Ryan Alessi

In a must-read article from the Lexington Herald-Leader, Ryan Alessi analyzes sentiments about the state's U.S. Senate race between incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville). The story says Democratic feeling about the race is more anti-McConnell than pro-Lunsford.

Alessi notes McConnell has already begun attack ads in the model of his previous campaigns.

One Democratic official described the race as "soulless."

But that type of an approach is how McConnell has won his last four Senate races. He is known for seizing on his opponents' weaknesses, then clinically dissecting his challenger with relentless ads and talking points that he sticks to with the discipline of a monk.

Despite Senator Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) resounding win in Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary over Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), at least one of the Commonwealth's uncommitted superdelegates won't be picking sides any time soon.

Ryan Alessi of Polwatchers and the Lexington Herald-Leader reports Governor Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) will see all the primaries through before he makes his decision.

"I haven't made any decision on that yet as a superdelegate," he said. "I do think Sen. Clinton ran very well of course here in Kentucky and obviously deserves the right to run out the primary races up through June 3."

Kentucky Democratic Party Chairwoman Jennifer Moore and her co-chair, Nathan Smith, are the state's other two uncommitted superdelegates.

As the annual legislative session in Kentucky wound to a close yesterday evening, members of the House and Senate scrambled to salvage bills from the scrapheap. Ryan Alessi reports legislators froze their clocks for a half-hour to avoid a midnight deadline for the end of session. Despite the tactics, many highly-touted bills did not survive. Among the legislative casualties were a pensions package and an ethics reform bill. Alessi also reports last-minute efforts pushed through $75 million in water and sewage reports.

The Herald Leader's Ryan Alessi takes a look at the Democratic contenders in this year's U.S. Senate primary and how for the first time in state history, the Millionaire Amendment may affect the race.

Don’t miss Ryan Alessi’s must-read article in the Herald-Leader exploring why Democrat Andrew Horne decided to leave the race for U.S. Senate.

“The late emergence on Jan. 29 of Lunsford, a millionaire Louisville businessman, altered dynamics of the primary race that, up to that point, included a batch of largely unproven candidates, many making their first bids for office. That includes another Louisville businessman, Greg Fischer.”