Kentucky Republicans are getting high-profile positions at next week's national convention in Tampa, Florida while their Democratic counterparts are either skipping their party's convention or have not been offered speaking slots.The event is set to begin August 27, and RNC organizers announced Monday that U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is delivering his keynote speech in prime time on the first day of convention. Paul is scheduled to speak around 7:45 p.m.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will open the convention and has been named its temporary chairman, while Republican congressional candidate Andy Barr, who is the challenging Democratic incumbent Ben Chandler, will also address the crowd.Chandler raised eyebrows after announcing he was not attending this year's Democratic convention in order to stay in the district.Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Steve Robertson says that's further proof that Democrats in the commonwealth are running away from President Obama’s agenda while the state GOP is being embraced nationally."If they paid attention to the primary results this past May where uncommitted earned 42 percent of the vote against a sitting Democratic president, Barack Obama, I guess they should have a reason to be concerned," he says. "They’re running away from the president and I think they’re running away from their own record."A Kentucky Democratic Party spokesman says that the DNC speaking schedule is not finalized and is usually more fluid, but that as of now no state Democratic leaders are set to speak.
