It’s primary day in Kentucky for the Democrats finally. Tell me it doesn’t seem like forever ago that Iowa and New Hampshire first voted, and yet Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders remain locked in a nomination fight.

Clinton has run a solid campaign. It’s the baggage that brings her down. Whether old or new, there is always “churn” surrounding Bill & Hillary. Some is of their own doing, like using the private e-mail server at home while Hillary was Secretary of State. But there is plenty of malicious mud-slinging from nervous Republicans that fear her power and progressive policies.

The old boys network is nervous, and they should be. They’ve had things their way since the dawn of time, marginalizing minorities and women for far too long. White males in particular are fearful, as they are a dwindling power majority.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Kentucky tonight. Do conservative Democrats favor the stewardship of Hillary Clinton’s experienced hand, or is the Bluegrass “Feelin’ the Bern.”

Bill Clinton won Kentucky twice. Flash forward to 2008, and the choice was between a black man in President Obama or a white female in Hillary. Again a Clinton won Kentucky. Now eight years later it’s an old northeastern white guy in Sanders or Mrs. Clinton.

The saving grace for Hillary supporters may be that Kentucky has a closed primary. Independents can’t participate, and a vast majority of those votes likely would go to Sanders.

Clinton had a 43-38 percent lead in a March poll among likely voters, with conservatives for some reason throwing their support behind Sanders.

I don’t get that. Many of the hawkish policies Clinton holds would align her as a left leaning Republican in conservative states like Kentucky. Whereas Bernie Sanders is way left of anything the far right espouses.

This is about hate, bigotry and prejudice – and there is a lot of that remaining in Kentucky.

The good ol’ boys don’t like a strong female. They don’t know how to deal with that, and they certainly don’t like being told to hush up and sit down by a woman.

Clinton hurt herself here by stating she would, “bring economic opportunity, using clean, renewable energy as the key, into coal country, because we’re gonna put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

She added, “We want to make clear we don’t want to forget those people. Those people labored in those mines for generations, losing their health, often losing their lives, to turn on our lights and power our factories. Now we’ve got to move away from coal, and all the other fossil fuels, but I don’t want to move away from the people who did the best they could to produce the energy that we relied on.”

The concept of what she implied is well-meaning. Nobody in coal country wants to admit it, but coal as an energy source and an employment opportunity is on its way out. Natural gas and other sustainable energy sources are on the rise, and are cheaper and safer. Politicians and corporate leaders never invested in upgrading the regions where coal was mined during its boom, so as these mines start to close there is no answer for how to rehabilitate the various small towns that lack any primary income sources.

Regardless of how the vote goes tonight in Kentucky and Oregon, Clinton has a nearly insurmountable delegate lead over Sanders – 2,240 to 1,473. This, along with her presumptive rival, Donald Trump, going on the offensive early, has led her to make the turn toward the general election.

The pro-Hillary superpac, Priorities USA, made a massive media buy focusing on the upcoming general election race that will begin running ads against Trump starting Wednesday morning and going through the November vote.

[First two ads from Priorities USA against Donald Trump]

Some argue that making this turn to focus on Trump is a bit presumptuous, and Bernie continues to be an unresolved matter, but the reality is unless something radical occurs Clinton has the nomination wrapped up.

It’s an exciting time. For those of us in Kentucky, today is the day we get to play our small part and be a focus on MSNBC and CNN this evening as the returns come in and Kentucky is called for either Clinton or Sanders.

Regardless of all the rhetoric surrounding this election, participate and have a say in our governance.

GET OUT AND VOTE!