Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sorry, Dan: Jack's Gonna Take On Jimbo


Roll Call belatedly realizes that there may be more than one Democratic politician in Kentucky interested in kicking Jim Bunning (R-non compos mentis) out of the Senate.

A source close to Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said this week that the Democrat will run for Senate in 2010 and that he is expected to announce his candidacy as soon as early April.

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With Conway set to throw his hat in the ring, it appears that the other top Bluegrass Democrats who have considered challenging Bunning will stay on the sidelines. Conway, state Auditor Crit Luallen (D) and Rep. Ben Chandler (D) are all close allies, and party insiders don’t believe any of the three would challenge the others in a primary race.

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“The attorney general is staying in constant communications with Auditor Luallen, Congressman Chandler and [Democratic Rep. John] Yarmuth and they are in the process of sorting out this important election,” Riddle said. “Obviously Jack is very humbled that people are talking about his candidacy and encouraging him to run.”

As Page One notes, this is old news. Not just that Conway will run with Luallen's and Chandler's support, but that homophobic coal industry shill Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo's campaign is already struggling.

The Roll Call story gets better. We couldn’t agree more with the following excerpt:

Pointing to the hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign debt — much of which he owes to himself — that Mongiardo continues to carry from that 2004 campaign, the Democratic source said, “If he is such a good fundraiser, why hasn’t he cleared that up?”

Attention Mongiardo crew: If you’ve really raised substantial money, send us some some documentation to back it up. We’d love to know where you stand before the reporting deadline.

Read the whole thing.

Here's my 20-months-out prediction based on nothing that anyone who reads Kentucky political blogs doesn't already know:

Jack Conway will take the Democratic Senate primary in a walk. Mongiardo might not even make an embarrassing second place, if the usual unknowns jump into the race. Conway will beat Bunning in a landslide in the general, but lose to Secretary of State Trey Grayson if Bunning drops out.

Grayson is unlikely to challenge Bunning in a primary, although he could beat Jimbo easily, because why should he risk alienating Kentucky republicans in a 2010 primary when he can get them 100 percent behind him in a 2011 general election challenge to Governor Steve Beshear?

Don't be surprised if Mongiardo follows up his losing Senate campaign by challenging his own governor in the 2011 primary. Mongiardo is that delusional, and Beshear is that determined to exceed Dr. Dan's unpopularity with Kentucky progressives.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

6 comments:

BimBeau said...

Conway is welcome relief to the clown, Dr.Dan.

Had an isolated thought today about Evan Bayh's small horde of revolutionaries. From 1948 until 1983, they were Dixiecrats. Now we may call them Demi-crats.

Anonymous said...

Here's a question that I think merits an answer:

If you were a gay politician, who was just desperate not to be publicly outed in your home constituency, what sorts of things do you think you might do to deflect attention and suspicion away from yourself?

Do you think you might introduce lots of anti-gay legislation, so people will think it means you're straight, and not only straight but actually homophobic?

Do you think perhaps you might marry an absolutely gorgeous woman half your age, so anyone who sees you with her will say, "He's not gay - he has a wife, and just look what a beauty she is besides!!"

You think you might be inclined to do such things? I mean, IF you were gay and didn't want anyone to know?

I'm just askin'.

BimBeau said...

Dog -

What has happened to WTWC?

Bim

Yellow Dog said...

BimBeau: WTWC is now an archive site. The new site is They Gave Us A Republic ....

BimBeau said...

Thank you, sir.

kentondem1 said...

Why Rich, you could almost be speaking of Sen. Toe-Tapper Craig, except he doesn't have a young wife.

I mean the similarities are just uncanny!