324. Walking Precincts

It's that time of year - time to walk precincts - a semi-annual event in Kentucky, where save every fourth year we have an election every six months, not including the occasional Special Election for a local office here or there. Here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 we are having Primaries at all levels of government, and in all three branches of government, and for the first time in a number of years, many of the races are challenged in both Parties, both the Democratic and the Dark Side.

In the federal race for Chief Magistrate of the United States the Louisville area is expected to split or lean slightly toward Senator Barack Obama in his race against Senator Hillary Clinton. Other areas in Kentucky which are expected to support Senator Obama to some degree, although none in the majority, are parts of Lexington and Frankfort, Hardin County, Christian County, and perhaps Oldham County.

Other federal races here in Jefferson County include a Primary on the Republican side for both the United State Senate and the United States Congress, where the recently defeated Congresswoman wants her job back, even though a majority of the voters in her district rejected her in the 2006 cycle. She should have no problem winning her Primary as she is campaigning against two lesser-known and one unknown opponents. The Senior Senator from Kentucky also faces an opponent whose campaign address is a post office box in Jellico, Tennessee. The Senior Senator should easily be renominated.

Our democratically elected Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth is unopposed for his renomination.

At the state level, while there are no partisan races, there are judicial races, which in Kentucky are technically state officials and not county officials. We have races in Jefferson County to fill vacancies at the District, Circuit, and Appellate Judge level. At the District level, there are more than a dozen candidates running, four of whom work together in the Jefferson County Attorney's Office as Assistant Prosecutors.

Local Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Democratic Primary elections are being held four districts - maybe more, but I only know of four. Out in southwestern Jefferson County in the 14th District, the Democratic incumbent Bob Henderson is facing three opponents. There are also three or four Republicans wanting Henderson's job. With his three opponents splitting up the anti-Henderson crowd, he should have no problem winning both renomination and reelection. In the 18th, an open seat in eastern Jefferson County, Assistant County Attorney Kungu Njuguna, who is 29, is seeking office for the first time and has a Primary against an opponent who seems to be doing nothing. Kungu should win his Primary and will need a strong result this Fall in order to win. In the 26th, another open seat in the Breckenridge Lane corridor, two Democrats have filed although, again, only one seems to be running. Brent Ackerson, who is from a well-known Republican family in town, is the one Democrat who is mounting a campaign. He should win his nomination. This fall will be a challenging race as this district also leans Republican in most instances. Finally, in the 6th, challenger Ken Herndon is seeking office against the ten-year incumbent George Unseld. I am managing Herndon's race. We've been out knocking on doors since last July. We did so again tonight walking with one of the area's neighborhood association presidents in a precinct off W. Kentucky Street just southwest of downtown Louisville. We were in a precinct I've walked before for the same candidate, but in a different race. He lost that one; I am confident he will win this one.

Walking precincts was something I learned to do at a very young age. As a little kid, we lived in what was then called Precinct C-84, now a part of which is a part of B-148. The precinct boundary back then consisted of two streets, South Park Road and Blue Lick Road, and the Bullitt County line, a generally rectangularly shaped area that at the time was largely rural, with the few exceptions of some subdivisions off Blue Lick Road. Most of the voters lived on one of the two boundary roads. My grandmother would take me and some of the other kids in the neighborhood and start over on the Coral Ridge side of South Park Road, work our way up to the South Park side of South Park Road, and proceed east to the Okolona side of South Park Road, then turning south along Blue Lick to the newer areas with the subdivisions. We usually worked it twice, on consecutive weekends. This was in addition to my grandmother working the precinct throughout the year, noting when a "For Sale" or "For Rent" sign went up, and waiting for the "Sold" sign to appear or the "For Rent" sign to disappear, so she could go attempt to add another name or two to the Democratic rolls. If the new people wanted to be Republicans, as a courtesy, she referred them to the Republican captain of the area, Mrs. Bosse, who lived down the street and around the corner from my grandmother. I've been walking precincts every six months since then.

We'll walk again tomorrow, then take a day or two break for the Derby. No one really wants to talk politics when instead they could tell you they have an inside lead that the Grey Filly running in the 6th race is a shoe-in if the weather is right and she has an outside gate to break from. Put $2 to Show on #3. Make it a $4 Exacta Box, 2 and 3. See you in the Winner's Circle.




Happy Derby.