Michigan, Kentucky among states with abortion on ballot in 2016
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, R, leaves the Kentucky Supreme Court building Tuesday.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, R, leaves the Kentucky Supreme Court building Tuesday.
(Meredith Shaddox | The Associated Press)
Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia are among the states that may hold their primaries and caucuses with one notable exception — abortion. The only state-level abortion decision is the Iowa caucus, which will be a closed-door, state-by-state decision based on Iowa laws.
That decision will be the first test for a national presidential campaign that plans to spend heavily on the final 30 days of the 2014 midterm election cycle.
Republicans in particular have vowed to spend millions to win over voters in those four states in a so-called “red state sweep” that would take him to the White House.
The candidates in those states have some history in the race for the presidency — some of it good, some of it bad — and now they face the decision of whether to spend money before Iowa, Ohio or West Virginia votes.
In a series of early state contests, it’s safe to say that Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has the best chance of taking on President Obama if he’s president.
He was born in rural Kentucky and has shown a knack for getting things done with rare combination of skill and political gumption. He’s already made a mark as a champion for the commonwealth: His economic turnaround after the Great Recession is now credited with creating an economic boom for Kentucky that’s a key part of President Obama’s economic turnaround.
Kentucky is also a deeply red state, a blue state in presidential politics and a swing state in presidential elections.
Here are four other candidates who have put the state in play:
The three Republicans
1. Ben Carson: Carson, the chief surgeon and founder of the world’s largest nonprofit medical group, has a unique profile. He is a black man who grew up in poverty in Detroit and has gone on to become a world leader in health care and has raised millions for the poor. He may be the best-known Republican presidential candidate of the race, and his campaign has already started to make him one of its strongest