The Monster Turtle Of Fancy Farm

The annual political slugfest that is Fancy Farm in Kentucky ignited again over the weekend, and for those of you from out-of-state, Jonathan Miller of the Daily Beast has your primer.

For those uninitiated in Bluegrass State politics, the Fancy Farm picnic is neither fancy nor on a farm. The picnic, held annually on the first Saturday in August in a tiny, far-Western Kentucky hamlet called Fancy Farm (population 458: Salute!), is hosted by St. Jerome's Catholic Church, which bills the event as the "world's largest one-day BBQ." While the day's menu features bingo, 5k runs, and some of the world's most savory sandwiches (Try the mutton... seriously), the main event begins at 2:00 PM when the state's most powerful politicians (and occasionally a few national figures such as George Wallace and Al Gore) take the stage for five to ten minute riffs on the year's hottest campaigns.

But Fancy Farm went from a quiet Western Kentucky stop on any KY politico's statewide tour to the Bluegrass Bowl of mud-slinging because of one man:

Mitch The Turtle.

The Fancy Farm political speaking forum used to have a similar old-fashioned feel. Al Cross, the dean of Kentucky political journalists, remembers that Fancy Farm used to be a “traditional community gathering with the focus on the interests of Western Kentucky,” with a small-town, state-fair sort of ambiance.

But that all changed dramatically in the 1980s, when the picnic’s political forum devolved, according to Cross, into “a piece of political theater”: a hyper-partisan, name-calling screaming match, a microcosm of everything that Americans hate about politics.

The primary culprit? Cross points squarely at Mitch McConnell, and few would disagree. Al Smith, a retired journalist who's such a Kentucky legend that the state's major journalism award bears his name, argues that the Senator must assume significant responsibility for the precipitous decline in civility at Fancy Farm: "McConnell was the first with the idea to bus in hundreds of noisy supporters from the rest of the state, and maybe out-of-state as well...[and he] was the first to use the stage as political theater," cutting down his opponents with elaborately designed, choreographed productions, dressing up his staff to make fun of his opponents."

Mitch the Turtle did much the same again this year.

McConnell, who spoke first, avoided direct attacks on his opponent, instead speaking in broad strokes: “Over the next 15 months, we are going to decide what kind of America we want … Barack Obama’s vision for America or Kentucky’s.”

Alison Grimes wouldn't let Mitch go without a fight.

Grimes, who followed GOP Rep. Ed Whitfield on stage, took direct swipes at McConnell: “Sen. McConnell is the most unpopular senator among Democrats but Republicans, as well. … There’s a reason he’s so disliked. There is a disease of dysfunction in Washington, D.C., and after 30 years, Sen. McConnell is in the center of it. As long as he remains in D.C., D.C. will stand for dysfunctional capitol.”

And neither did Mitch's Tea Party primary challenger, Matt Bevin.

Bevin, an investment fund manager who has attracted support from tea party groups, spoke last out of the trio.

“Mitch McConnell has disappeared. … Where’s Mitch?” he asked the crowd, alluding to McConnell’s time spent in the Senate chamber. “The people of Kentucky have been wondering that for a while now.”

In a reference to his family’s bell-manufacturing business and above the sound of bell-ringing supporters, Bevin said: “Let me tell you something senator: Ask not for whom the bell tolls, senator; they toll for you. Because the people of Kentucky have had enough.”

Mitch the Turtle is looking at the very possible end of his political career, and he knows it.  The Fancy Farm Beast he created 25 years ago is now slobbering in his face, and this race is on, all 15 months of it (or should Mitch lose in May to Bevin, nine months.)

You thought Rand Paul/Jack Conway was an ugly race when I covered it three years ago?  Welcome to Kentucky.  More on this year's Fancy Farm here, here, and here.  Fancy Farm is a nationally known event now, thanks to Mitch...but there's all number of edges on that sword this year and next.