Holding Kentucky Democratic Candidates Accountable

To all liberals: We need to use our votes to show that issues matter more than money.

The U.S. Senate race in Kentucky has the potential to become one of the most widely discussed (and probably one of the most expensive) elections of 2014. Senator Mitch McConnell is up for re-election and a recent poll conducted by SurveyUSA is showing his main opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes with a slim 4 point lead, with a 3% margin of error.

Grimes, current Secretary of State for Kentucky, has used masterful fundraising, quippy one-liners aimed at McConnell, high profile endorsements, and her fairly clean political background to establish herself as the most likely challenger to McConnell in the general election. But what of her challengers within the Democratic Party? And how does Grimes stack up on the issues?

Up to this point in Kentucky, mentions of other democratic candidates for U.S. Senate are mentioned about as much by the media as foreign policy is mentioned by Grimes. She has focused mainly on issues that deal with Kentuckians directly, but has had little to say about issues that would have indirect effects on her constituents. And the poor, tired democrats of Kentucky have let her get by with it because we so desperately want to see Mitch McConnell leave the Senate.

Liberals have a perennial problem of choosing the candidate who we think is most likely to beat the Republican challenger, even when we may disagree with some of their positions. We think, “Well, they have to be better than that other guy.”

The issue with this mentality is that we see more and more Democratic candidates that are more centrist than liberal. We then end up with representatives in government who may have our back when it comes to social issues, but then support things like “clean” coal or the Farm Bill.

Conservatives seem uncompromising with their candidates, and continue pulling republican politicians further and further right. Why do liberals not do the same with their candidates? Why do we not hold them accountable and make them take positions on the issues that we care about?

As a Kentuckian, I enjoy Grimes’ jabs at McConnell, because I would love to say them myself. The problem is that I can’t support someone on the sole basis that she’s not Senator McConnell. I realize that not saying too much is her strategy for right now, but she can’t ride that to the Capitol. Kentuckians need to hold Grimes accountable, and if she doesn’t meet our standards, instead of staying at home on election day, we should take initiative to investigate other candidates. Even though Grimes is the most likely candidate to win the Democratic Primary, a significant chunk of her votes going to another Democratic candidate could send a message that it will take more than Bill Clinton and good branding get our votes in the general election.

Kentucky Educational Television is planning to have all the Democratic U.S. Senate candidates on their program Kentucky Tonight in April. There will not be a studio audience, but you can send in questions for the candidates on Twitter @BillKET. I urge Kentuckians to submit questions that will require Grimes to take a stand on the issues that affect us. This will also give us a chance to hear from other Democratic candidates who are operating on small donations and don’t get a percent of the media time that Grimes affords. We have the opportunity to show the nation that, to Kentuckians, it’s not the money, but the issues, that matter.