Al Cross Reminds Us Of Will Rogers' Wise Saying: "I Belong To No Organized Party. I Am A Democrat."

Democrats' disunity risky in long run
By Al Cross

"I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat."

Will Rogers' oft-cited quote came to mind again last week as Kentucky Democrats looked like a gang that couldn't shoot straight, while Kentucky Republicans talked about a ticket that could clear the field for next year's GOP primary for governor and lieutenant governor.

When Rand Paul won the May 18 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, and promptly made statements about civil rights, oil blowouts and coal-mine safety that are likely to turn off persuadable voters, the momentum from his landslide victory dissipated -- and Attorney General Jack Conway, who won the Democratic primary very narrowly, looked within easy striking distance.
Conway scrambling

But a chain of events that began the day after the election has Conway scrambling to bring into his tent Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo, who lost the primary by 4,174 votes, 0.8 percent of the total, and said last week that he might not endorse Conway.

The margin was small enough to prompt an automatic recanvass in many states, and Mongiardo said the morning after the primary that he would ask for one. Conway's camp said that would complicate its efforts to start fund-raising for the general election, so a deal was struck: Mongiardo forsook the recanvass in return for Conway's pledge to help raise $70,000 for Mongiardo's campaign, according to advisers in both camps. The agreement did not call for Mongiardo to endorse Conway, but was the beginning of a process that would naturally lead to an endorsement.

The agreement was made not by the principals but by aides and intermediaries, who apparently didn't nail down an important detail -- when the money would be delivered. At more than one point, Mongiardo's camp mentioned a deadline of June 30, the end of the latest campaign finance reporting period. The Conway campaign apparently failed to get that message early enough, or dismissed it, perhaps wanting to focus on raising and reporting as much as possible for the period.

The deadline and specific figure indicate Mongiardo's campaign not only had debts to pay, but needed to make refunds to contributors who had given him money that he spent on the primary but had to be earmarked for the general election because they had given the maximum allowed for the primary. With no money on hand from Conway, Mongiardo may have had to tap his own funds.

Sign of disrespect?

Mongiardo seems to view the chain of events as the latest sign of disrespect from a Kentucky Democratic establishment that gave him no chance to beat Republican Sen. Jim Bunning in 2004, which he almost did, and that largely lined up behind Conway in the primary. He told The Associated Press last week, "I feel that in this state there are two Democratic parties. There's the party of the elite, and then there's the party of the rest of us, the grass-roots Democrats."

That was more than just the petulance and hurt of a defeated candidate who is known for being impetuous and difficult to deal with. It was a warning.

Mongiardo was the clear favorite of rural Democrats in the primary, and would be very useful in helping lighten the baggage Conway carries to country precincts -- a Louisville address, a trial lawyer's résumé, his self-identification as the preferred candidate of the national Democratic Party and his expressed willingness to campaign with President Obama, widely unpopular in rural Kentucky.

Mongiardo, of Hazard, could also vouch for Conway on issues related to coal, especially cap-and-trade, the Obama plan to put a price on carbon and limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In a state that gets 92 percent of its electricity from burning coal, that is an issue beyond the two coalfields.

After Mongiardo popped off last week, the state Democratic hierarchy got busy trying to get him and Conway on the same page. Dan Logsdon, the new state party chairman, told me Friday, "I'm taking an active part in resolving any outstanding issues from the primary. I'm optimistic that we will be a unified party and take back Wendell Ford's seat this fall." Democrats love to drop Ford's name, but need to remember that Mongiardo holds the record for number of votes by a Democrat running statewide.

Democrats have risks beyond Nov. 2. If Conway cannot unify his party, he could suffer a double-digit loss to Paul, who also has plenty of baggage but has become such a phenomenon that the intensity of his supporters will help him withstand whatever the Democrats throw at him. (And Republicans are likely to have more money on their side, with the Supreme Court's loosening of limits on corporate money in politics and creation of allied groups like American Crossroads, headed by leading Kentucky Republican Mike Duncan.)

If Conway gets dressed down in the fall and loses badly, that could make him more vulnerable to a challenger in a race for a second term as attorney general. The prospects of a viable Republican ticket increased last week as GOP insiders said they expected state Senate President David Williams and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer to form a gubernatorial slate that would clear the field.

Williams carries heavy baggage from a tumultuous decade as boss of the Senate, and the unproven Farmer will not meet many voters' qualifications as a potential governor. Williams would be taking him to raise, so to speak, and hoping for no embarrassments. But Williams is an ally of Paul, and if Paul remains a phenomenon and Republicans perform strongly this fall, they will have momentum going into 2011.

Al Cross, former Courier-Journal political writer, is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. His e-mail address is al.cross@uky.edu. His views are his own, not those of the University of Kentucky.