Former Kentucky Governor and U.S. Senator Wendell Ford came to Lexington campaigning for Congressman Ben Chandler. In retirement, Ford still follows politics closey.
For about 40 years, Kentucky voters elected Wendell Ford. He served as a State Senator, Governor, and a U.S. Senator. Ford retired from the Senate in 1999. He came to Lexington campaigning for Ben Chandler. At 88, he doesn't go out on the stump very often, which is what he misses the most about politics.
"You get to shake hands with a lot of folks, you get to talk with them, understand their problems better when you chat with them, you're out on the road, those sorts of things that I Miss," said Ford.
He says fundraising is what he misses the least about politics. Ford says he hopes people will remember him for helping Kentucky.
"There are a lot of things you can go back, and point a finger at, but that's what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to make it better for people, and build a better foundation," said Ford.
Ford says he always played politics straight and honest, but he played to win.
"One thing they found is if they jumped on me, they had a Wildcat. They had somebody to fight back. So not many people jumped on me," said the Senator.
Retirement has not extinguished his fire. He says partisan attitudes in Washington D.C. are hurting the country.
"You can't run government when you say that my number one job is to see that Obama is a one-term President, and that everything you do is to kill everything you do is to kill everything that's good for the country. That's wrong, absolutely wrong! Be a moderate," exclaimed Ford.
Ford can still dominate a room. He spoke for only a couple of minutes, but the audience burst out laughing when he threatened to beat up Ben Chandler if the Congressman did not keep his campaign promises.
