Another good reason to vote GOP

Need yet another good reason to vote for Republicans?

How about the future of one of Kentucky's great traditions?

Yesterday was the Great Steamboat Race, one of the best events of Kentucky Derby week. If the Democrats get their way, it'll be the last Great Steamboat Race.

The race pits the Belle of Louisville against the Cincinnati-based Delta Queen. The Delta Queen has been operating under an exemption from a federal safety law prohibiting wooden boats from carrying overnight passengers.

That exemption may be coming to its end, though, and that would be a shame.

When the Democrats took over both houses of Congress in 2006, the committee chairs changed. A Minnesota Democrat, Jim Oberstar, took over as chair of the House transportation committee. He opposes a continued exemption and has already killed one effort to extend the current exemption, which ends in November.

This wouldn't have happened had the Republicans kept control of the House.

So voters in Louisville and central Kentucky take note: A vote for re-electing John Yarmuth or Ben Chandler is, in effect, a vote to kill the Great Steamboat Race. A Republican majority in the House would result in a new Transportation chair, which no doubt would result in a continuation of the Delta Queen's exemption.

This is just one more example of why Democrats are out of touch with Kentucky, with Kentuckians, and with our values and traditions.

Save the Great Steamboat Race. Boot Yarmuth and Chandler out of Congress.