How the nation's most unpopular governor can still win

Guess what, Moscow Matt, you're still in it. Barely. We cannot protect Kentucky election integrity when money is allowed to rule.

So-called Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky has been consistently ranked as the most unpopular governor in America by Morning Consult and other pollsters.

Moscow Matt has gutted teachers' pensions, abused state planes, repeatedly lied about the state's economic standing, raised taxes to give handouts to the 1%, tried to slash Medicaid (only to be rebuffed by courts), dumped his own lieutenant governor, put out a report demanding cutting Social Security, politicized Kentucky's higher education system and various state boards, and turned the state into a nationwide laughfest. In even his best poll - which is only a tie - he loses independent voters by 8%. That's not his worst poll, which has him losing by 15% overall.

Don't count Moscow Matt out. The embattled Republican has a better chance of winning than the Bengals do of making the playoffs. As Bevin himself might say: No question about it.

It isn't just because Kentucky is a state with a history of Republican election fraud and Russian electoral interference. It isn't just because each right-wing fake news item becomes a "mainstream" media talking point within minutes. It's because Bevin has money.

The most recent campaign finance report shows Democrat Andy Beshear actually outraised Bevin - $771,000 to $673,000. But that's only from people other than the candidates themselves. Bevin plunked down $900,000 of his own money. This gives him a smashing advantage of $1.58 million to $628,000 in cash on hand. There isn't any doubt that Beshear will win more votes per dollar. When do the Democrats not win more votes per dollar? If elections only counted votes per dollar, the Republicans wouldn't even be a serious party.

I know Trump's looming impeachment is hurting Bevin. The idea that it's helping him is laughable. It might not hurt him enough, because our media is a joke, and not just regarding this election. There have been several recent incidents where right-wing fake news sites have made up items out of thin air, and the "mainstream" media ran with them. It's as if the media is just throwing up its hands and saying, "Alright, we're not going to argue with these fake news sites anymore."

However, for Bevin to win, he'd have to outperform every poll. In 2015, Kentucky media outlets banded together to permanently blacklist pollsters that showed him losing. In most countries, polling is used to ensure the election results are accurate. Republican thugocracies get it backwards. If the media blackballs all the pollsters that have him losing now, there won't be any left except a few partisan outfits.