Column by Jacob Sims

A lot of times in a presidential campaign, we get caught up in the national scene. We see the tribulations that are presented before us such as the economy, illegal immigration, the War on Terror, energy and others and become interested in what our national government and presidential candidates plan on doing in order to untangle this mess.

In this election, we have Barack Obama and John McCain proposing all sorts of new government programs that will supposedly solve these problems. We listen to MSNBC, CNN, FOX News and other mainstream networks as they focus on the nationwide issues and what each candidate and Congress can do to assist us.

Unfortunately we forget several important things when listening to the presidential candidates and the media networks. While the national government can do many things, most of us are unaffected by what goes on in Washington, D.C. unless it does something negatively, which is often.

If you closely analyze these issues, most of them were caused by the inefficiency and incompetence of the national government to swiftly take action on these issues. We forget that the state and local governments have a much greater impact in what goes on in our lives. We forget that individuals, our neighbors and our friends have a much greater impact. And we forget that we, as individuals, have a much greater impact in what goes on in our own lives than someone in Washington, D.C. or Congress.

A lot of our problems have been caused by investing too much confidence in our national government and not enough in our state and local governments, as well as what we can do as individual citizens to change our state and city.

With that in mind, I am energized about this election, and not for the reasons one would think. While the presidential and congressional elections have tremendous hype surrounding them, I am much more excited about the local elections because what happens in our state legislature has a superior impact. This year I am excited about two candidates that are running in the Lexington area for the state Senate and state House of Representatives. I speak of Chuck Ellinger and Kimberly Ward, who I know on a personal level and have devoted the majority of my time in assisting in this election cycle.

Ellinger is running for the state Senate position in the 13th District, which is basically inside of New Circle Road. Ellinger has been a member of the nonpartisan city council since 2003 as an at-large member, which means he was elected to his position by residents of Lexington.

Both candidates have made education a top priority in their campaigns, as well as a dedication to bipartisanship for the greater good. They both fight for common sense solutions instead of partisan bickering.

With an overwhelming Senate Republican majority, Ellinger would have a seat at the table for Lexington and UK and he has already been promised by the Senate majority leader a seat on the Appropriations Committee, which means he will be able to make decisions that have our area’s best interest in mind.

Ward has run an absolutely wonderful grassroots campaign, in which she started with literally nothing and has blossomed into a spectacular candidate. She is passionately involved with the campaign and has dedicated everything she has to spread the word about what she would represent to us. Being one of the kindest ladies I have ever met in politics, she is genuine and committed to improving this area.

These candidates symbolize what I believe most of us would like to see in the future of politics, and that is honesty and integrity to the political system. Regardless of your politics, I encourage everyone to take a look at these two young political leaders and think about what you would like to see in the future of Kentucky politics because I believe we have found the change we have been waiting for with Ellinger and Ward.