughout the evening.

Here’s Fischer’s campaign manager, A.J. Carrillo, of Page One comment infamy:

Everyone in Michael Cassaro’s posse was wearing a bluetooth headset. What gives? Was over-the-top and strange. Not to mention waaaaay tacky. It’s like wearing socks with flip-flops. You just don’t do it outside of your car or Walgreen’s.

Wait. This dude wasn’t wearing a headset:

Cassaro is improving a bit on the stump but we’re increasingly puzzled about why he’s in this race. There’s no way on earth I’d let him speak before a crowd or answer questions on-the-record. He says he’ll have the money and that he will be the next U.S. Senator from Kentucky. Admirable ambition and all that. But wow. Really? He’s a very nice guy and all of his staff seem to be good-hearted folks. But there’s almost no way they’re not at least a little embarrassed when he stumbles around trying to answer questions about “special wiretapping courts” and such.

Because, let’s face it, Mitch McConnell and George Dubya don’t have to be mentioned every five seconds. It’s not good for the blood pressure or our short attention span. Hello, bloggers are like gnats. You’re either saying something with which we may form a sound byte or you’re being entertaining– if you want us to notice. Otherwise it’s all just white noise.

Hillbilly Jim Pence was there filming. He didn’t wear a tie.

Mary Moss Money Lady showed up. There are only like two things she shows up for: John Yarmuth and anything to do with Christy & Owsley. Note that she sat by Greg Fischer’s wife, Alex, whom we eavesdropped on and instantly decided we want her to run for something instead of her husband.

Virginia Woodward came to something that wasn’t for women only! I know, I know. We couldn’t believe it either. No leopard print to be seen.

KDP Chairwoman Jennifer Moore made an appearance. We’re having lunch next week so we asked her not to poison us or feed us pork. Consider this a very public record if we end up hospitalized or missing next week.

Perennial candidate Kenneth Stepp and family showed up during the “debate” and were very nice.

First District Congressional candidate Heather Ryan came with husband and baby in-tow.

Trey Pollard, a guy from Virginia hired by new startup Politicker to write about Kentucky politics (good luck, outsiders!) was in attendance. Had a few moments to chat and brag about how powerful and influential we are.

It kept getting later and later and more boring by, well, the minute. This is a shot of us trying not to keel over. Or, as famous and important blogger Joe Sonka (who was shielded by a wall of powerful gay mafioso) said, “Thank goodness I didn’t have a sharp object to jab into my head!”

Some people were really mad that we wrote about Bruce Lunsford being uninvited and re-invited here and here. We’re sorry to upset anyone but we’ve only reported what we’ve heard first-hand with our own ears from multiple people. Just because we count Bruce as a friend and have worked for him in the past doesn’t mean we work for him now– remember that– because we don’t judge everyone else for having worked for people we detest.

Oh, the hot topic of discussion throughout the evening was about Bruce. Everyone seems to think he was in Washington, D.C. with Chuck Schumer for a fundraiser. But this was being spread by the same (multiple) people who say Andrew Horne is taking a job with Steve Beshear (fat chance that he’d give up his law practice for a crappy $90k job working for Papaw Steve). So. Just take it all with a grain of gossip salt.

Speaking of Bruce… he’s hired up some serious progressives with deep roots in Kentucky. Taylor Coots. Netroots wiz Nathan Dickerson. They both came to listen in last night and were great representatives for the campaign. Even if people were haaaaateful when they discovered who employed them. Which begs a reminder: Direct your vitriol toward the candidate, not their staffers. Got it?

Favorite moment of the night: Metro Democratic Club president Bruce Maples walked up to a group of us important high society types and said, “Good evening, gentleman. I use that term (looking at Jake) loosely. Glad you could join us.”

Some random photos:

That was that, I think. Tell us if we forgot anything in the comments.

Forgot to mention this last week, but, the Millionaires’ Rule (Millionaires’ Amendment) is kind of a big deal in this Senate race. And the only person it really affects is Greg Fischer. (Bruce Lunsford is so wealthy it doesn’t even come into play. He could write a $20 million check and never think twice about it.)

Here’s the dilly, kids: Once Greg Fischer loans about $600,000 to his campaign, Mitch McConnell can at that point allow all of his contributors to double their contribution amount. Meaning Mitch could easily have $20 million on-hand in no time.

If Fischer gave his campaign about $1.4 million, McConnell would then be able to triple the contribution amounts from all of his money men. So… how does $30 million sound?

Yeah. Exactly. That’s why Fischer can’t contribute a wad of cash because he just doesn’t have enough to keep up. He’s afraid of losing money and doesn’t want to win badly enough.

At a Christmas party Greg Fischer told numerous people he would drop $5 million into his campaign. A week later, after getting a bit of an FEC education, Fischer is saying he can only drop in $200,000. He and the Party now realize dropping any more into the race would sink his faux progressive ship faster than Fat Albert in a pool with floaties.

More after the jump…

Is this a move to distract fundraising efforts of the party’s major announced candidate, Andrew Horne? Why say $5 million during Christmas and flip around two weeks later with a meager $200k mention? What’s with his millions & more rhetoric and the abrupt switch to “I believe in campaign finance reform” mumbo jumbo? If that’s his evolution in just two weeks– how will he waffle on other major issues? Abortion? THE GAYS? Labor? Health care? Iraq? Being a flip-flopper at this early point is an indication of inexperience, knowledge, inability and behavior to come.

I’m bringing all of this up because someone calling themselves “Jake” at Ditch Mitch is seemingly attempting to impersonate me. The funny part? It’s pro-Fischer, painting him as some campaign finance reform loverboy.

Here it is:

Don’t sell Fischer short. He is choosing not to self-finance because he doesn’t think it’s the way elections should be decided. He’s building a grass roots effort to rival the terrific one built by Andrew Horne. His ideas are as progressive as Andrew’s. The primary will be healthy and the winner will go into the Fall election with a tight message and an enthusiastic organization.

Fischer is the “grass roots” guy? Where’s his crew, then? Owsley Brown doesn’t count because his feet haven’t touched the ground in anything but $5,000 Ferragamo in three decades.

He’s suddenly “choosing not to self-finance because he doesn’t think it’s the way elections should be decided” ?? What on earth? My big (less big than six months ago), gay ass. It’s highly coincidental that Page One was discussing Fischer’s financial posturing for weeks– only last week poking fun at his measly $200k mark– and now someone impersonating me comments on a widely-read blog about Fischer loving finance reform? So laughable. A complete joke.

Having a favorite candidate and desiring choice is fine and dandy. But. Why is this guy trying to run again?

On a somewhat related note: We hear Bruce Lunsford is backing away from the Senate race. This could be great news for all of us who love Bruce as a person. Deciding to back away could finally give him the chance to leave a positive political legacy and the opportunity to become a true leader and ally for all Kentuckians– just not in politics.

One thing is certain: having a hundred in-the-know politicos and elected officials tell Fischer he shouldn’t run did nothing to bring his ego down to earth.

So. Two guys wasting untold millions in a Democratic primary for senate. First Bruce and now Greg? Couldn’t make it any more fun if we tried. Mitch McConnell is probably eating this crap up. Literally licking his chops.

What’s unfortunate for both Bruce Lunsford and Greg Fischer, though, is that Andrew Horne is already pulling in endorsements and has been elevated by organizations like ActBlue and national veterans groups. With Lunsford and Fischer inches away, labor will jump on the Horne boat quite soon. And the dirt will begin to fly.

Fischer didn’t return a call to his office, but his friend Matthew Barzun, a Louisville businessman and Democratic activist, said Fischer “is lining up support for a run.” He will make a formal announcement soon, Barzun added.

If the Browns of Louisville, who in the past have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for George Bush, think their Republican-lite friend Greg Fischer will be a good candidate purely because he has their financial backing, they’ll be squarely rejected. The Browns and other big name raisers need to think outside of their elite circle for a change. An honest change. Big business is not the answer.

Democratic leaders are insisting that the party isn’t panicking to find someone to take on McConnell, the U.S. Senate Republican leader who has shown some vulnerability in recent polling.

This is true. Democrats aren’t panicking to find a candidate because Democrats aren’t doing anything. Nothing at all. Aside from holding a fundraiser or two.

“There’s no question the Democratic Party will have a strong candidate in the race,” said U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, who took himself out of the party’s Senate sweepstakes weeks ago. “Who runs, I don’t think, is nearly as much of an issue as the political atmosphere and climate that exists.”

Ben Chandler is off his rocker if he doesn’t think the candidate we select matters. Greg Fischer, who has contributed to Republicans and never been active politically? Charlie Owen, a good man who absolutely couldn’t win or even hope to be a solid candidate because he’s never had the support necessary? Please. It matters. If we don’t run our strongest candidate– with no baggage– we have absolutely no hope of defeating Mitch McConnell.

As Gov. Paul Patton said, it won’t be a bad thing if our candidate is not well-known. From Patton, “Bluntly, a person without an extensive record might be the best candidate. Then the race would be on McConnell.” He’s spot-on and this is precisely why Andrew Horne wins all bets on the table. The other potentials have closets filled with skeletons. The only skeletons Andrew Horne has in his closet are the horrors he’s witnessed at war and they serve only to make him stronger.

Finally, Ryan (or his editors) got it wrong on the following:

As first reported by the Herald-Leader, Luallen decided earlier this week not to run and informed the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Actually, Page One was the first to report the news. Days before the mainstream press and the Herald-Leader. If memory serves me correctly, Mark Hebert of WHAS11 ran with the news long before the H-L, as well.

Along the same lines…

The Courier-Journal’s Jim Carroll selectively glossed over Andrew Horne as a formidable candidate. Here’s the mention, “Andrew Horne, a Louisville lawyer and lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves who served in Iraq, has also said he may run.” That’s it. Treated like David L. Williams.

But Carroll goes on for an entire page about Greg Fischer, listing his work experience, financial connections and family history. All right for imbalance.

In Carroll’s story he quotes Ernest Yanarella, a political science professor at UK and disconnected Democrat who writes and lives in a science fiction world as saying, “I don’t see a really viable Democratic political opponent that would stand a strong chance,” in reference to Crit Luallen’s decision not to run. What’s Yanarella smoking? Has he even bothered to pay attention to Kentucky politics the past, oh, ten years? Just wondering.

The coverage of this race gets weirder and weirder by the hour.

Oh man, the differences. Lee is a radical in every sense of the word and Conway is a reasonable man who actually believes in the law. Not surprising only 60 people showed up to their forum. Attorney General? What’s that? [KY Post]

Singing the praises, calling a spade a spade. Talking Points Memo notices Ernie’s latest commercial and sings the praises of Alessi for pointing out the ad’s distortions and inaccuracies. [TPM]

Controversial Micro-City Government rears its ugly head again in Lexington. This time with the sale of its property without documentation of proceeds or anything else required of non-profits. Ron Berry, founder of the organization, was convicted on 12 counts of third-degree sodomy (of participants in the organization’s youth programs) in 2000. [H-L]

Five Days of Non-Answers. CNHI started its five-day series of citizen questions with Steve Beshear and Ernie Fletcher. Looks like a worthy mix of questioners and may be worth checking out. [Daily Independent]

Still not talking about the senate? Owsley Brown II was profiled and only discussed philanthropy. No mention of senate hopes at all. But with more than $600 million in stocks alone– who’d need to raise cash? We hope he stays out of the race so he can focus his attention full-time on worthy causes around the Commonwealth. [C-J]

CATS testing scores ‘hard to explain’? Hello, understatement. Not only have we slipped into a backward mindset of teaching only toward a test, we’ve now made it impossible to understand what the heck those test results mean. Yay educational failures! [H-L]

Do they always have to do this? Appalachian Regional Healthcare is once again suffering from a massive strike of nurses. When will this hospital group learn to negotiate? Public perception matters, people. You’ll win in the court of public opinion. [H-L]

Iran So Far. This has absolutely nothing to do with Kentucky but is the funniest thing to happen in months. SNL’s Andy Samberg takes on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a funny digital short. Give it a watch and laugh your guts out. We can’t stop watching it. [SNL via YouTube]

Yeah, sometimes we read more than the C-J and H-L. Sometimes.