Northup Blames Her Staff For Lying About Vote

Mitch McConnell cannot be too pleased with his hand-picked candidate Anne Northup. Her primary campaign against incumbent Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher is quickly imploding, and the latest blunder was a lie about gambling, one of the most pressing issues facing Kentucky with the potential of gaming at horse racing tracks:

"While serving in the state House, I voted against the lottery," she said in a written response to a questionnaire from The Associated Press.

However, records from the Legislative Research Commission show that she voted to put a proposed constitutional amendment to allow the lottery on the 1988 general election ballot.

Fletcher's camp obviously pounced on Northup, and quickly responded to Northup campaign manager Michael Clingaman's cover-up:

"Something she said dozens of times in this campaign is that she personally voted against it in the voting booth," Clingaman said.

Fletcher campaign manager Marty Ryall said yesterday that "it sounds to me like Anne Northup is trying to reinvent herself in this campaign, voting for the lottery and now saying she's against it. Now that she wants to run statewide, it's the remake of Anne Northup."