Perhaps the most influential voting bloc in Kentucky this fall will be the supporters of a candidate who's not even in the presidential race.
That would be the throngs of Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters, many of whom are women — specifically white, baby boomer-types. They are known online as Hillarinas or Clintonistas.
Clinton, after all, received more votes in Kentucky in the May 20 primary than eventual Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain combined (459,511 for Clinton, 209,954 for Obama and 142,918 for McCain). Granted, the GOP primary was all but over by the time Kentuckians went to the polls, but it's hard to deny that Clinton supporters are a sizable force in the Bluegrass state.
And many of those who spoke to the Herald-Leader and were contacted by the newspaper's pollster at the time said they'd struggle to support Obama in the fall if Clinton didn't win their party's nomination.
Creasa Reed, a 59-year-old Democrat from Lexington, told the Herald-Leader in May that she had strong reservations about Obama's lack of experience. He has been a U.S. senator only since 2005.
"I would rather see Kentucky red, than wrong," she said at the time.
But on Friday, after both parties finished their national conventions, Reed said she will pull the lever for Obama.
"The whole thing about Hillary Clinton supporters voting for McCain, that's just something that the Republicans ginned up," said Susan Carson Lambert, 60, a farmer and renewable energy consultant from Lawrenceburg.
Read the full story at Kentucky.com.