Gleanings from the Kentucky Election

The election was mostly disappointing in our household.  There are some silver linings, and some ironies that I note by the light of the next day.

Governor-elect Bevin ran on an anti-government platform, especially against the federal government. He promised to dismantle Kentucky's health insurance exchange and Medicaid expansion.  He says he will not "throw people off their health insurance," but instead shift them to the federal health insurance program.  This, ironically, will expand the reach of the federal government.

All Republicans and Tea Partiers ran against President Obama, especially the "coal-killing" Environmental Protection Agency.  Four years from now, when Gov. Bevin''s term ends and Pres. Obama is long gone, it will be clear that the natural-gas boom, not environmental regulations, has been the real threat to the coal industry.

Attorney General Jack Conway gave a very gracious concession speech after losing the governor's race - certainly the best speech I ever heard him make.  He promised, as a good Democrat, to be at the service of the new governor.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the de facto leader of the Democratic Party now, gave a fine and curious speech about not letting the other party paint Democrats as any less Christian or moral.

Kentucky has elected a black person to statewide office for the first time in Lieutenant Governor-elect Jenean Hampton.

And Danville will finally get a new Representative in the Kentucky House after 13 years of inaction by Mike Harmon, the Auditor-elect.