Why Heather Ryan Should Be Running Against Mitch McConnell

Fancy Farm quick hits:

Mitch McConnell provided by far the best performance art, but only because he pays for it. Even the most rabid Lunsford volunteers couldn't compete.

Mitch brought a posse of baby Nazis from his D.C. office. Some carried triple-decker campaign signs on 20-foot-high staffs. They almost impaled several elderly people wearing republican stickers, and reminded me of those giant standards displayed by Roman emperors.

Other Gestapo-in-training wore long fake black beards and Arab-looking robes and burnooses, wearing signboards that blamed Lunsford, Obama and the Democrats for high gas prices. I sure hope he paid those kids well, because those costumes must have been brutal in the heat. Note to burnoose-wearers: the signboard is not very effective if the words are covered by your trailing headpiece in back and your fake beard in front.


If Heather Ryan doesn't beat Ed Whitfield in November, she should run against Steve Beshear in 2011. Mitch's baby Nazis hung arond long enough to try to scream her down, too, and she let 'em have it. She told the story of how her 12-year-old daughter asking McConnell about Iraq scared little Mitchie so much he got Heather fired.

"So thank you for being such a thin-skinned coward, Mitch," Ryan called out. "Because if you weren't, I wouldn't be here!"

(More and more pictures after the jump.)
At the Graves County Democratic Party breakfast before Fancy Farm, Ryan's speech was by far the best, beating even Lunsford for red-meat-throwing and drawing a standing, stamping, whistling ovation second only to the one for Lunsford.


Bruce Lunsford, dammit, gave the second-best speech of the day (after Heather.) Despite having to talk over non-stop screaming from Mitch's baby Nazis and their sitters ("Six More Years!"), he gave far better than he got and sounded - much as I hate to admit it - far more Senatorial than Mitch ever has.


McConnell and Kentucky's other Senator, Jim Bunning, read their speeches, barely lifting their heads or changing their tone, while Ryan, Lunsford, Beshear and Mongiardo spoke heads up and eyes forward (no teleprompters at Fancy Farm.)

The republicans don't seem to know who they're running against. The cardboard fan passed out to republicans had a list of republican talking points on one side and a list of republican candidates on the other side. Kentucky dems aren't always well-organized, but we can spot one of our own candidates at a good 10 feet.

McConnell and Bunning both seemed confused about who their opponents are. Neither one of them mentioned Lunsford, Ryan, Beshear, Mongiardo, or any other Kentuckian.


Mitch is running against some guy named Obama who bears no resemblance to the presumptive Democratic nominee but apparently has been going around Kentucky personally raising gas prices.

Bunning is running against long-married grandmother Nancy Pelosi, whose heterosexal, monogamous, child-rearing values scare Jimmy to death.

Ed Whitfield, who never mentioned his actual opponent Heather Ryan, seems to think he's running against Bruce Lunsford. That may be because this supposed representative of Kentucky's First Congressional District doesn't actually live here; his actual residence is - and has been for several years - in Florida. That's 500 miles and at least three states away from Western Kentucky, Ed.

Ed also doesn't know - or doesn't care - that it's illegal to remove another candidate's signs. His supporters couldn't stand that the home-made-in-her-front-yard Heather Ryan signs outnumbered Whitfield's expensively printed signs along U.S. 80 approaching Fancy Farm, so they pulled them up. Cowards. Criminals. Losers.

The Ditch Mitch crowd had some cute signage on U.S. 80: a series of large boards listing Mitch's crimes and corporate cop-outs over the last 24 years. If only the anti-McConnell movement had a candidate worth fighting for.

Climate conditions were 92 degrees and 45 percent humidity - practically sweater-weather for experienced Fancy Farmers used to 100 degrees with matching humidity. The new covered pavilion is not an improvement: the bleachers block the view of the speakers from everyone in the grass outside the pavilion, and the increased body heat from people crammed inside cancels out the cooling effect of shade.

Herald's coverage here, and here, Courier's here. Page One watched KET's coverage and comments here. KET webcast the whole thing.

And Kilowat has great pix here, here, here, here and here.

And of course Jim Pence was there taking video all day long.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Why Heather Ryan Should Be Running Against Mitch McConnell" >>

Bruce Lunsford's Energy Plan: Strip-Mine the Bluegrass

I'll give Bruce Lunsford this much: he's not so much of an energy panderer that he promotes the myth of "clean coal" or the catastrophe of mountain-top-removal the way Steve Beshear does.

No, Bruce Lunsford is a visionary; he wants to strip-mine the horse farms and rolling hills of Central Kentucky's Bluegrass Region.

To lure voters weary of high gas prices, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford is embracing a GOP-led push for oil shale drilling, one policy goal Congress already achieved and one proposal that received mixed reviews from both parties.

Lunsford, who is challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in the November election, unveiled an eight-point strategy to reduce prices at the pumps in the short and long terms.

”I want action. The public wants action,“ he said at the United Auto Workers local union 862."

Lunsford neglects, however, to mention where one might find oil shale. It's not just out west in desert that not many Kentucky voters care about. It's right here in the Bluegrass.

(More after the jump.)

The Knobs, the semi-circle of low hills that curve around the east, south and west sides of Lexington are chock-full of oily shale.

Lunsford knows this because he was an aide to Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown in the early 1980s, when high gas prices sent the state scrambling for possible alternatives. Brown's Energy and National Resources Cabinets both investigated oil shale mining and produced reports on its viability in Kentucky.

Short version of the results: Gas prices were almost high enough to make oil shale economically competetive.

But only if you didn't count the astronomical cost of filling the Bluegrass region inside the Knobs with mountains of post-extraction waste rock - waste 10 times the volume of the mined shale.

Yes, Lunsford is discussing oil shale "drilling," which is theoretically less destructive than strip mining. But in Kentucky we're still blowing the tops off mountains to get to coal. When it comes to fossil fuels, we don't do "safe" or "clean." Environmentally sound is for wimps.

One of the prettier highway drives in Central Kentucky is the Bluegrass Parkway between Lexington and Elizabethtown. As you drive west from Lexington, you'll see a line of low hills rise up in front of you. Those are the Knobs. The oil-filled shale Knobs.

Now imagine the view of the oaks, hickories, maples, dogwoods and redbuds covering those hillsides replaced by mountains of gray, dead, sterile waste rock sucked dry of its oil.

At that very point on the parkway is a sign that reads: "Welcome to Hardin County. A Clean County."

Not for long, if Bruce Lunsford has his way. Not for long.

Taylor Shelton of Green KY nails Lunsford on the self-destructiveness of his "let's use more fossil fuels!" energy plan, but then gives him absolution:

I would personally like to see a little more leadership from Lunsford here, as this is where I think he really shows himself to lack the progressive credentials that alot of Kentuckians and alot of Democrats are looking for these days. While I don’t agree with Lunsford’s new energy plan, make no mistake that voting for Mitch McConnell in November is a vote against the environment, a sound energy policy, a healthy, green economy and thriving communities in Kentucky.

And when the new Senator Lunsford from Kentucky persuades his "Democratic" colleagues that strip-mining the Bluegrass is the solution to our energy problems, Taylor, will you still think he's an improvement over McConnell?

Shelton does a great job at Green KY of keeping Kentucky's many and serious environmental issues near the top of the blogosphere agenda, and I'm grateful for and appreciative of his work.

But at some point, we have to stop pretending that Bruce Lunsford is really a progressive Democrat in his heart.

All evidence to the contrary.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Bruce Lunsford's Energy Plan: Strip-Mine the Bluegrass" >>

Poll Intoxication in Kentucky

SUSA's got new Kentucky election polls, and everybody's freaking out.

One shows McCain leading Obama in Bush-loving Kentucky by an anemic 12 points.

The other shows Democrat Bruce Lunsford trailing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by a surprising four points.

Surprising, that is, only to everyone who has forgotten the Rasmussen poll in May that showed Lunsford ahead of McConnell. Everybody freaked out over that one, too.

It's JUNE, people; polls four-and-a-half months out are worse than useless.

I think Obama's going to do much better in Kentucky than anyone is predicting - IF he actually shows up to campaign. If he doesn't show up, McCain will bury him here by at least 20 points. But it's going to be either a McCain landslide or Obama in a squeaker - McCain by 12 is ridiculous.

As for Lunsford, four points down before Mitch even starts attacking is bad news for Bruce.

I believe that 2008 is going to be a historic, watershed, paradigm-creating, tradition-breaking, change-life-as-we-know-it election.

But if we start going berserk over every poll months before people even start paying attention, we won't make it to Labor Day.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Poll Intoxication in Kentucky" >>

Bruce Ditching Mitch? Don't Count On It

As fun as it is to watch everybody go nuts over this Rasmussen poll that shows Democratic nominee Bruce Lunsford beating Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by five points, I have to throw cold water on this premature and unwarranted celebration.

Ain't gonna happen.

Even if it were gonna happen, a poll five months before the general election wouldn't tell you anything about it.

Bruce Lunsford won the Democratic primary last Tuesday. Today's poll reflects a primary bump from the heavy coverage the primary campaign and Lunsford's victory received in both the MSM and the blogosphere.

Remember that Mitch McConnell was a severe underdog in 1984 when he set out to upset secure sitting Senator Dee Huddleston. McConnell was almost laughed out of the state when his ads first aired. Featuring a pack of bloodhounds sniffing through the U.S. Capitol, "searching" for the often-absent Huddleston, they were dismissed as ridiculous by political professionals.

It was only later, after the comical but viciously effective attack ads worked, that political pros praised and copied them.

To win this race in a landslide, Mitch needs to run one ad. Just one. It'll show Bruce Lunsford embracing Barack Obama. Even if it's a photo-shopped fake.

No, of course it didn't work in Mississippi; Democrats in Mississippi love Obama 61-37. In Kentucky, they hate him, 30-66. Here, it'll work.

The only thing that will save Lunsford from dying by that ad is if he denounces Obama now, denounces Obama loud, and keeps on denouncing Obama at the top of his lungs every day from now until November 4.

However, such Obama-hating will guarantee that the anti-Lunsford Democrats whom Lunsford needs to win this election, and who for the moment are willing to hold their noses and actually vote for Bruce in order to get rid of Mitch, will change their minds and sit this one out.

Don't get me wrong. I believe strongly that Obama will have great coattails in November and will provide the margin of victory to scores of down-ticket Democrats throughout the country who would have lost under a different presidential candidate.

But Kentucky's Senate race is a hat-trick for republicans: a Democratic Senate candidate purely hated by half his state party, led by a Democratic presidential candidate hated by two-thirds of his state party, up against a meaner-than-a-snake national power-broker with more than enough money to buy every spare minute of TV time in the state for the next five months.

There is no scenario, including a Democratic tsunami that takes out almost every Republican incumbent in the nation, that permits a Lunsford victory.

Ain't gonna happen.

But if you must have a ray of hope, that depressing prediction comes from the same person who predicted Clinton would win Kentucky by less than 10 points.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Bruce Ditching Mitch? Don't Count On It" >>

Race to Challenge Mitch McConnell: Fischer Endorsements

With nine days left and still 19 points down, Kentucky Democratic Senate Primary candidate Greg Fischer has picked up the endorsement of the state's second-largest (but best) newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Vote Fischer in Senate primary: Newcomer offers fresher voice, less baggage than Lunsford
Greg Fischer wants the chance to unseat McConnell this fall. Seven Democrats are seeking the opportunity to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell this fall, but just two of the candidates have a legitimate shot at winning their party's nomination in the May 20 primary.

Greg Fischer and Bruce Lunsford have much in common. Both are Louisville businessmen capable of self-financing part of their campaigns.

(SNIP)

Each of these two men would be a worthy candidate for the Democratic Party. And either would be a preferable alternative to McConnell, who has spent 24 years in the Senate serving his rich friends and campaign contributors far more ably than he has served Kentucky.

The bottom line for Democrats comes down to the question of which candidate has the best chance of defeating McConnell in November.

Lunsford has more name recognition, courtesy of two unsuccessful gubernatorial campaigns. And he probably could put more of his own money into the race.

But baggage accompanies Lunsford into any race he runs, baggage that has been thoroughly vetted in previous campaigns and will not be rehashed here.

Fischer is the fresh face in the race, the untested political novice. And frankly, he hasn't run the best of campaigns in the primary. If he wins, he will need to do far better against McConnell.

But Fischer has a couple of things that speak in his favor.

One is the fact that, as a novice, he delivers the message of change with a fresher voice.

He makes that message resonate with more hope, more idealism, more commitment.

And if "change" is the message the Democrats think can inspire Kentucky voters in November, who better to deliver it than a fresh face with a fresh voice?

The second thing is the simple fact that Fischer lacks Lunsford's baggage.

Whomever the Democrats nominate, McConnell will loose the attack dogs on him, just as he has loosed them on all comers for 24 years. But as Fischer asks, why give McConnell "a target-rich environment"?

Between Lunsford and Fischer, there is no bad choice for Democrats. They're both good candidates who would represent the state well in the Senate.

However, Fischer's fresh voice and lack of baggage for McConnell to target give him a slight edge in this primary race.

I'm afraid that Lunsford hatred and hopefulness generated by the Obama campaign have led the Herald astray.

But I can't deny that the closer we get to a primary which Bruce Lunsford, unfortunately, is going to win in a landslide, the more endorsements Fischer picks up.

On Friday, Fischer's campaign sent out this email:

A host of prominent Jefferson County Democrats, including former Louisville Mayor David Armstrong, former Congressman Ron Mazzoli, and Speaker Pro-Tem of the Kentucky House of Representatives Larry Clark, endorsed Greg Fischer Thursday in a ceremony on the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Downtown Louisville.

"We're taking this campaign across Kentucky -- courthouse to courthouse-- and the response is overwhelming," Fischer said, addressing the crowd. Fischer promised he would fight for working people in Kentucky to control gas prices and to lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil, that he would fight for quality, affordable health care for every American and that he would work to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. He promised to bring meaningful change to Washington.

Mayor Armstrong and Rep. Mazzoli both spoke of Fischer's honesty, integrity and conviction.

Invoking his belief that Fischer is the best Democratic candidate to run againt Mitch McConnell this fall, former State Sen. David Karem stirred the crowd with a ringing endorsement: "If you support John Yarmuth for Congress, you want Greg Fischer on the Democratic ticket. If you support Hillary Clinton for President, you want Greg Fischer on the Democratic ticket. If you support Barak Obama for president, you want Greg Fischer on the Democratic ticket."

The list of endorsers who attended yesterday's event also included: State Representative Mary Lou Marzian, State Senator Perry Clark, State Representative Jim Wayne and State Representative Tom Burch.

They're promising endorsements from "grass roots leaders" next week.

I'm not endorsing Fischer, Lunsford or anyone else in this ludicrous farce of a Senate primary. Whoever "wins" will be shark bait in November anyway.

But if you want to read the eloquent case for Lunsford from someone who made his reputation exposing and condemning Lunsford, check out Media Czech at Barefoot and Progressive.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Race to Challenge Mitch McConnell: Fischer Endorsements" >>

"Race" to Unseat Mitch McConnell Too Tragic for Farce, Too Ludicrous for Tragedy

UPDATE Below

If Kentucky Democrats had written a specific plan of action to ensure that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would win re-election this year despite even the most complete Democratic tsunami that swept every other republican from office, it would look pretty much exactly like the clusterfuck we've got right now.

1. Discourage, intimidate, bribe or blackmail every well-known and well-liked Democratic official in the state from entering the Senate race.
2. Encourage half-a-dozen losers, no-hopers, perennial candidates, clueless novices and who-dats to file for the race.
3. Persuade the single most reviled politician in the state to run for the Democratic nomination, although he is a long-time donor to republicans and BFF to Mitch himself.
4. When a strong, viable, uncontrolled candidate emerges, enlist national power-brokers to help force him to drop out.
5. Plant multiple stories on both progressive and wingnut state political blogs exaggerating the BFF's personal fortune and statewide popularity.
6. Spread rumors emphasizing the naivete, incompetence and general lameness of the six also-rans.

So here we are. Not a single Democratic office-holder, past or present, is running for Mitch's seat. Six of the eight candidates are unknowns, perennial losers or cruel jokes. Marine Lt. Col. Andrew Horne dropped out under pressure from Governor Beshear and DSCC chair Chuck Schumer.

And Bruce Lunsford - Criminal, Democratic Traitor, $40,000+ Donor to Republicans, and Best Friend Forever to Mitch McConnell - is, six weeks before the primary, the presumptive democratic nominee to challenge McConnell.

It is a tribute to the utter through-the-looking-glass nature of the Democratic clusterfuck that it is necessary to debunk the propaganda that Lunsford is a viable candidate.

Bruce has spent the last five years piling up such a record of supporting republicans and attacking democrats that Mitch won't have to film a single ad against him; he'll just rerun clips from Bruce's previous campaigns.

If Mitch wins by less than 20 points, it'll be because Democrats finally remembered how to try to rig an election.

Page One Kentucky's posts on Lunsford's inevitable win in the primary and loss in the general.

Page One Kentucky's posts on Greg Fischer's lame campaign and missed opportunities.

BlueGrassRoots' posts on why Greg Fischer is a better choice than Lunsford.

UPDATE, 7:27 p.m.: Meanwhile, the national Senate electoral picture is shaping up as a rout for Democrats, who have recruited strong challengers just about everywhere. Everywhere except here. Memo to the Kentucky Democratic Party: next time New Yorker Schumer comes calling, beware Yankees bearing empty promises.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: ""Race" to Unseat Mitch McConnell Too Tragic for Farce, Too Ludicrous for Tragedy" >>

Will It Turn My Red State Blue?

While the national Democratic “leadership” is busy trying to figure out how to squeeze just one more state into the Democratic electorial vote column, on the ground here in the ignored “red” states, we’re setting our sights higher.

Twenty-four years after Mitch McConnell’s upset of Senator Dee Huddleston started the republican takeover of traditionally Democratic Kentucky, 2008 is shaping up as the year our 6-2 red congressional delegation flips to a 4-4 or possibly 5-3 blue group.

Three weeks ago, I would have said 4-4 was a lock, 5-3 likely and a complete reversal to 6-2 Democratic a definite possibility.

But the withdrawal of the only Democrat with a chance in hell of beating Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell makes it far less of a sure thing.

Nevertheless, we have progressive political novices courageously challenging republican incumbents in two Congressional Districts, and a wide-open race in another.

(Details after the jump.)

In the far-western First District, military veteran Heather Ryan is challenging seven-term incumbent Ed Whitfield. You’ll remember that Ryan was fired from her job on Mitch’s orders because her 12-year-old daughter Heaven dared to challenge McConnell on his support for the Iraq catastrophe.

Although Ryan is being studiously ignored by the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP), and although the KDP has failed to support a challenge to the extremely weak Whitfield for six straight election cycles, the unemployed mom, whose husband is on military deployment, has the determined support of Kentucky’s progressive blogosphere.

She also, unlike some supposedly stronger candidates in other districts, has a campaign website.

In the Second District, which ridiculously stretches almost 200 miles from the western flatlands past the Bluegrass to the foothills of the eastern mountains, republicans are still reeling from the last-second decision (seriously – barely an hour before the filing deadline) of seven-term incumbent Ron Lewis to not run again.

The rural Second is pretty conservative but not stupid, which is why it kept re-electing worthless piece of furniture but real repug Lewis over the pathetic repug-lites the KDP kept putting up against him.

The good news is that now Democrats have a real chance to take back the Second. The bad news is that two Democrats are running in the primary, and neither one of them can claim to be a progressive.

David Boswell and Reid Haire are both from Owensboro, at the far western edge of the Second District. Both are experienced local politicians – Haire the Daviess County Judge-Executive, and Boswell the state senator. Neither has a campaign website up.

Boswell is anti-choice (or as Eva Destruction put it, “believes pregnant women are the property of their husbands or parents”) and Haire has contributed to Mitch McConnell’s re-election. Hard to say who comes out better in that comparison.

Two republicans initially filed to replace Lewis, but Lewis’ chief of staff has now dropped out, leaving state senator Brent Guthrie of Bowling Green with no primary challenge.

As DINOs, neither Boswell nor Haire is likely to excite Kentucky’s progressives much, so the Second District race will come down to how powerful the Democratic wave is in November.

But we’re going to have fun in Louisville’s Third District, where humiliated ex-congress critter Anne Northup is begging for another whuppin’ from Proud Liberal John Yarmuth.

Northern Kentucky’s Fourth District might be interesting, if novice Michael Kelley can get some support from state Democrats for his challenge to repug two-term incumbent Geoff Davis.

In the Fifth and Sixth Districts, incumbents are sitting pretty. DINO extraordinaire Ben Chandler of Lexington’s Sixth has two republican challengers that nobody ever heard of and will coast to re-election. As will republican Hal Rogers of eastern Kentucky’s Fifth. Eastern Kentuckians may be overwhelmingly Democratic, but they appreciate somebody who knows how to bring home the bacon, no matter how unethically or illegally. Kentucky Democrats may be none too bright at times, but they’re nowhere near stupid enough to run against Rogers.

Speaking of stupid Democrats, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer have guaranteed Mitch McConnell’s re-election by forcing Andrew Horne out of the race in favor of Criminal and Democratic Traitor Bruce Lunsford.

How bad a candidate is Bruce Lunsford? Bruce Lunsford is so bad, that there are dedicated progressive Democrats in this state who will not vote in the Senate race if Lunsford is the Democratic nominee.

Which he probably will be, even though he technically has six primary opponents. The only one of the six who is seriously challenging Lunsford is millionaire Greg Fischer, who is already getting slammed for falsely claiming to have picked up Horne’s supporters.

Last year, I wrote that the Democratic win in the Kentucky governor’s race was a good omen for Democratic wins statewide and nationally in 2008.

I still believe that, even though Governor Beshear has proven not to be the Great Democratic Hope I thought he was.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Will It Turn My Red State Blue?" >>

Millionaires Who Hate Democrats and the Democrats Who Love Them

UPDATE Below

Does anybody really believe that Gov. Steve Beshear, Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer think that the very best person to represent Kentucky in the U.S. Senate is Bruce Lunsford?

Of course not. I doubt they even think Bruce Lunsford is a Democrat. Or care.

Beshear, Reid and Schumer don't even think Lunsford is the strongest candidate Kentucky Democrats can put up against Mitch McConnell.

But they nevertheless want Lunsford to be the Democratic nominee for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat. Why?

(Answer after the jump.)


Because Lunsford has the most money.

Here's the really stupid part: Twice in the last five years, Bruce Lunsford has spent millions of his own money in races for statewide office.

And lost. Lost huge. Both times.

In 2003, he wasted $8 million on negative TV ads, then dropped out when polls showed him still coming in third - if not fourth - in the gubernatorial primary. Lunsford then added insult to injuries he inflicted on the Democratic nominee by endorsing the republican, who went on to win in November.

In the 2007 gubernatorial primary, Lunsford was touted as the only hope for poor Democrats up against a well-funded republican incumbent. He spent more millions, and still lost to Steve Beshear by 20 points.

That's quite a record of humiliating failure. Perhaps if Lunsford were a loyal, dedicated Democrat who had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to worthy Democratic candidates over the years, he might even deserve a third chance.

Lunsford, however, has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to republicans. He has proudly advertised his close, personal relationship to republicans like Ernie Fletcher, Anne Northup and - wait for it - Mitch McConnell.

Two-time loser, multi-millionaire who can't buy a single lousy election, criminal, democratic traitor, Mitch's BFF: this is the person your Democratic "leaders" think should carry the Democratic flag into battle against Mitch McConnell.

I am sick and fucking tired of hearing supposedly sentient Democrats whine about Mitch's $11 million "war chest."

Here's the truth about Mitch's money: It has taken him five years to accumulate $11 million. Five years during most of which he was the third-most powerful politician in the country.

Last year, in just the nine months between February and November, Steve Beshear - a has-been Democrat challenging an incumbent republican in a small, red state - raised$9.5 million. And won.

An unknown, underdog democrat raised 90 percent of what Mitch raised in one-sixth the time.

If a genuinely strong Democratic nominee for Senate can't raise at least $10 million to beat the third-most-hated Republican in the country, then Democrats should just concede the entire 2008 ballot right now.

But of course a genuinely strong Democratic nominee like Andrew Horne will raise much more than Bruce Lunsford is willing to spend on an election he knows he can't win.

An election that - $10 million or no - Andrew Horne can and will win.

UPDATE, 4:15 p.m.: Apparently the pro-Lunsford forces are way more stupider than I thought - they're pushing Bruce even though he claims he will not spend his millions on the race to beat Mitch. Huh? PageOneKentucky has the details.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.

There's more: "Millionaires Who Hate Democrats and the Democrats Who Love Them" >>

Bruce Lunsford is Mitch McConnell's Dream Opponent

New Kentucky Democratic Governor Steve Beshear's all-but-endorsement of Criminal and Democratic Traitor Bruce Lunsford for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat has Democratic heads exploding all over the Commonwealth.

Bruce Lunsford is by all accounts a personable guy. I met him once, and the Mark of the Beast is barely visible.

But here's why all true Democrats curse his name.

Lunsford made his millions with a Louisville health care company called Vencor. He touted it as the next Humana, and drew thousands of small investors from all over Kentucky eager to invest in a local boy done well. But Vencor was less Humana than Enron.

When expectations outgrew revenues, Lunsford starting throwing old, sick, poor people out of his nursing homes to make room for rich old people who could pay more. When that didn't work, he pulled out the remaining cash and left the empty shell for creditors to fight over. Thousands of middle-class Kentucky investors lost millions.

Lunsford skated away from the disaster he'd created, and turned his attention to politics.

As I wrote back in April, when Lunsford was running in the Democratic gubernatorial primary: (Just substitute "McConnell" for "Fletcher.")

(More after the jump.)

It's a close call as to which is more important: defeating Fletcher, or defeating Lunsford.

Lunsford’s a multi-millionaire (he sank $8 million into his 2003 primary run before quitting), supposedly willing to put his personal fortune into the general election. That’s why some seriously deluded/desperate Democrats are claiming he has the best chance to beat Fletcher.

Bruce Lunsford made his millions off the backs of two groups: the poor, sick old people he threw out of his nursing homes to make room for richer patients, and the poor, trusting Kentucky families who lost their life savings investing in Lunsford’s company before he bankrupted it.

His vicious ads attacking State Attorney General Ben Chandler in the 2003 gubernatorial primary fatally wounded Chandler in the general election, especially after Lunsford dropped out of the primary and endorsed Ernie Fletcher.

Read that again, slowly: A Democratic primary candidate endorsed the Republican primary winner. After promising to support the Democratic primary winner.

Ernie won, and gave Lunsford a nice job. Since 1995, Lunsford has given more than $40,000 to Republican candidates, and less than $12,000 to Democratic candidates.

Now he wants to be the Democratic nominee.

Ernie Fletcher has been one of the worst governors in Kentucky history. Cleaning up the mess he’s created will take years if not decades and billions of dollars Kentucky doesn’t have. We can’t afford another four months, never mind another four years of Ernie Fletcher.

But a lot of Democrats will be voting for Fletcher – if Bruce Lunsford gets the nomination.

Wait - it gets worse! PageOneKentucky predicts that Lunsford's staff will fail to protect Bruce from the attacks stemming from his past, even if they manage to avoid a Federal Elections Commission complaint about illegal financing. Page One also has a great list of links to the low-down on Lunsford.

So, Kentucky, how bout it? Interested in allowing Bruce to buy this election? Is Bruce ready for everything to hit the fan?

Stick with us throughout 2008 as we delve into the world of Bruce Lunsford. It’s not pretty.

Get ready for it. This isn’t 2003. Or 2007. It’s 2008 and the entire Democratic Party is out to get him.

But only if MediaCzeck doesn't get him first.

Hear that scraping noise? That's the sound of KY Labor sharpening their knives in preparation of Bruce Lunsford announcing his candidacy for Senate.

And Gov. Beshear? Don't think encouraging him to run won't make your life absolutely miserable... labor has a long memory and would not hesitate to make the safe little bubble you've built evaporate.

The "unity" moment that Democrats shared last year, singing cumbaya by the campfire as we roasted Republican weenies? If Beshear convinces Lunsford to run, expect an absolute bloodbath among Kentucky Democrats this year.

Click the link for videos of Bruce with his BFFs Ernie and Mitch, and a sample of the anti-Lunsford attack ads Mitch probably already has in the can.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Bruce Lunsford is Mitch McConnell's Dream Opponent" >>

The Traitor Returns, as a Mitch Protege Drops Out

Today's 4 p.m. deadline for filing to run in 2008 elections in Kentucky arrived with some expected bad news and two surprise gifts for Democrats.

Criminal and Democratic Traitor Bruce Lunsford filed at the last minute to run in the eight-person Democratic primary for Mitch McConnell's U.S. Senate seat.

That had been rumored for weeks, but still came as a blow to those of us who thought Lunsford's 20-point loss in the gubernatorial primary last year effectively killed him as a candidate.

Note to self: Next time, chop the body into tiny pieces and bury it in a pit of lime.

(More after the jump.)

Lunsford and fellow Republican millionaire Greg Fischer were encouraged to enter the Democratic primary by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Chuck Schumer and other DLC/republican-lite types in D.C. and Frankfort.

I will have more to say about this intractable suicidal tendency later, but for the moment, just remember this: Lunsford/Fischer = Mitch victory.

But take heart, progressives: One of Mitch's original protege`s has thrown in the towel. Seven-term Congressman Ron Lewis, R-KY 2, is not running for re-election, throwing the 2nd District into real contention for the first time in more than a decade.

Back in February 1994, when Democratic Congressman William Natcher, who had represented the 2nd District of Kentucky for decades, died in office, then-freshman senator Mitch McConnell cast his net for a useful dupe to run as a republican in the special election.

He found itinerant preacher and religious bookstore owner Ron Lewis in tiny Cecilia, and never looked back. In 14 years, Lewis has distinguished himself primarily by doing nothing to draw anyone's attention. In 2006, the last year of the republican majority in the House of Representatives, Lewis' power ranking was below 200 - near the bottom of his party, despite 12 years in office.

As of this morning, only Owensboro representative David Boswell had filed as a Democrat for Lewis' seat, but immediately after Lewis' last-minute withdrawal, another dem and two repugs jumped in.

Another Mitch protege` announced her desire for a third electoral humiliation in 18 months. In the Third Congressional District of Louisville, former Congresswoman Anne Northup has filed to run against Democrat John Yarmuth, who beat every prediction to upset her in November 2006.

In 2007, Annie followed Mitch's advice to challege incumbent Republican governor Ernie Fletcher in the primary, only to lose big again in May.

Now rumors say Annie is very pissed that three other republicans have also filed in the primary. How tacky of them!

In the Fourth, two-term incumbent repug Geoff Davis has three - count 'em, three - republican primary opponents and one Democratic opponent.

In the Sixth, DINO Extraordinaire Ben Chandler has two republican opponents and, to the shame of every Real Democrat in the Sixth District, no Democratic primary opponent.

In the Fifth District, republican Congressman-for-Life Hal Rogers is unopposed. His constituents may all be Democrats, but they know the value of a congressman who will break any law to bring billions in pork to the home folks.

It's going to be one hell of a ride between now and the Primary on May 20. Check back here for updates as frequent as I can manage to make them.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "The Traitor Returns, as a Mitch Protege Drops Out" >>

Kentucky Dems to Schumer: Drop Dead

UPDATE Below

As Chuck Schumer works frantically at the DSCC to promote a notorious DINO to run for Mitch McConnell's Senate seat, Kentucky progressives and its liberal blogosphere are fighting back.

Rumors are rampant here that Schumer is begging Criminal and Democratic Traitor Bruce Lunsford to challenge Mitch's re-election.

In a rational world, the person in charge of electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate would be pushing republican-in-disguise Lunsford to run either in the republican primary to wound Mitch and drain his war chest, or as an independent in the general election, to split republicans and guarantee a Democratic victory.

In a rational world, the person in charge of electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate would never dream of undermining the candidacy of a near-perfect Democratic candidate like Andrew Horne.

But Chuck Schumer lives in the DLC's Beltway World, where they think DINOs like Harold Ford actually win Senate seats against real republicans.

In 2004, Kentucky progressives, reeling from the republican takeover of the governorship, let the DLC talk us into electing DINO extraordinaire Ben Chandler to Congress. Chandler has thanked us by voting with Smirky and Darth to impoverish working families, legalize torture, promote permanent war, undermine the rule of law and destroy the Constitution.

Never again. No more DINOs.

Media Czech of BlueGrassRoots launched the first missile last week with this video of Lunsford yukking it up with his dear, dear buddy Mitch McConnell. (The other chucklehead is disgraced former republican governor Ernie Fletcher.)

Emails cited two Bluegrass Report posts from back in the spring, when Lunsford was running in the Democratic primary for governor (which he lost by 20 points):

"Top Ten Reasons to Vote Against Bruce Lunsford."

"More on Lunsford's Love of the Republican Party."

But there's more! If you've finished throwing up at the idea of this millionaire scumbag representing the Demcoratic Party at so much as a backyard picnic, try these:

Media Czech details Lunsford's 14-year record of large donations to republicans, including $7,500 to - wait for it - the National Republican Senate Committee in 1997. "Bruce Lunsford? Surely You're Joking."

And CFK activist Mike Bailey makes an impassioned plea for not letting Schumer's blackmail and Lunsford's money sway real Kentucky Democrats.

UPDATE, 9 a.m.: Page One Kentucky says Lunsford is definitely moving toward declaring his candidacy for the Democratic primary for Mitch's Senate seat.

Page One says Lunsford is making a mistake, even after disclosing that its editors once worked for Lunsford and consider him a friend. Page One has, in fact, often defended Lunsford against critics like yours truly. For Page One to tell Lunsford to stay out of this race is a huge indicator of just how united Kentucky Democrats are in support of Andrew Horne.

Post has been edited.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Kentucky Dems to Schumer: Drop Dead" >>