Kentucky

The day after Rachel's report (above), McConnell fired Jesse Benton as his campaign manager. BOOM! Out! McConnell didn't like him much anyway, since Benton has been quoted and requoted telling Kentucky libertarians that he was "sort of holding my nose for two years because what we're doing here is going to be a big benefit for Rand in 2016." Benton, a longtime Paul family retainer, is married to Ron Paul's granddaughter, Valori Pyeatt (Rand's niece). Before remaking himself into a Paulista, though, he worked for Louisiana sleaze bag David "Diapers" Vitter.

Hard core right-wing GOP voters, particularly in the former Confederate states-- something between a quarter and a third of all voters-- are pretty gung-ho on shutting down the government. Normal voters, on the other hand, just hate it.

It's been nearly a year since Move On, in the wake of the Republican government shut down, polled dozens of competitive congressional districts in Republican-held districts across the country asking, among other inquiries, these two questions:

This morning, Taegan Goddard took a look at the much-talked-about NY Times piece from a few days ago, Where Are The Hardest Places To Live In The U.S.? Clay County, Kentucky was the hardest and the Times compared Clay to Los Alamos County by showing specific contrasts: "Only 7.4 percent of Clay County residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, while 63.2 percent do in Los Alamos.

I have no dog in this fight-- or in the battles in any of the states where corporate ConservaDems are opposing reactionary Republicans.

There's a debate raging among progressives about Bernie Sanders running for president. [Blue America is encouraging him to run.] Most progressives-- or at least the ones I talk to-- think he should run. Some want him to run, as he has for his entire career, as an Independent.

Let me save Pennsylvania for the end, since that's the one with Democrats. Georgia and Kentucky are Republican affairs, although who the GOP voters pick in each state may influence the outcome of the November elections-- and the control of the U.S. Senate. We'll start with Georgia's 7 dwarves running for the open red Senate seat that conservative Democrat, Sam Nunn's daughter, thinks she has a chance to win.

Investigative journalist Jon Rappoprt's article, 'US Jazz Musicians Were Drafted Into the CIA’s MKULTRA,' caught my ear so he's joining Media Monarchy for some classic '

How humiliating it must be for Miss McConnell to be prostrating himself before Rand Paul like his job depended on it. It wasn't that long ago that McConnell recruited Trey Grayson to run as the Kentucky Establishment candidate against Paul, who McConnell helped paint as a whacky Tea Party extremist.

You've probably noticed that I've been sympathetic-- even inspired-- by Marianne Williamson's congressional race in the very upscale L.A. Westside district, CA-33, that includes, iconic "Hollywood" communities like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice, Bel Air, Brentwood, Manhattan Beach, Marina dell Rey, Westwood, Rancho Palos Verdes, even a little bit of West Hollywood itself. A lifelong progressive Democrat, she's running as an Independent-- the same way that Bernie Sanders has always chosen to run as an Independent, not as a Democrat.