Voters aren't eager to ditch Beshear; while Williams has strategic 'problem,' Stumbo says

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Prestonsburg Democrat, said he doesn’t sense an eagerness from voters to abandon Gov. Steve Beshear in November, despite the biggest knock on the governor being that he “hasn’t done a whole lot.”

Stumbo, responding to questions at the Northern Kentucky Legacy group meeting on Thursday, handicapped the governor’s race by saying Beshear should best Republican candidate David Williams, the state Senate president.

“I think that not because he’s of my party,” he said. “I think the world of David Williams — don’t believe what you read in the newspapers.”

Independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith also is in the race.

Stumbo said he typically hears Kentuckians say three things about Beshear’s tenure: “Maybe, he hasn’t done a whole lot as governor. You hear that a lot. But then people will say: ‘But you know he didn’t have a whole lot to work with. And then somebody else will say in the crowd: ‘And he’s done a pretty good job managing the government.”

At the same time, Stumbo said Williams has a flaw at the core of his approach as a challenger.

“David is trying to run sort of as a reformer, which is a bit of a problem,” he said. Find out what he means by that by watching the clip:

Stumbo was the latest speaker in Legacy’s “Newsmakers” series, which is sponsored by Insight Communications, the parent company of cn|2.