Guthrie, Williams to headline Lincoln Day dinner Saturday

Hardin County Republicans will reconnect with their roots to former President Abraham Lincoln this weekend during a forum designed to showcase the latest crop of political contenders.

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The annual Hardin County Lincoln Day Dinner will kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Historic State Theater in Elizabethtown with a social hour in which visitors can meet and chat directly with candidates or their representatives. Dinner starts at 6 p.m.

Tickets are $40 in advance or $50 at the door, said Mike Phillips, vice chairman of the Hardin County GOP.  

U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, is the featured speaker and Kentucky Senate President David Williams and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer are expected to speak as well.   

Williams and Farmer are running mates on a ticket for governor, locked into a three-way race with Phil Moffett and Bobbie Holsclaw for the Republican nomination. Gov. Steve Beshear is running unopposed on the Democratic ticket and Gatewood Galbraith is the lone independent.

Moffett is scheduled to appear in Elizabethtown earlier in the day for a meet-and-greet at Family Buffet restaurant off Dixie Avenue.

Phillips said other Republican candidates in the 2011 primary and general elections plan to have campaign managers or other representatives appear at the dinner on their behalf.

Guthrie, he added, has not provided any clues on what issues he will address during his speech.

The dinner serves as an outlet to meet candidates in a one-on-one setting without waiting for them to appear individually, Phillips said. With so many candidates congregated at one time, it allows visitors the option to review the candidates and their platforms so they can decide where they plan to place their vote and who they want to support, either financially or through volunteer efforts, he added.

“It’s a good place to meet your candidates,” Phillips said.

Marty Finley can be reached at (270) 505-1762 or mfinley@thenewsenterprise.com.