Kenny Colston

Two national polls released this week show Kentucky Senator Rand Paul neck and neck with many other potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates.

Both Quinnipiac and Public Policy Polling released surveys Wednesday showing Paul in second or third place in the early GOP primary field. 

Paul clocks in at 15 percent in the Quinnipiac poll, behind former vice presidential nominee and Congressman Paul Ryan at 17 percent, and fellow Republican Senator Marco Rubio at 19 percent.  

The PPP survey has Paul making a bigger leap since their previous presidential poll. Paul has 17 percent of primary voters in the PPP poll, with Rubio at 21 percent.

In the previous PPP poll, Paul was at 10 percent, sixth in the field. 

Only fellow Senator Marco Rubio polls above Paul in both polls, while other well-known names, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, poll below Kentucky's senator.

Governor Steve Beshear has appointed Court of Appeals Judge Michelle Keller to a vacancy on the Kentucky Supreme Court, putting three women on the bench for the first time in state history.

Keller replaces retiring Justice Will Schroder, who is stepping down for health reasons.

Keller will represent her home region of Northern Kentucky on the state Supreme Court and will have to run for re-election next year.

Jason Nemes, a lawyer who has tried cases before the court, says Keller is a perfect pick.

"You cannot categorize her as being friendly to plaintiffs, friendly to defendants, friendly to criminals or the state or business. She is a fair judge right down the middle and exactly what a justice ought to be," said Nemes.

Keller joins justices Mary Noble and Lisbeth Hughes Abramson as the historic three women justices on the state Supreme Court. The court has seven total justices.

Many of the bills Kentucky lawmakers passed in the final hours of this year's legislative session are still awaiting action by Governor Steve Beshear.

Beshear has not yet signed or vetoed high-profile bills that would prepare Kentucky to grow industrial hemp, allow alcohol sales on election day and simplify voting for military service members stationed overseas.

Supporters of industrial hemp have questioned whether Beshear intends to sign the hemp bill. If he vetoes it, he won't be at any risk of having his veto overridden, since the legislature has adjourned for the year.

Beshear has until Saturday to either sign the bills or veto them outright. However, state law says that if Beshear doesn't act, the bills become law anyway.

With more than a year before the next elections, new political action committee has formed to help Republicans gain control of the Kentucky state House.

The PAC—Pro-Jobs, Pro-Kentucky—was formed earlier this month by Scott Jennings, a longtime Kentucky  GOP political operative and Mike Adams, a former political director for the Republican Governor's Association.

Pro-Jobs, Pro-Kentucky's goal is to support state legislative candidates who support economic growth in the Commonwealth, according to fillings with the Internal Revenue Service. The PAC also filed with the Federal Election Commission to be able to raise money.

In a statement, Jennings said unhappiness with Frankfort led to the creation of the PAC.

The key issue for a new Louisville-based political action committee is candidates' use of reproductive rights as a campaign issue.

Reproductive Rights for Kentucky PAC was born from the recent controversy when University of Louisville Hospital attempted to merge with Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives. Critics of the merger raised concerns about CHI's adherence to Catholic religious directives—that certain reproductive health practices, such as tubal litigations, wouldn't be permitted at University Hospital.

The new PAC is chaired by Honi Goldman, a Louisville media relations executive and a critic of the CHI-University Hospital merger. (CHI and University entered into a partnership last year.)

Goldman said the group will support candidates who realized there are bigger issues to deal with than reproductive ones.