The 129th Annual Fancy Farm Picnic drew what seemed to me a smaller crowd than normal, possibly because there are no statewide elections this year. Here, in no particular order, are a few observations.
Among the notables in attendance (other than the speakers): Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, Gov. Steve Beshear’s 2011 running mate, worked the crowd accompanied by his son. And the only declared candidate to replace the erstwhile “Mayor for Life,” businessman Greg Fisher, who lost to Bruce Lunsford in the 2008 Democratic U.S. Senate primary, was also there with his son. But I doubt he found many folks who can vote in the Louisville mayoral race at this Western Kentucky event.
Former Gov. Paul Patton was on the grounds, maintaining “contacts,” as was former U.S. Rep. Carroll Hubbard. A number of state legislators who attended interim committee meetings in Mayfield late in the week stuck around for the barbecue and bombast.
Perennial candidate Gatewood Galbraith, who says he will run for governor as an Independent in 2011, was there with a following of supporters wearing yellow T-shirts with the slogan “Now is the Time” on the back.
And I had the good fortune of scarfing down the wonderful barbecue and fresh veggies in the company of former state Sen. and former state Supreme Court Justice Walter Baker and a few of his Glasgow pals. Very entertaining company.
Although the food was excellent, as always, the signs and the political theater that usually show some wonderful creativity were rather blah this year. A few of the T-shirts were a bit better.
“This Rand is Your Rand” shirts were worn by backers of Rand Paul, son of former presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Secretary of State Trey Grayson’s supporters sported a rather blah “Run Trey Run” shirt. And I saw several shirts that featured a variation on the standard “No Smoking” (or whatever) symbol that had the circle and slash covering the single word “JERRY.” I suspect these were representatives of labor.
But the most creative T-shirt I saw featured this statement on the back:
“I’M A DEMOCRAT
YOU’RE A REPUBLICAN
LET’S BE FRIENDS
I’LL HUG YOUR ELEPHANT
YOU KISS MY ASS!!”
Larry Dale Keeling, a columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has spent most of his 35-plus years in journalism reporting on or writing editorials and columns about Kentucky’s politics and political issues. He now brings his experience and expertise on those topics to the KyKurmudgeon blog.
It should be noted that Rand Paul supporters have a website named runrandrun.com, where they are collecting pledges for a one day online fundraising day aka a money bomb. A supporter also wrote a song called Run Rand Run months ago, you can search it on youtube to listen.
When can we expect: This Trey is Your Trey Shirts? Ha!
“IMITATION IS THE MOST SINCERE FORM OF FLATTERY…”
LARRY DALE,
The “anti-Jerry” t-shirts seen at Fancy Farm were compliments of the Jefferson County Republican Party, not labor.