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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) Stuck on the sidelines of Alison Lundergan Grimes' U.S. Senate campaign for most of last year, Democrat Jack Conway took center stage Monday as he officially launched his campaign for governor with a rally in Frankfort followed by a three-day tour of eastern Kentucky.

Conway officially filed his candidacy papers Monday morning in the cramped Secretary of State's office, joking with running mate state Rep. Sannie Overly that this was her "last chance" as the pages were signed. But with nearly $1 million in the bank and no other obvious Democratic challenger on the horizon, Conway said he will run a campaign shaped by the lessons he has learned.

"You can ask me, 'Did you vote for Obama?' The answer is yes and then I sued him," Conway said, a reference to his lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's coal regulations and a subtle rebuke of Grimes' famous refusal to say whether she voted for Obama during her failed Senate campaign last year.

This will be Conway's fifth major election in Kentucky, a resume that includes two successful runs for Attorney General and failed bids for the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. His high-profile failures have some Democrats fretting about his ability to become governor, an office Democrats need to hold to or risk losing ground to the state's rapidly growing Republican Party.

Conway seemed to answer those critics with his campaign rollout on Monday, featuring emotional testimony from a woman who lost her daughter to a prescription drug overdose and then joined Conway to travel the state for a program to educate students about the dangers of drugs.

"We have cried together in auditoriums all across this commonwealth," Karen Shay told the crowd of about 100 people at the Kentucky History Center on a rainy Monday morning.

In a 20-minute speech, Conway said he pictured a governor as "a big judge executive," a reference to the top elected official in each of the state's 120 counties.

"(Kentuckians) want responses," Conway said. "And when they feel forgotten in the corridors of Washington, they want the doorways to Frankfort to be open."

Conway pledged to create a new cabinet official that would act as a liaison between small business owners and the state officials that regulate them. He promised to review the state's business tax incentives to create opportunities for companies to operate in concert with the state's public colleges and universities. And he said he would be dedicated to reforming Kentucky's preschool and early childhood education, although he did not get into specifics.

Republicans will have at least a three-way primary, with Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer, former Louisville Metro Councilman Hal Heiner and former state Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott all vying for the nomination. But Conway could be the only major Democrat in the May 19th primary.

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Democrat Conway formally files for Kentucky governor's race

Lamont McClure Jr., Northampton County Council's longest-tenured and most powerful Democrat, announced Monday he is not seeking to keep his seat after his term ends at the close of 2015.

McClure, 44, of Bethlehem Township, who was first appointed to council in 2006, said the death of his father Lamont Sr. on New Years Day and an increase in his work as an attorney specializing in asbestos injury law suits led him to the difficult decision.

"I make this announcement with some regret. My time in county government has been tremendously rewarding," McClure said in a written statement. "Whether it was leading the fight to save Gracedale from being sold to a for-profit corporation, or fighting to keep your property taxes as low as possible, or voting to protect and preserve more farmland, environmentally sensitive areas and open space than any other councilperson in Northampton County history, serving the public in this capacity has thus far been the highlight of my public life."

McClure was appointed to council in February 2006 and since has won two four-year terms. During his time he earned a reputation as being the Democrats' most outspoken member. Even though Republicans enjoy a 5-4 majority, McClure was among the nine-member board's most influential members, known for an old-school brand of backroom deal-making to get support for his agenda.

Often with the support of labor union leadership, among his battles was a successful campaign to keep the county from selling Gracedale, the county nursing home, in Upper Nazareth. He also successfully led the effort to prevent council from approving two tax increases proposed by former Northampton County Executive John Stoffa, who argued the county was chewing into its reserve account.

More recently, McClure was shot down by the Republican majority, when a 9.2 percent tax increase the first since 2007 was approved along party lines.

"He's well-respected and hard working. His voice carries a lot of weight," said Council President Peg Ferraro, a Republican. "He's certainly voted 'no' more than anyone else."

McClure's District 3 includes the townships of Allen, Bethlehem, East Allen, Lower Saucon and Lower Nazareth and the boroughs of Nazareth, Northampton and North Catasauqua.

McClure is among four district councilmen up for re-election after 2015. District 1 Democrat Ken Kraft, of Bethlehem, and District 2 Democrat Robert Werner, of Bangor, each have announced intentions to seek re-election, while Democrat Scott Parsons has yet to make an announcement.

Two Republicans intend to run for the District 4 seat held by Parsons. Lorin Bradley, 50, of Bushkill Township, is president of the Nazareth Area School Board; and Matthew Dietz, 37, of Wind Gap, is a private pilot who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Congress seat held by Democrat Matt Cartwright.

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Northampton County Council power broker Lamont McClure won't run again

halloween cartoon oh crap democrat

By: feray nemu

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halloween cartoon oh crap democrat - Video

Call it a political plague on both your houses, to mangle Shakespeare. But record numbers of American voters are rejecting both major political parties Democrat and Republican. Instead, according to new poll findings, theyre registering to vote as Independents in increasing numbers.

Specifically, according to new Gallup findings, the number of self-declared Independents has climbed to a record 43 percent, the highest number since the pollster began tallying such figures back in 1988 leaving Democrats and Republicans trailing far behind at 30 percent and 26 percent respectively.

Although polling methods have changed over the years, writes Gallup researcher Jeffrey Jones, It is safe to say the average 30 percent identifying as Democrats last year is the lowest since at least the 1950s.

As for the GOP, Mr. Jones writes, Not since 1983, the year before Ronald Reagan's landslide re-election victory, have fewer Americans identified as Republicans.

Why this rejection of D and R in favor of I? Partisan gridlock and dissatisfaction with government, driving favorability ratings for both parties to a point at or near historic lows (36 percent for Democrats, 42 percent for Republicans).

Here, the numbers are more volatile, moving up or down according to political happenings: The afterglow to President Obamas reelection in 2012 (when the Ds enjoyed a brief 51 percent favorability rating), then his partys shellacking in the 2014 midterms driving the number back down into the 30s. The collapse of the Rs favorability to 28 percent after the 2013 government shutdown, then a rise in parallel with the November midterms.

In any case, the trends in public political outlook and perceptions including as they relate to political parties are not good, experts observers say.

The low voter turnout last November likely heralds a new stage in the disintegration of the American political order, warn political scientists Walter Dean Burnham (University of Texas) and Thomas Ferguson (University of Massachusetts) in a piece at alternet.org. Increasing numbers of average Americans can no longer stomach voting for parties that only pretend to represent their interests.

In another recent research piece, professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) point to why many Americans are turned off by partisan politics based on perceptions about who really rules.

"The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy," they write, "while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence."

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Partys over? Record voters say theyre Independents, reject 'D' and 'R'

Democrat: Dangerous For GOP To Undo Obama #39;s Immigration Executive Action

By: nicholasballasy

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Democrat: Dangerous For GOP To Undo Obama's Immigration Executive Action - Video