This & That From Lexington Herald Leader's Larry Dale Keeling, Including The OBVIOUS Question: Is SILLY Sarah Palin "A Hockey Mom Or A Welfare Queen"?

Political world could leap into new orbit on Nov. 4
Larry Dale Keeling

FRANKFORT — This and that while wondering whether Nov. 4 will produce a transformational election:

On a national level, the election of America's first president of color would be transformational in and of itself.

But the significance of such an election outcome would be enhanced if it marked a long-term change of course for the nation. In that event, it might one day be looked back upon as the end of the Ronald Reagan era in American politics.

At the very least, it might be seen as the point at which the nation turned away from the fiscally foolish neo-con agenda of tax cuts for the rich, massive deficit spending and deregulation of everything in the marketplace.

On the state level, the election could transform the political landscape if it marks the end of the Mitch McConnell era.

After watching him rise to the level of dominating Kentucky politics and maintain that dominance for so long, it's difficult to imagine him losing to anyone, much less a candidate with Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford's baggage.

But all the recent independent polls suggest it is a very real possibility.

Those polls contain some troubling signs for McConnell.

For instance, the Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll gave McConnell a lead of just four points, 47 percent to Lunsford's 43 percent.

But the same poll gave Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, a 16-point lead over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. No doubt, the color of Obama's skin is a factor in McCain's lead.

But whatever accounts for the wide margin in the race at the top of the ticket, these disparate findings suggest that Kentucky voters may be willing to hold McConnell accountable for enabling the Bush administration in all its missteps, including the misguided war in Iraq, while giving a pass to the presidential candidate who would continue President Bush's failed policies.

McConnell also can find cause for concern in the poll results from Western Kentucky.

In recent elections, that has been a fertile region for Republicans.

In 2004, for instance, then-state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo built a lead over U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning in early returns from the eastern part of the state only to see it evaporate as the votes in Western Kentucky were counted.

In the Herald-Leader/WKYT survey, McConnell led Lunsford by just six points, 48 percent to 42 percent, in the 1st Congressional District. That's statistically within the margin of error.

So, if Lunsford were to emulate Mongiardo in building an early lead, McConnell may have more trouble than Bunning did in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in Western Kentucky.

At the urging of the Bush administration, Congress recently voted to nationalize the nation's financial markets.

OK, that's an overstatement. But it's overstated to stress a point: McCain voted (as did Obama) for the biggest example of government socialism this nation has ever seen — and, it is to be hoped, ever will see.

Yet McCain has the gall to point a finger at Obama and accuse him of being a socialist who wants to use taxes to redistribute wealth.

First, all tax policies redistribute wealth one way or the other. McCain just favors a tax policy that redistributes it up the income ladder rather than down.

Second, after being complicit in redistributing more than $1 trillion of this nation's wealth to Wall Street, McCain needs to look in the mirror, say hello to his own inner socialist and stop embarrassing himself.

It should surprise no one that the $150,000 extreme makeover Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family received after she joined the McCain ticket was paid for by others — in this case, the Republican Party.

After all, Palin bills the state of Alaska for her children's travel expenses and collects per diem for the many days she spends at home in Wasilla.

All of which makes one wonder: Is she a hockey mom, as she claims, or a welfare mom?

Reach Larry Dale Keeling at (859) 231-3249, 1-800-950-6397, est. 3249 or lkeeling@herald-leader.com.