Tagged: Democratic National Convention

Friday on Byline, we talked about the just-completed Democratic National Convention.  Our panelists were CN2’s Ryan Alessi, who joined us by phone from Charlotte, WFPL political editor Phillip M. Bailey, and Kentucky Public Radio’s Kenny Colston. 

Panelists discuss the reaction to the speeches, the different impressions of the TV audience versus the live audience, votes of Kentucky delegates, the limited participation of Kentucky politicians, the shifting electoral map, and speculation on voter turnout.

As the Democratic National Convention wraps up, Kentucky Democrats are trying to present a more unified front for President Barack Obama.

In this year’s primary, 42 percent of Democrats who cast ballots voted uncommitted rather than for the president. That created a problem for delegates to the party’s national convention, since uncommitted isn’t a candidate.

But this week, almost every Kentucky delegate supported this president's formal nomination.

Several Kentucky delegates are headed to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention this week.

The delegation will include Governor Steve Beshear, Attorney General Jack Conway and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who are all backing President Obama’s re-election bid this year. But Sixth District Congressman Ben Chandler is skipping the convention to campaign in central Kentucky instead.

Critics also point out that 42 percent of Kentucky Democrats voted “uncommitted” over the president in the May primary and are not all supportive of Mr. Obama’s agenda.

Third District Congressman John Yarmuth is among the delegation. He says he is concerned about a split among the delegates, but remains optimistic that their vote will be unanimous.

"I and others will spend part of the convention trying to argue with those uncertain delegates that unanimous support for the president is important because we’ve got down ballot races across Kentucky. We’ve got many state House races that promise to be competitive and we need to be unified in the fall campaign," he says.

Unlike their GOP counterparts, zero Kentucky officials will be taking the main stage to speak at this week’s Democratic National Convention.

Democrats hold the majority of statewide offices in Kentucky, including the governor’s office. But that’s not enough to get any of those elected officials onto the DNC stage this week.

Last week, Republicans heard from three Kentuckians during their convention: Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and congressional candidate Andy Barr.