They are out there were out there raising the money they need. Its been a brutal campaign. Toare all looking forward fancy farm. Its a very run munches rambunctious crowd. Partisans tog the have some decorum today heard. The crowd is very enthusiastic and pumped up. Thats what really matters and makes this the spirit. I have run into several people that are coming to their first fancy farm picnic. All across the state who have not made the trip, give us a feel of what this is all about. Some of the preevents. There are fundraisers and breakfasts and dinners and all that. Give us a bit about that. Party, ourrepublican presence has grown in western kentucky over the past couple decades. When it used to be we would get together, our crowds would be a dozen people. Down athave an event the state park and we had 300400 people. It is indicative of the growing conservativism in west kentucky. This event is one of those Political Rights of passage. Nobody knows that better than Mitch Mcconnell. Ofis the modern architect the showmanship that goes on under the civilian this i pavilion. More stance to be lost than standsat fancy farm to be lost than gained at fancy farm. Im curious to see how long he will stay at fancy farm. He usually leaves right after he speaks. They have changed the speaking order somewhat. Whether that is designed to keep the main speakers a bit further down, that has happened in the past. Democrats and republicans have left the stage. You can hear and see behind us, they are some announcements about some of the activities going on. Come to thesehave events. Tourave talked about the Alison Lundergan grimes went on. I was with her and smith one, kentucky. About 65 people instead of 600 people. Are these smaller venues what she will be doing throughout the tour . Absolutely. It is about the ground game. What everybody sees as the ads and the attacks on both sides of the aisle. They have spent 30 million. That is going to wash everything out at the end of the day. People can only hear so much. It becomes white noise. It will come down to the ground game for both candidates. Who can get their voters out this fall. And how that affects all the races down the ballot. Coming out toen vote for democrats. A poll indicated maybe that female edge is slipping away. She has to earn the votes are due can expect to get women she has to earn the votes. He you cant just expect the women. Two thirds of minimum wage workers are women. She needs to get the message out there and that will drive women to the polls and women will be critical this fall. Firstore we go into our senatorwill mcconnell be doing to not lose any votes to ms. Grimes . Women, just like men, care about issues. Its not just womens issues. They care about the economy and president obama and how the epa is hurting coal jobs. They care about all of these things. They run a Campaign Based on issues, not trying to say this is your issue. Its a kentucky issue. A very important economic issue for women is equal pay for equal work. Women make . 77 on the dollar. Issue. An economic it doesnt just affect women. It affects men and families. As one of the other aspects we will be watching and we have seen here, a lot of national and International Pressure here. In larger numbers than i can never member. We have interviewed some of them. We have also talked with chuck todd from msnbc. Louisville just a couple of weeks ago and i asked him about the grimes, mcconnell race grimesmcconnell race. Words to use some of your. It was the day after the kentucky primary in may. You made these observations. Allison Alison Lundergan grimes has to run up the score with base voters in the two largest counties in the state. Based on how well governor , she needs to be mcconnell by 25,000 votes in lexington, 50,000 votes in louisville. Does the same scenario still hold . Not only still hold. She might need an even bigger martyr bigger margin. I spent time looking at the bashir numbers. Governor beshear numbers. You look at the map and you look at the correlation and the state has changed a lot. He won the cold counties. Coal counties. Will it be a bigger share . I think so. There is the urbanization. The underrated part here is Northern Kentucky. 10 years ago, Northern Kentucky west wing Northern Kentucky was swingish. Last 10 years, a bunch of Ohio Republicans have moved to Northern Kentucky. It is why Hamilton County has gone democrat the last two cycles. Which it has not done in decades. Part of the reason the republicans have moved to Northern Kentucky. She has a tough path. It is about running up the score. You mentioned some other swing counties. We were care. We work here. Campbell and davis county. Both of those are college town aspects. Does that mean that younger college age are going to vote for her . Is the assumption that democrats are making. Its part of her past. You are going to see she has to find odors voters to replace the coal bovote. It has been a slow erosion in these cold counties whether its southwestern virginia or the eastern part of kentucky. In 2000. D with al gore bush was able to create that. The first time a republican had carried west virginia. We have seen the erosion never cents. In virginia, democrats made up word by increasing their margins in the suburbs of washington, d. C. Wholet virginia, the state has been eroding away. Its a red state with a lot of registered democrats in it. Is that what kentucky will become . So far, that has not been the case. Its interesting to come here and see that its a much more bipartisan state. Thane bipartisan state the people who just discovered american politics in 2007. D. C. That the focus of either campaign do you see that the focus of either campaign and the ads theyre running are not engaging each other personally . We will see. We hope. We have our fingers crossed for october 13. Do you see the campaigns changing at all . If there is not the energy or excitement on either one, is she going to ratchet up and change her style as we get closer . Advocate the race so far and ,ust watching the tv ads it seems to me that grimes is playing on mcconnells agenda. She is talking about health care and coal. She is not talking about washington. She is not talking about other issues, trying to make mcconnell on the gridlock. Referendum is it a referendum you and i can both explain the outcomes. She wins, washington was too much, 30 years was too much. Ared she loses, obama and coal we know how to explain the outcomes. Its a question of who dictates the terms of the debate going on. Me, it feelsems to as if he is dictating the terms of his campaign. See the full thisview with chuck todd. Unday at 1 00 p. M. On ket a wonderful interview with a lot of engaging insight. In a brandnew setting. A newly made the building with Rick Assad Rick assad on the front. Facade on the front. Governor beshear is the first one to speak. We will hear from rand paul. We will also hear from jack conway. There is a lot of things happening here. Not to diverge from the main task. The Kentucky Senate race. Things that weof will hear again, repeated on the trail. Maybe something different. Everyoneand jennifer, is really looking for the time that this race will really pick up. If its energized now, do you think its a little understated, a little subdued, the official kickoff . Its going to be after labor day. What do you think of the rhythm of this campaign . Side, its been going for some time. Jennifer talked about the grassroots work that occurs out there. Across andvolunteers lucky knock on 300,000 each week. We are in our rhythm. Doors each week. Our campaign has been going on for some time. Its already underway. Way . Nnifer, is it the same fair. The its candidates work hard from day one. Itses the public the public and the voters focused on the race going forward. Going for two years is a long time. Both candidates have been raising enormous amounts of money. You have to switch the fundraising over to the ground game, really driving home , as we saw in a poll mcconnell had a twopoint edge. Does that show that things are changing . Maybe Tea Party Supporters are coming home to the republican race . That and we also read the numbers we see from the field. The actual volunteer work that is being done out there. Republican base is coming to gather and conservative democrats are moving in our direction. The things we need to see in a kentucky statewide election we are seeing from our side. Yes, we think there is still a lot of time to go. Both sides are going to carve out their messages and their voters. It was a dead heat last year. It is still a dead heat. You listen to pollsters and they points whenbout two you have a margin of error of four points. That showsnk momentum in either direction. Its a dead heat and it will come down to the wire. The Ground Campaign is so critical in the selection. The energy, the economy, what else . President obama is likely to come up. I was wondering how much he was going to mention obamas name. So far, two third last year, we how many times obama was mentioned as if he was running against mcconnell. Tshirt saying obama equals how careful do they have to be today . Are they conscious of that . I think jennifer would agree, im sure theyre both thinking about not messing up today. They will come out, both of them very well scripted and disciplined to their speeches. They will come out and go right at it. This is not the first time that they are in front of a rambunctious crowd. This race has been going on for a very long time. They are used to that. They are seeing the home stretch and they are going to get out there and get their message and you will hear from the other candidates and elected officials today who are going to carry that message and drive that home. You will see from alison s side, 30rimes years is too long. Look at the shape of kentucky. We need a change. From mcconnell tossed aside, ive been there 30 years and you dont want president obama. Mcconnells side. Flipheard the chance, the house. Chants, flip the house. Alison Lundergan Grimes as the right person at the right time to unseat its mcconnell. Billys she fits the same with the common sense to make Congress Work for kentucky. We are for things like increases in the minimum wage to a living wage. Pay equity. You should be paid for the job regardless of what your gender is. We believe in the constitution and we believe that people ought to be treated equally no matter what their personal preferences might be. In things that the general population of america believes in. That the American Dream should be shared by all. Jeffs not surprising that huber has a different take on which party has the right political agenda and ability to govern. What voters really want comes down to a four letter word. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Provide us some opportunity to to expand ourols business. Give us a conference of tax reform package in kentucky that will allow us to track businesses and allow us to expand our business and create more jobs. Those are the type of things that i hear as i travel the we have to think have a plan to do that. We have to have things in place to do that. Hoover predicts that Mitch Mcconnell will prevail in november by at least three percentage points. As president obamas unpopularity in kentucky will help seal the deal. When voters in kentucky start making their final decision on who they are going to elect to the United States senate, the only issue will be, do we want to send someone to washington to represent kentucky who has been there 30 years, who is arguably the second or third more powerful person in washington, who could be the majority leader of the United States senate . Someone want to send who is going to be a yes vote for barack obama . When people start focusing on willas the issue, they start doing that about the first or middle of october, Mitch Mcconnell is going to win rather handily. He is a benefit to republican candidates around the state. When it comes to the gops chances, hoover believes they are now in the best position to flip the house. Inwe are defending 42 seats november. Will it happen . I dont know. I know we are competitive. I know we have a lot of candidates and a lot of folks working hard. Sincehe best opportunity 1921. The chances of them taking over the house are slim to none. Slim left town yesterday. It will not happen in this cycle. There are some reasons for that. They have is old. People have rejected it time and time again. Its a radical message. Its becoming more radical. They have a phenomenon that we have had to contend with for the last two election cycles. As the head of their ticket, someone who is very unpopular. Are they going to defend senator mcconnell who has been there champion, or will they turn their backs on him . It will be difficult for them to separate themselves from him. As speculation swirls about who is yet who has yet to announce their he will vote to helping all those races. Getting our message out there. And following the election in november. A will sit back and take look. For right now, im focused on exactly what i should be focused on and what every democrat should be focused on. If we lose the house, there will be a democratic governor. There wont be a democratic governor. What a possibly prophetic statement that may or may not have been. Lets talk as the excitement builds theyre going back and forth here. Its electrifying. Im excited. Lets talk about flipping the house. How this is going to play out. One thing for our National Audience to know is that kentucky has the democratic majority. The only state in the south with a democratic majority in both of our houses. Its a critical time for us. You have a situation where, unlike 2012 where the republican mantra was that we are going to flip the house and take 12, you are not hearing that this time. Thats because of the candidates we recruited to run. We have many third time candidates. These women candidates were out racing out raising their opponents. These women are out there every day knocking on the stores. They are not here at fancy farm. They are out trying to talk to voters. We have several good candidates. This is going to be a big year all around. A Competitive Senate race. We talk about flipping the house quite a bit. The opportunity is there and the candidates are there. Theyre working, we are working, everybody is working. It is going to be a huge effort all around. Voters go along with listening about the u. S. Senate race at the same time you are talking about the senate races . They are doing it right now. Voters in kentucky are very sophisticated. They know how to listen to one and hear a completely different sense. There is the trickledown effect, too. When you have Alison Lundergan grimes vying to be the first woman senator all the way down to the state house candidate like audrey, that will have a trickledown effect in her race. You can hear that back and forth. Its also about the message. The message has been dramatically different between they dont like what you are saying. They can hear me. We will have to wrap it up. They havenk you worked really hard. We will have more coverage as the speakers start. Together. Tie it all we hope youll stay tuned. If youre online, you can watch us that way, too. A big thanks to jennifer and steve. Thank you so much. Now, we are going to turn things over to the political organizers themselves. Good afternoon and welcome to picnic in fancy farm, kentucky. Im mark wilson. Ichairm of the Political Committee along with my wife, lori, standing in the back. I would like to thank all of our Political Committee members as well as the saint jerome Picnic Committee headed up by Daniel Sturgis for another job well done. I want to welcome our pastor. Will you stand and be recognized . I would like to say a big hello. Here toward ailing health. Two of my Political Committee members did not languish due to a loss in their immediate families. My good friend bobby is also in the committee. I understand why you could take it but weve got to make this. Alluld like to welcome them of our speakers and guests and clergy. [applause] that was a lot of silence there. We welcome all of our friends from the media. Even the media from japan. I hope i can pronounce that. How about that getting a National Papers from japan. We appreciate your coming here. Lifeo appreciate the productions by educational tv as well as seized him. We also have live audio feeds. Mainly i want to do inc. All of our gas i want to thank all of our guests far andw wide. We appreciate you coming down to join us this year. As always, i want to welcome all of our military servicemen and. Omen would you please stand and be recognized. Have you noticed anything different this year besides i have less hair and gray are here . We are so proud to unveil our new and improved stage. My vision was to portray a red rick run porch that looks inviting and relaxing and cost it will. I hope we accomplish our objectives. Bob spaulding junior , jim l. A. On, masonry hogancamp, west kentucky rural electric, and last but not least our local parish, saint jerome, the finance committee. Thanks for a job well done. [applause] we are very proud of this new addition here. This year the timekeeper once was a professor of local science. Mr. Watkins will stand in increments of the time remaining. He will start out with one minute remaining, 30 seconds remaining, the team seconds remaining and then time is up. Hit him up, charlie. Time is on my side yes, it is time is on my side i didnt hear enough of that, charlie. Always say we gonna have fun now, aint we . We got it a little more serious now. I would like to introduce the reverend william leslie. Bishop medley, would you please come forward and lead us the invocation . Let us pray the name of the father, the son, and the holies. We stand amazing and a recognition of those gifts and ask here to make as good stew