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BBC Visits Louisville to Talk Kentucky and Politics

Thoroughbreds at a Kentucky horse farm. Former Courier-Journal editor David Hawpe talks to the BBC about Kentucky, though horses don't really come up.
Peter Fitzgerald/Creative Commons
Thoroughbreds at a Kentucky horse farm. Former Courier-Journal editor David Hawpe talks to the BBC about Kentucky, though horses don't really come up.
Thoroughbreds at a Kentucky horse farm. Former Courier-Journal editor David Hawpe talks to the BBC about Kentucky, though horses don't really come up.
Credit Peter Fitzgerald/Creative Commons
Thoroughbreds at a Kentucky horse farm. Former Courier-Journal editor David Hawpe talks to the BBC about Kentucky, though horses don't really come up.

The countdown to election day is in the single digits, which means the spotlight is even stronger on the big U.S. Senate matchup between Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

And that means even more national media focus. The BBC's JamesCoomarasamy has been in Louisville talking to Kentuckians about the state and the election. Today during BBC Newshour, you may have heard Coomarasamy's interview with former Courier-Journal editor DavidHawpeabout the state. If you miss it, you can hear the chat here:

They talk tobacco, coal, fried chicken and other cultural matters.

Hawpe gives a rundown of what's at stake in the Senate race and adds "So we're getting a lot attention from the outside, which is better than getting the attention that we've gotten down through history as the home of hillbillies, poor disheveled, incestuous, retrograde people who live in the mountains. Well, that's not us."

Coomarasamy said on Twitter that he'll have another big Kentucky-centric interview tomorrow:

I'll be talking Kentucky culture and politics and Johnny Cash with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on @bbcnewshour tomorrow pic.twitter.com/6CMMLdNNO1— James Coomarasamy (@BBCJamieCoo) October 27, 2014

Copyright 2014 89.3 WFPL News Louisville

Joseph Lord is a Louisville native who was raised in Jeffersontown. He attended Western Kentucky University before covering public safety and later city government for The Anniston (Ala.) Star. He's also covered education for The Tribune and Evening News in southern Indiana and music and pop culture for Velocity, The Courier-Journal's weekly entertainment magazine.
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