Don't like Fletcher's re-election campaign? Thank the Democrats

A fine team, Kentucky Democrats and the anti-Fletcher faction of the Republican Party make.

We have no doubt they trade notes and game plans, much the same way Southeastern Conference basketball teams trade tapes if one of the member schools faces an opponent another SEC school played during the season in the NCAA tournament.

The "theme for the week" this time around seems to be a shared complaint about Fletcher using the power of his incumbency to travel the state campaigning and allegedly buying votes and support from local officials through project awards.

This is the first time this scenario has played out since Kentucky approved gubernatorial succession, in large part because Republicans failed to find and field a credible candidate when Paul Patton ran for a second term.

Had Larry Forgy opted for another shot at Pikeville Paul, who here doesn't think the incumbent wouldn't have been criss-crossing the Commonwealth, passing out those oversized checks and posing for the photos taken by community newspaper editors who turn a gubernatorial visit into the year's biggest news story on their front pages?

We opposed gubernatorial succession when the constitutional amendment was voted on many years ago for precisely this reason. We felt that the public good would be better served if the governor knew going in that he or she would have only a four-year period in office, wouldn't be able to run for a successive term, and thus would be more interested in public projects than re-election favors. If that governor wanted another shift at the helm, then in four years he or she could go back before the voters and they could pass judgment on the first term at that time.

But these are the rules of the game as dictated by the Democrats, who had control of both chambers of the General Assembly at the time of the amendment's passage as well as a chokehold on voter registration numbers.

We don't like the designated hitter and we don't like the 35-second shot clock, but that's the way those games are played now and if you want to win, you have to adapt to the rules. Ditto for gubernatorial succession. We can't say we're wild about it, but it's here and if Ernie Fletcher wants to win a second term, he is obligated to work under those guidelines. Not to do so -- to yield the power of incumbency when you have rivals from both parties trying to defeat you -- would be foolish.

So the next time we hear a Democrat complain about this, our answer is, "It's your dog, You feed it and clean up after it." And to Republicans who are supporting Anne Northup (the biggest complainers about Fletcher's campaign tactics) we would say, "If she had an opponent in the primary who was running her down the way she's doing Fletcher, she'd be doing the same thing."