Cook rates race for governor a tossup

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360

”As Election Day draws closer, this campaign just keeps building momentum!” brags a new fundraising email from the Andy Beshear for governor campaign.

Team Beshear backs up the boast in boldface: “Cook Political Report says the race is a toss-up, so everyone from our field staff to Andy’s former primary opponents have been working their tails off on the trail -- and it’s paying off.”

Cook is an influential Washington-based outfit that analyzes political races nationwide.

Beshear, the outgoing attorney general, is seeking to unseat fiercely antI-union Republican Matt Bevin. His running mate, state Sen. Ralph Alvarado, shares Bevin’s deep disdain for organized labor.

Educator Jacqueline Coleman is on the ticket with Beshear.

Team Beshear doubtless hopes that the skinny from Cook hints that the rising Republican Red tide in the Bluegrass State might finally be ebbing.

Even so, the email appropriately cautions that with a tad more than 
four months to go to Election Day, Beshear and Coleman have to clear two big hurdles:

“Bevin’s deep-pocketed allies are already spending a ton of money to blunt our momentum. They went up with vicious attack ads the day after the primary election, and they’re surely planning even more.

“We just got word today that Matt Bevin personally loaned his campaign $2 million, and there’s plenty more where that came from.”

The email claims the governor “is clearly running scared. And he’s relying on his big money, special-interest backers, and his own personal fortune to bail him out.

“We don’t need to match Bevin’s self-funding dollar for dollar, but running a winning campaign is going to take a lot of resources. Andy isn’t a multimillionaire with billionaire buddies -- that’s why we need every member of this grassroots team to pitch in what they can.