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 ....