The Sunday news shows were fewer than usual on our TV, because of the Ryder Cup that saturated the NBC early morning. They shouldn’t have bothered. But the shows that did air on other channels had some very interesting moments today.

I have to say that the most interesting information that I didn’t realize came from Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin Group. He opined that the republicans had made a huge campaign gaff by putting out their “plan,“ the so-called “Pledge to America” of what they will do if they take over the House. Buchanan said that this plan, which he says was unnecessary, gives the Democrats a target and a rallying cry.

I didn’t realize that there was this kind of division within the republican party over this. I do know that a number of mainstream, more or less “non-partisan” economists said that the plan didn’t come close to adding up. They claim they won’t touch social security or medicare of the defense budget, but that they are going to balance the budget. In order to do that, the entire rest of the government would have to be eliminated. People can see through that kind of rhetoric.

There also was the beginning, just a bit, but a beginning nonetheless, of backpedaling by the conservative pundits about just how big the so-called republican sweep in the elections is going to be. I have been saying that for many months, and I’m feeling it more now. I believe that the republicans have peaked too soon, and that the democrats momentum is starting to build.

One little piece of evidence on this front was a new Bluegrass poll for the Kentucky U.S. Senate race that was discussed on Comment on Kentucky. That poll now has the Rand Paul/Jack Conway race as an almost dead heat - within the margin of error. I don’t think that is surprising at all. But, the same poll found Paul up by 15 percentage points just a month ago. If that isn’t a sign of how fluid this race is, I don’t know what is.

Comment on Kentucky also had an interesting report by long time Kentucky reporter Tom Loftus about republican Lt. Gov. candidate, state Agricultural Commissioner, and former University of Kentucky basketball star Richie Farmer. Apparently, he had 50 grand or so left over from his 2007 race for Agricultural Commissioner, and he spent a bunch of strangely, including having his campaign purchase a bunch of his autobiographies. His campaign got fined for some of the expenses, although it was a slap on the wrist by any standard. But hey, basketball stardom at UK goes a long way in Kentucky.