Kentucky Election Update
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Latest polls indicate tightening election…
It’s a dead heat in Kentucky. In virtually all other public surveys, GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron had been trailing Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. But in the one taken closest to when Kentuckians vote, Cameron tied Beshear 47-47. The poll was conducted by Emerson College Polling, which surveyed 1,000 likely voters between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2. Early voting had just begun on the final day of the poll.
Not great. Cameron’s been leaning heavily on the Trump endorsement and on linking Beshear to Biden. To the extent this result is a legit snapshot I’d guess that the news cycle is putting national issues up front which is not great for Andy. The New York Times has taken an interest:
On the campaign trail in counties that Mr. Trump carried — which is 118 of Kentucky’s 120 — Mr. Beshear tries to extricate the Biden from Bidenomics, the tagline much heralded by the president’s campaign. Mr. Beshear celebrates record-low unemployment rates, a major bridge project paid for by Mr. Biden’s infrastructure law and what he says are the “two best years for economic development in our history.”
No new business development is too small. At a Monday morning stop in Richmond, Ky., Mr. Beshear cited the recent opening of a truck stop just outside town. “We even brought a Buc-ee’s to Madison County,” he said, referring to the franchise’s first outpost in the state and a point of local pride.
Okay but Buc-ees actually is, for some reason, a really big deal. They have a Wall of Jerky. It’s a very strange thing and I admit I don’t fully understand it but whatever. Also Politico:
The Republican strategy to tie Beshear to Biden is easily apparent on television. A few months ago, GOP ads kept hitting Beshear on crime and transgender policies. Now, it’s almost all Biden and Trump. One ad running this week backed by the Republican Governors Association splices a clip of Biden acknowledging Beshear at a bridge dedication four times in 30 seconds. A super PAC supporting Cameron went up with an ad this week featuring a direct-to-video endorsement from Trump in which the former president says Beshear’s endorsement of Biden “is about as bad as it gets.”
“You’ve got two totally different strategies,” said Michael Adams, the Republican secretary of state who’s campaigning for Cameron and seeking a second term himself next week. “Beshear’s strategy is a more traditional strategy: Hold your base and reach out to the center. And the attorney general’s strategy is really more about base mobilization. And they both have precedents on their side to support their approach.”