Ramsey Carpenter playing "My Old Kentucky Home" began event with sweet notes.

(Fancy Farm KY August 1, 2015)- Even the sweltering humid summer of West Kentucky took a break from heat indexes of 100+ for this relatively calm, relatively quiet Fancy Farm Political Speaking of 2015. A smaller and older GOP contingent and a calmer and older Democratic crowd combined with a host whose tongue was a sharp as a serpent's fangs to make the day less raucous and noisy than past years. 2015 came nowhere the cacophony that defined Fancy Farm 2014.

Emcee Matt, at left, Jones showed himself to be more than equal to the task of lion tamer this year. The Kentucky Sports Network host is new to the job, but he turned out to be a crowd pleaser, even if his barbs stung those on the dais sharply.

He joked that candidates would get a certain look on their faces as they were being skewered by his rhetoric or by his opponents. Even those missing from the day were not spared. Jones suggested that candidate for president Senator Rand Paul should give up his "losing" campaign and come back to Kentucky. That remark alone has fueled speculation that a loss in the presidential primary may put Paul's US Senate seat in danger.

Speculation that Senator Mitch McConnell's support for his primary rival from the 2014 GOP campaign might be a little soft was fueled by McConnell's mention of Bevin twice in his five minute speech - once in the beginning and once at the end. McConnell spent a great deal of his time criticizing the Democrats, especially President Barack Obama, a not unexpected move.

The high moment of his speech came when he presented a signed photo to Governor Steve Beshear from the 2014 Picnic when Beshear predicted McConnell's loss to Alison Lundergan Grimes. The two politicians have been opponents for many years. McConnell defeated Beshear in 1996 when McConnell won a third term in the US Senate.

To his credit, Beshear accepted the "gift" with good humor. See photo at right.

GOP candidate for governor Matt Bevin provided the oddest speech of the day. He began by criticizing the event. We are "celebrating our divisions."

The candidate then went on to ask the crowd to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance with him. He went on to talk of the meaning of the Kentucky state flag. He spent little time giving voters a reason to elect him governor.

According to members of his own party, he gave a fiery speech the evening before at a GOP event. They were left shaking their heads over his failure to use his time to introduce himself to a statewide audience through the KET feed. One was heard to ask if Bevin was running for chief diplomat instead of governor.

His running mate, Jenean Hampton, pictured below, made history by being the first African American woman to speak as a candidate on the Fancy Farm stage. Hampton used her four minutes to introduce herself to the crowd. She told them that she is "something you haven't seen - a black conservative." Hampton said she had risen from the "wreckage of the inner city." Hampton grew up in Detroit. She was nine when the Detroit riots took place.

Candidate for Lt. Governor Sannie Overly said a raise in the minimum wage will be high on the Conway/Overly agenda. She criticized Bevin for failing to release his tax returns.

Other candidates tried to connect with the crowd - Ryan Quarles, candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, called himself the "only Kentucky wildcat" on the stage. His opponent, Jean Marie Lawson Spann said she was a fifth generation Kentucky farmer. Andy Beshear, at right below, son of Governor Steve Beshear, touted his legal experience. His opponent, Whitney Westerfield, spoke of his time as a prosecutor.

Auditor Adam Edelen bristled at his opponent's statement that Edelen went to an exclusive prep school in Louisville. Edelen pointed into the crowd and said that he attended the school because his father had never missed a child support payment.

Harmon, the GOP candidate, said he could be a better auditor than Edelen. (Some bad news may have surfaced for Harmon - his campaign manager, Jesse Benton, has been indicted. Campaign Operative Indicted