At the end of a long, rainy Tuesday in West Kentucky, Democrats from the Pennyrile to the Purchase turned out in droves at Wendell Cherry Auditorium to rally with the election just two weeks away. It was old style Democratic politics with union members standing in the back of the hall, local officials and state representatives working the room and everybody there lookingfor just a few minutes with the candidate.

Steve Beshear, his running mate, Dan Mongiardo, Crit Luallen and Todd Hollenbach hit Paducah on their “Let’s Work Together” tour. They brought blue jacketed Joe B. Hall with his humorous urging to “put a stake in the hearts of the opposition”. Leads like the polls are reporting “are so large, we don’t want to talk about it.” He told the crowd that as a coach, leads going into the game are scary because the team might get cocky and complacent.

Union activist, Howard Walker, welcomed the candidates to West Kentucky and invited everyone to breakfast with the candidates on November 5th at Backwoods Barbecue in Paducah from 7-8:30 the morning before Election Day.

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jonathan Miller and Lone Oak HS graduate and party vice chair Jennifer Moore urged the crowd to work for the candidates until the last minute. Moore spoke on behalf of two candidates who could not be present. Jack Conway, candidate for attorney general, would fight drug abuse and go after child predators on the internet. Bruce Hendrickson, candidate for secretary of state, a high school teacher in Eastern Kentucky, taught school that day and couldn’t get to West Kentucky. Moore told the crowd that Hendrickson is “neck and neck with Trey Grayson”. She urged the crowd to defeat Grayson, who is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party. 

Todd Hollenbach, candidate for Jonathan Miller’s job as state treasurer, sported a name tag gifted to him by his proud father. “Todd Hollenbach, State Treasurer”.

Crit Luallen, running for her second term as state auditor, repeated her campaign themes of fighting corruption regardless of party and turning over more cases to law enforcement than any other auditor. Luallen urged a Democratic sweep to send a message nationwide that the Democrats are back. She told the crowd she had worked with every administration since Governor Wendell Ford in 1974. The Beshear team is the best prepared of them all, according to Luallen.

                                                                      In the photo above: an exuberant Governor Carroll does a little dancing.