From The Rural Democrat

Thanks to our friends at The Rural Democrat for granting permission to post their comments on the Kentucky Senate Race.

Some Think the 2010 US Senate Race is a Fight for Kentucky's Values

Daniel Mongiardo's message is simple to understand. His message reminds Kentuckians that we have a fight on our hands in this Democratic primary. A fight for values. For the first time in a long time Kentucky Democrats will be faced with a tough choice; not the tough choice of picking a candidate, a choice between urban and rural values.....
Mongiardo has a history of not following the crowd, he stood beside Obama when he knew damn well he would be burned for it in rural Kentucky. Another case in point; he supported a ban on gay marriage and he knew damn well the Liberal faction of the Democratic party would hate him for it. He followed his beliefs and stood firm. Also, he refused to sign the now infamous EPA letter while Attorney General Jack Conway signed it. That one act guarantees Conway will receive little to no support in the coal fields. Kentuckians overwhelmingly voted to ban gay marriage. Conway on the other hand said that SB245 was discriminatory. So that tells me he would have voted against it, even though 75% of voting Kentuckians voted for it. Some might say that is a sign of integrity and yet others might say he is pandering to the Liberal/Urban faction of the Democratic party.
I am not saying folks from the city have no values, I am saying that we (rural Democrats) have a different idea of what values are. We are Moderate to Conservative Democrats. Folks might say that a Conservative Democrat is oxymoron. Those same folks probably never met a rural Kentucky Democrat. As this primary progresses the values debate will heat up.
Everyone knows by now that Conway went to Duke and it appeared he was a little upset that some are talking about it. Most Kentuckians will probably ask themselves "why did he go to Duke, wasn't UK good enough for him?!?". And they have the right to ask that question. In the coal fields DUKE is a very dirty word, hence the song "which side are you on". Conway may not like it but it is a big issue.
This will be a race of Louisville versus the rest of Kentucky and some might say that is not fair. In my opinion Yarmuth could not win a race for dog catcher outside of Louisville. Chandler on the other hand has a very conservative voting record but parades as a super Liberal. Yarmuth is NOT a friend of coal and in fact he is coal's biggest enemy. Conway's family has contributed $69,000 to Yarmuths campaigns over the years so by default Conway can be considered an enemy to coal.

I am speaking as a coal miners son, a rural Democrat and I think I can speak for the majority of Kentucky's rural Democrats. It will be a very interesting race. Will Kentucky's values shift more toward the left? Or will this race galvanize Moderate and Conservative Democrats in support of Mongiardo? Only time will tell.

Cross-posted on Hillbilly Report.org