418. An Brief Answer to H. B. Elkins and some thoughts on a Chair.

Mr. H. B. Elkins visited here along the Left Bank of the Ohio River near Milepost 606 in the last twenty-four hours or so. Google his name and you will come up with "highway pages." His pages are some of my favorite reading material. Here is a link to one of them: http://www.millenniumhwy.net/roads.html. Go visit it and you will understand why I like it - you may not, but regular readers will understand why I do. I have been known to lift a picture here and there from his pages. He has some excellent photos of Kentucky (and other state's) highway signs.

In his recent visit, he mentions the southern route to our nation's capital along I-77 and I-64 through southcentral West Virginia, tolls and all, as an alternate route since I am concerned about January snow up in western Maryland along Interstate 68. I appreciate his visit and his suggestion. As many of you know, I have a rule, loosely interpreted and followed (remember, I am liberal and we tend to loosely interpret and follow a number of rules), which says where at all possible routes to and from a destination should be along differing roads. Longtime readers may recall an early entry called Twelve Ways to Frankfort, or something like that.

For our trip to DC, we are planning a return along this southern course. I've been that way before. When leaving DC, if time allows, I'd like to at least drive past Charlottesville and pay homage to Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, and perhaps glance over a look at the University of Virginia. One of my travelling companions is a graduate of Randolph College, formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College, in Lynchburg. She and the rest of us are hopeful to pass by her Alma Mater as well. So, it is our intention to use Mr. Elkins' suggestion on our way back to the Commonwealth. Mr. Elkins is always free to visit and make further suggestions, even political ones if he so chooses.

I mentioned before the twelve roads to Frankfort. It is true that there are at least twelve ways to get there from here in Jefferson County. Leaving Frankfort seems to be more difficult for some. One person can't seem to get away despite everyone's belief that she was in fact leaving, either by invitation or of her accord, yesterday. It seems she will leaving of her own accord on her own schedule. The Kentucky Democratic Party Chair, Louisville attorney Jennifer Moore, has announced in this morning's Courier-Journal (in an interview conducted several days ago), something she failed to mention yesterday when the Party was "in General Assembly," that is that she is planning to resign her post sometime soon. For anyone who has been reading PageOneKentucky.com, this comes as no surprise - Jacob Payne has been writing about this for several months as an a priori fait accompli, something which is on the face of it is not entirely the case.

It is no secret I have had difficulties with the KDP under Jennifer's leadership. I haven't kept that from doing my work for my Party and its candidates. During yesterday's meeting of the Kentucky Democratic Party State Central Executive Committee, a body on which I have a vote thanks to people like Jacob Payne and John Sommers voicing there opinions, Jennifer took the time to thank me, along with Lisa Tanner, for the excellent results in Congressman Yarmuth's recent victory, our second in as many tries over Anne Northup. I appreciate the Chair doing so. The Chair and I worked together, with many others, on Election Day, in the Kentucky Democratic Party "war room," fielding calls from across the Commonwealth covering a wide variety of issues. I enjoy the work and I enjoy Jennifer's friendship. I suspect one day she will be a candidate for statewide office and it is possible that I will seriously consider supporting her.

I'm saying all this because I genuinely like our Chair, despite my concerns about some of the outcomes of this month's elections. Someone must take the blame for losses in three Senate races, two House races in west Kentucky, as well as our losses in the Second Congressional District and the United States Senate race. Some of it can be placed on the so-called Coordinated Campaign and the person hired not by Jennifer and the KDP but rather by the Democratic National Senatorial Committee. Others can rightfully say that some of our candidates didn't broadly differ from their's and people chose not to go with a new horse. While the rest of the Republic voted for change, Kentucky did not. A lot of people want to place the blame on President-elect Barack Obama. I don't accept that although I know his presence at the top of the ticket inexplicably remains a problem for some of Kentucky's voters. But people like Senator Joey Pendleton and State Representative-elect Martha Jane King managed to work around whatever problems some of the voters in Todd, Logan, and Christian counties (none the most liberal of places) may have had with the president-elect. Ultimately, even if they are (or aren't) responsible, the buck stops at the top of the chain with the Chair.

Wisely, the Chair has announced her imminent departure. Left unsaid was whether or not the Vice Chair and the Executive Director, as well as any of her appointees (treasurer, counsel, secretary) will follow her lead. I do not know our new secretary but find no reason why she should leave. The treasurer has a vote elsewhere on the committee, so he is not leaving. Legal counsels tend to come and go with the changing of the Chair.

Whatever happens, there is a great deal of work for the Party to do in preparation for 2010. While we may not have won all the races we should have in 2008, we have added to our institutional knowledge, we have benefitted from the Party's work with "the Voter File," and we have a team in place whose work carries on irrespective of those who sit in the seats of the mighty after they have departed therefrom. For the State Central Committee, our work goes on, our hopes and dreams endure, and looking ahead to a change in Frankfort is nothing - nothing at all - in comparison to the change America wanted, needed, deserved, and delivered to itself (notwthstanding Kentucky's vote tally) in the election of Barack Obama.

Thanks Be To God.