Frankfort, Ky. – I’ve quoted the poem, In Kentucky by James Mulligan, in this space before: “Politics – the damndest in Kentucky.”

So it was again this week as stories broke about tapes which allegedly record Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo trashing Gov. Steve Beshear for his fundraising while Mongiardo tries to raise money for his U.S. Senate race. Some think the tapes have been – choose your own term – doctored, heavily edited, over laid with additional recordings.

Mongiardo’s campaign spokesman, Kim Geveden, said he wouldn’t “dignify” the controversy by commenting on the “heavily edited” recordings. Beshear publicly dismisses the controversy.

“Everybody I’ve talked to says it’s obvious they’ve been doctored and patched together and that you can make something out of anything if you’re good enough,” Beshear said. “I’m not concerned about it and I’ve told him that.”

Multiple sources around the administration have said there are questions about the legitimacy of the tapes but they say they are consistent with things they’ve heard Mongiardo has been saying. The two reportedly spoke by phone Tuesday morning. Beshear made it sound as if they discussed the sad state of modern campaign dirty tricks. Others, however, said it was a testy conversation.

The controversy follows the profane remarks of Attorney General Jack Conway, Mongiardo’s chief rival in the Democratic primary, at Fancy Farm. Conway has other problems as well – he’s annoyed some of his supporters out in the state. One has to wonder if both of the leading Democrats’ campaigns aren’t imploding. As the top two stumble, Darlene Fitzgerald Price – realistically with little chance of threatening either Conway or Mongiardo – has drawn favorable reviews from audiences and some reporters.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Trey Grayson faces an inconvenient challenge from Rand Paul who reported this week he raised $1 million in the quarter which just ended. That kind of fundraising makes people sit up and take notice and that can turn an inconvenient challenge into a real threat. Paul’s libertarian views on limited government when applied to federal aid to the state or the role of the U.S. in foreign affairs haven’t been fully debated by the public. Still, Rand’s troublesome challenge forces Grayson to burnish his conservative credentials with Republican primary voters – which may cost him votes of some moderate Democrats in the general election if he’s the eventual nominee. And just like the Democratic race, a third challenge not given any realistic chance – Bill Johnson of Elkton – has garnered some positive reviews from public appearances.

There may be more news coming in the Senate race. Look for a major change in organization by at least one of the major campaigns as it tries to right its ship.

Some things haven’t changed since 1902 when Mulligan penned his poem. Politics are still the damndest in Kentucky.

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Journalism lost an elegant voice last week. William Safire, the self-named “pundit” who wrote “essays” for the New York Times opinion page and once worked for Richard Nixon died. It was Safire who coined the “nattering nabobs of negativism” phrase used by Nixon’s Vice President Spiro Agnew. His reporting brought down Jimmy Carter’s budget director Bert Lance. And he wrote the delightfully enlightening “On Language” column for the New York Times Magazine.

Journalism and the written language will be poorer for his passing.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.