"'Man is the only animal who blushes or needs to."

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kentucky State AFL-CIO endorsed Sen. Ridley, a Henderson Democrat.

By ROY PULLAM

I am not about to write state Sen. Dorsey Ridley's political obituary.  

Yes, he lost a bitter battle to Robbie Mills in which the Republicans threw the kitchen sink at him.  They even had an actor mimic the voice of the president saying he wanted Robbie Mills as senator.  

Republicans spent $400,000 on media buys in the election. Most of the money was dark money from out of the state.  

While Dorsey was being hammered with ridiculous charges, he told supporters not to sink to that level.  His campaign was positive, like Dorsey has lived his life.  

I guess the days when you can go high when they go low are over.  I hate the thought that you have to call your opponent everything but a Singer sewing machine in order to win.

Mother use to complain when I had mud on my feet.  How angry she would get if she saw me throwing it like all the mud heaving that went on in this campaign.  As Mark Twain said, "Man is the only animal who blushes or needs to."

I was sickened by the election.  I do not think it serves America well when racism, sexism and chauvinism are the coins of the realm.  I hate the fact that I, as a citizen of this country, cannot win an office unless I have powerful, financial backers.

If I had that kind of money and got elected, special interests would come calling.  They would keep me from going across the aisle to work with opponents in doing the people's business.