106. The Democratic Primary last Tuesday

And the Tri-Fecta payout goes to the ticket of Beshear/Lunsford/Henry with 22 entries (mimicking their actual finish on Tuesday), followed by Beshear/Henry/Lunsford with 21. Then came Beshear/Lunsford/Richards with 16, followed by Lunsford/Beshear/Henry with 10. These are the place of finish in the 120 counties in Tuesday's election. My guy lost, ran third. The guy who won has avoided a Run-Off for which he is very happy. Even happier are the 120 County Clerks, whose offices were left with the cost of such a run-off, given that the legislature didn't bother to fund it.

So, who else won Tuesday? Sticking with the governor's race, it appears Greg Stumbo's help in the east may put him at an advantage should he seek to run for another office, perhaps in the Fifth Congressional District. The team of Lunsford/Stumbo placed first or second in every county in the 5th, with the exception of Wayne, which placed Henry second and Wolfe where Richards was second, each of which had Stumbo's team in third.

Jody Richards proved to be a regional candidate, for the most part carrying counties in and around his legislative district based in Warren County. My guy, Dr. Steve Henry, carried an odd combination of nine counties, around (but not including) his current home base in Louisville, as well as those of his wife along the Ohio River in northeastern Kentucky. Additionally, he won Daviess, the place of his birth, as well as its neighbor Hancock.

Another winner, based solely on numbers from the governor's race, is Gatewood Galbraith, The Last Free Man in America, which is the title of his autobiography. Gatewood, as everyone calls him, won his native Nicholas County. He ran a strong second in the state's second most populous county. While Nicholas County is in the 4th, Fayette is the heart of the 6th. Among other 6th District counties, Jessamine and Woodford also had Galbraith in the second spot. The truth is he did well in the 6th's more populous counties, while running further behind in the outlyers. With a little work in Franklin and Anderson, he could be in line for a congressional seat depending upon how long Chandler waits to move to the other end of the Capital in Washington, DC.

But the big winner, carrying 83 of the 120 counties was Steve Beshear. The outright win surprised many, including the candidate.

In down-ballot races, the winners were Bruce Hendrickson (Secretary of State), Jack Conway (Attorney General), Todd Hollenbach (Treasurer), and David Lynn Williams, a perennial candidate (Agriculture Commissioner). Crit Luallen, the incumbent State Auditor was not challenged in the Democratic Primary.