Frankfort, Ky. —



By Ronnie Ellis

CNHI news Service



FRANKFORT, Ky.



This is an election about change. Democratic nominee Barack Obama and his party’s congressional candidates, like Bruce Lunsford, say it’s time. Republican nominee John McCain and Republican incumbents like Mitch McConnell counter by asking what kind of change, offering instead their experience.



Voters are anxious, worried about the future. They’ve made up their minds they don’t like what we’ve been doing in Washington and Frankfort. The economy seems to be on the brink of collapse, we’re involved in two wars, and the country has lost its confidence and optimism.



But voters are also weary of the partisanship in government. Gov. Steve Beshear has caught on, but he’s been unable to change the atmosphere. Some of that is his responsibility – he hasn’t gone out of his way to make peace with Senate President David Williams. But the other side, including Williams, gets part of the blame, too.



After the General Assembly session earlier this year, when Senate Republicans and House Democrats petulantly refused to pass bills from the other chamber until the final minutes, the poll numbers for lawmakers, Republican and Democratic, and Beshear plummeted. The reaction wasn’t along ideological lines – the public was disgusted with all sides, not so much because of the positions they took as for their refusal to sit down and talk about it and to get something – anything – done.



As much as anything Beshear, Williams or House Speaker Jody Richards did, those bad poll numbers drove them all to put aside temporarily their dislike for each other and pass the pension reform legislation in the special session this summer. Beshear managed to take credit for the cooperative spirit of the special session and the pension reform and his poll numbers went up.



The public wants government to do something about problems they face. Instead, they see political leaders carping about the lack of cooperation from the other side. It’s their fault, not ours, they say. It’s not selling with the public. Nor, I think, are some of the negative campaign tactics. Every election, the public complains about, but votes often on the basis of, negative ads. This may be the election when that changes. We’ll find out Tuesday because the negative attacks have escalated in the presidential election, in the U.S. Senate race and in state legislative races like the 9th Senate District.



There, Republican David Givens ran a civil, almost non-partisan styled race in the primary but has followed the direction of Williams and the state party in the general election, attacking Democrat Steve Newberry for tenuous connections to “casino, banking, and liquor interests.” Mitch McConnell and Bruce Lunsford have savaged each other in the Senate race, but interestingly, McConnell’s lead in publicly released polls seemed to widen after he began running more positive ads.



McCain tried to capitalize on fears some voters feel about Obama’s background but Obama’s lead appeared to increase at the same time. The late tightening of the race in national polls – partly because such races nearly always close late – also seems to parallel McCain’s focus on Obama’s tax policies and the Democratic Congressional majority rather than on Bill Ayers.



Pundits often disparage voters for succumbing to negative attacks or pandering appeals by politicians or campaign consultants like Karl Rove. But sometimes the public is ahead of its leaders. Maybe this is one of those times.



Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com.