Sherry Chandler

Sherry Chandler » Election Day

Election Day

Just got back from the polls. Not much going on here. All local races, though some hotly contested: sheriff, circuit clerk, county attorney, circuit judge. These races are important but probably not of much interest outside Bourbon County.

Yes, judges are elected in Kentucky. That doesn’t always seem like a bad thing. [Disclosure: I have a relative running for circuit judge in another district.] We have had some politically charged appointments to the state supreme court lately that don’t look much superior to an elected judge.

The judge’s race is supposed to be non-partisan but it is sometimes an open secret which way a candidate leans if you pay attention. For example, in our race, one candidate promises not to legislate from the bench so I figure that’s code for right wing, a second was campaign worker for a very right-wing state senator. We have three candidates. Top two run off in the fall.

The hottest race in Kentucky is the Congressional primary down in Louisville where Democratic candidates will run against the incumbant Republican Ann Northrop. Our own Democratic congressman, the only one in the state, is unopposed in the primary.

Anyway, this being election day here, seemed like a good time to point out that Survey USA now finds only three states – Idaho, Utah and Wyoming – in which Bush has a favorable rating. Kentucky gives him a 34% approval. And MyDD has put together this county by county map from Survey USA data that shows an interesting pattern:

In addition to that big streak of red up through the middle of the country, it looks to me as though there is an enclave of support down in eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia — it’s a little hard to figure out exactly where state lines are — and another that looks like Southern Ohio and Indiana. You can click the map to go to the full-size version and a map of state borders that makes it easier to orient yourself.