Ed Rendell

Few of the rumored Vice Presidential picks the now-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), could add to his ticket would help him much in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in November, according to a new SurveyUSA poll.

SurveyUSA compiled public opinion figures on sixteen potential ticket match-ups from May 16 and May 18 - before Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) handed Obama a 35 point defeat in Kentucky on May 20 and prior to Obama's attainment of the requisite delegates to clinch the nomination.

The data was released yesterday.

With that said, Obama's numbers in the new poll linger around the 33 percent support he received in an earlier Lexington Herald-Leader match-up poll against presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). In that poll, McCain received 58 percent support.

Democratic Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel of Evansville, Indiana stumps for Barack Obama at the Owensboro International BBQ Festival

OWENSBORO -- The 29th annual International BBQ Festival in the western Kentucky riverside town of Owensboro not only offers visitors a multitude of culinary delights, but also a chance to hear from a number of the candidates seeking their vote in the forthcoming elections.

The festival's coinciding political forum on Saturday was held inside a convention hall at an Owensboro hotel this year. In past years, the forum was staged on a flatbed truck parked next to the Daviess County courthouse. Perhaps because of the change of location and the warm weather, the size of the crowd was limited.

Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel of Evansville, Indiana was present at the event on behalf of the Obama campaign. Evansville sits just under 50 miles north of Owensboro, across the Ohio River - a symbol utilized by Weinzapfel in his speech for Obama.

"We often talk about what a barrier this river is and, unfortunately, it kind of keeps us from having these kinds of political dialogues on a regular basis," said Mayor Weinzapfel. "Senator Obama has been talking about bringing people together. Well, he brought me across that river, right over here to Owensboro. That is a feat in and of itself."