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Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are both strong contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, and for both of them, there will be a premium on not letting the other guy get to their right.

So far, it’s been a tight battle...

Looming over West Kentucky is the sequestration bomb of instant food industry employment cuts and factory closings.

According to Graves County Growth Alliance’s website, the Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Hickory is one of the most cost efficient in the US. The plant employs 1,500 workers in the factory. Between 500 and 1,000 workers rely on the plant indirectly through local farms and suppliers.

...Come March 1, 2013, these jobs may be cut due to the lack of a federal meat inspector...

...The unpaid furloughs likely would be one day per week for the last 22 weeks of the fiscal year, from late April through September -- effectively a 20 percent pay cut for Defense Department civilians that would yield an expected $5 billion in spending reduction.

More than half of the National Guard’s full-time members may be furloughed, resulting in maintenance backlogs for all states and curtailment of critical training, especially aviation crew training, that potentially cripples one of the essential 10 capabilities that governors and first responders rely upon in disaster situations, National Guard officials said...

The seriousness of these budget cuts can be seen in just one federal agency that works with many individuals and rural communities. This would be the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

To achieve an 8% cut totaling $2.2 billion from FY 2013-level discretionary programs, USDA would have to implement across-the-board budget cuts of up to 10%.  

Several months ago, Lynn Jennings wrote of what she called a "fog of fiscal uncertainty" over the possibility of sequestration. Writing on the Education Trust website, she related that a survey was conducted by the American Association of School Administrators of about 1,000 school administrators — mostly rural superintendents — from 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Respondents were asked how their districts are preparing for sequestration. Nearly all (9 in 10) thought neither their state nor their district could absorb or offset the budget cuts. Instead, they anticipated their districts would make budget cuts that directly impact schools. For instance, most expect reductions in professional development, academic programs, and instructional and other staff, as well as increases in class size and delays in technology purchases.

Senator Mitch McConnell took to the floor of the US Senate to blame President Obama for sequestration.

Read his remarks at the Courier Journal website by following the jump.

“Social media is the way to go,” said Pence, who lives in Glendale, Ky., and belonged to United Steelworkers Local 423 in Louisville.

McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, is up for reelection next year. Few senators are more anti-union than McConnell, whose AFL-CIO COPE score for 2012 was zero.

Pence has opened a pair of Facebook pages: “Ditch Mitch” and “1,000,000 Strong Against Senator Mitch McConnell in 2014.”