Don't Look to Dr. Dan to Get Senate Seat for Dems

Let's deconstruct The Hill's reality-avoiding piece on Kentucky's 2010 Senate race.

Four years after coming a whisker away from scoring the upset of the cycle, Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D) is contemplating a rematch against Sen. Jim Bunning (R).

Mongiardo ran surprisingly close to Bunning in 2004, leading on Election night in a Republican-friendly year in a Republican-heavy state with still-popular President Bush atop the ticket. In the end, Bunning pulled out a narrow 23,000-vote victory for a second term, but the tightness of the contest put a target squarely on the Republican's back.

Given the overwhelming evidence that year of Bunning's dementia, Mongiardo should have won in a landslide. That Dr. Dan actually managed to lose to a senile incompetent who is the laughing-stock of Kentucky politics is proof of Mongiardo's weakness.

(More after the jump.)

"I got involved in politics out of frustration for where healthcare was headed. And that will largely determine what I do and where I go," Mongiardo said. "It's interesting how the stars are lining up right now with [President-elect] Obama and the incoming administration talking about reforming healthcare."

Check a calendar. Obama will be signing healthcare reform by spring - a good 18 months before the 2010 election. Is Mongiardo planning to run against Obama's healthcare reform?

In Mongiardo's view, Bunning's standing in the state has changed little since the last election, largely because the Kentucky Republican has stayed out of the spotlight.

"In the end, people in the state of Kentucky are going to see there are two types of politicians: Those that do no harm, and he's been one of those, and those that do something, whether it's harmful or beneficial," Mongiardo said of Bunning. "Much to his credit, he hasn't done anything to harm the state."

No, Bunning's not doing much - other than vote constantly to support Smirky/Darth-McConnell policies that eliminate Kentucky jobs and foreclose Kentucky homes and deny health care to sick Kentuckians and send Kentucky's young people to Iraq to die. Apparently that doesn't bother Mongiardo much.

After his close call in 2004, Mongiardo won election as lieutenant governor alongside Gov. Steve Beshear (D). Mongiardo said he has discussed the possibility of running for Senate with Beshear, though he has yet to talk with incoming Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman Robert Menendez (N.J.).
Menendez's involvement in the race could be crucial to avoiding a nasty primary. In addition to Mongiardo, Attorney General Jack Conway (D) and Auditor Crit Luallen (D) have been mentioned as possible candidates. All three have won statewide elections, though Mongiardo stresses the eventual nominee will need to concentrate on fundraising.

Oh, yeah, getting the head of the NSCC to force out the best candidate in favor of an establishment DINO worked like a charm this year - we won't soon forget Bruce Lunsford's world-shaking victory over Mitch McConnell.)

"About the only thing I would change [from the 2004 race] is the ability to fundraise. In Kentucky, it's just very difficult to raise the money inside the borders of the state," Mongiardo said. "We're just not a very wealthy state."

Hey, Dan - guess who some of the biggest and richest Democratic fundraisers are? Gays. You know, the same homos you permanently antagonized in 2004 by sponsoring Kentucky's constitutional amendment promoting gay hatred.

Democrat Dan Mongiardo earned the everlasting enmity of thousands of Kentucky Democrats in 2004 when he sponsored the anti-gay marriage amendment to the Kentucky Constitution. Keep in mind he did so months AFTER his fellow Democratic Senator Ernesto Scorsone had come out as gay.

As Page One Kentucky put it:

Known homophobe and gay panicked (beyond Senate Bill 245, pressuring legislators to sign pledges that they would never support gay marriage but that they, themselves, are not gay) Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo did an interview with The Hill today.

SNIP

We’re wondering: If you get into politics in an attempt to save health care, why the heck meddle with gay-hating? And why continually press the issue?

The 2010 Democratic primary for Bunning's Senate seat is going to be crowded. In addition to Mongiardo and Conway (no, Crit Luallen is not going to run), Jimbo's vulnerability is going to draw every bored Democrat in the state. It's even possible that 2009's economic catastrophe will reveal a candidate stronger than Conway.

But Dan Mongiardo isn't it.

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

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Report: Leading Democrat Will NOT Run Against Mitch McConnell

UPDATE BELOW, UPDATE II

I love being able to say I told you so.

Page One Kentucky:

Crit’s definitely out. That’s what we hear. We’re just waiting on her announcement.

Media Czech at BlueGrassRoots notes the departure of two close aides has more than one possible explanation:

So what does this mean, if true? Well, in my opinion, this means one of two things.

1.) She has decided not to run for Senate next year.

2.) She has decided to run, and D.C. is planning on bringing in some big name insiders to run the campaign.

Both bloggers believe an announcement from Crit is imminent.

UPDATE, 5:30 a.m., Dec. 7: Looks like Andrew Horne is going to be the Mitch Killer.

UPDATE II, 11:15 a.m., Dec. 7: Crit Luallen oficially bows out of Senate race.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

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Join the Ditch Mitch Bandwagon Today!

Hate the republicans in the Senate? Think Minority Leader Mitch McConnell should be tarred and feathered? Afraid Kentucky just doesn't have what it takes to get rid of him when he runs for re-election next year?

Never fear - Ditch Mitch is here!

Via the indispensable Bluegrass Report, here's the press release:

Good Morning:

Team Ditch Mitch KY is proud to announce the official launch of its blog at:
http://www.DitchMitchKY.com/

Over the next 20 months, we'll center our efforts there on holding MitchMcConnell accountable for his legislative and political record, one we believehas made Americans less secure in nearly every aspect of their lives: in their finances, retirement, health, on the job, and from threats of terrorism at home and abroad.

Twenty months is certainly an eternity in politics, but as things stand now, we see McConnell as very vulnerable. He's framed himself as President Bush's biggest enabler in the U.S. Senate and as the chief obstructionist of a progressive Democratic agenda that majorities of Americans and Kentuckians support. Moreover, the Kentucky GOP -- the house that Mitch built -- is showing major cracks in its foundation. Mitch was right, it takes "money, money, money" to build a political party, but we're learning by example that it takes a different kind of competence and character to maintain and nurture it.

From our perspective, a perfect storm in November 2008 would find Kentucky Democrats energized by a dynamic presidential candidate and anticipating a landslide victory, and would see turnout among Kentucky Republicans depressed because of problems and divisions in the GOP nationally and at the state level.

We know this fight will be a tough one, as these entrenched incumbents rarely fall outside of narrow margins, but we believe that our cause is right for the future of Kentucky and the nation.

We've brought onto our team blogging veterans from the highly successful efforts in '06 to defeat Conrad Burns and George Allen; these people will be contributing on both the tech and content sides of the operation.

I would appreciate any "heads up" you're able to give concerning McConnell-related content you might be featuring on your own sites. If you have any questions about Ditch Mitch KY, please direct them to me, and I welcome any feedback.

Kindest regards,

Matt Gunterman

Now, we don't actually, technically, have a candidate to challenge Mitch yet. But with seven Democrats vying for just one spot in the gubernatorial primary in May, there'll be at least six losers licking their wounds and eyeing Mitch's seat.

And who knows? There are two leading Democrats who passed on the governor's race - Auditor Crit Luallen and Sixth District Congressman Ben Chandler - plus Louisville businessman and Chandler's 2003 Lite Guv running mate Charlie Owen who might jump in, depending how things look come next January (filing deadline is the 30th.)

Owen, by the way, has been faithfully sending Christmas cards every year to everyone who contributed to the Chandler-Owen campaign in 2003. He's definitely running for something.

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Dirty Ernie and the Seven Ponies - Part 1

There are seven - count 'em, seven - Democrats fighting for pole position in Kentucky's May gubernatorial primary. Not one of 'em a thoroughbred.

The two top Democrats in Kentucky aren't even in the race. Sixth District Congressman Ben Chandler bowed out once Democrats took back the U.S. House. As the senior Democrat from a red state, he's in tall cotton these days, snagging a plum spot on Appropriations even though he's in only his second term.

State Auditor Crit Luallen - a dedicated public servant with twice the brains and three times the government experience of anybody else in the race - was the first to decline the governor's race, causing a run on Prozac by goo-goo Democrats who forget that politicians of genuine integrity tend not to get far in this state.

Another statewide-elected Democrat is running as second-banana on a no-hoper ticket, a decision that has him being stalked by white-coated gentlemen from Eastern State Mental Hospital. More on the Attorney General tomorrow.

So, who's left? We've got the state Treasurer who's barely old enough to vote, two former Lieutenant Governors with loser reputations, a crooked businessman who specializes in throwing old poor people out of his nursing homes to make room for richer patients, a Speaker of the state house who can't get Democratic bills passed by his own Democratic majority, a gun nut who favors legalizing marijuana and a highway contractor who came in dead last in the 2003 primary.

Are you really going to make me tell you more? Fine. You asked for it.

Treasurer Jonathan Miller is actually not a bad guy, and is the goo-goo crowd's second choice after Luallen. (At 39, he's one of the youngest gubernatorial candidate ever.) His running mate, Irv Maze, is the Jefferson County Attorney who is both successful and popular in Louisville, but unknown elsewhere. Their two big handicaps are geographical - Miller is from Lexington, so they're a Golden Triangle ticket and thus mistrusted by the East and West - and religion - Miller is Jewish.

(Not that Kentuckians are anti-Semitic, it's just that Kentucky Democrats think everybody ELSE is anti-Semitic, and therefore doubt Miller could win the general election in November.)

Former Lieutenant Governor Steve Beshear used to be the goo-goos' champion, but that was back in the '80s, before he lost the 1987 gubernatorial primary. Since then, he's been a lawyer to big financial interests, which doesn't sit well with Defenders of the Poor and Downtrodden. If you want to start a fight among Kentucky Democrats, just mention the name of Beshear's running mate, State Senator Dan Mongiardo. Mongiardo, a physician, came within a whisker of beating incumbent U.S. Senator Jim Bunning in 2004. Doctor Dan's supporters seem to think he deserves Lite Guv as a consolation prize. His detractors say any Democrat worth his salt should have been able to crush the senile Bunning in a landslide, and Mongiardo deserved to lose for co-sponsoring an anti-gay marriage amendment that cost him lots of Democratic votes and failed to gain any others.

Steve Henry was Paul Patton's Lite Guv '95-'03. Another physician, but this one with charges of Medicare fraud to his discredit. His main claim to the Governor's Mansion seems to be that his wife is a former Miss America. We had one of those as First Lady before (Phyllis George Brown, '79-'83), and it wasn't pretty. Henry's running mate is Renee True, the Lexington Property Valuation Administrator, and the only woman running for guv or lite guv. I don't know anything against True, but I do know that after Henry was the first person to declare for governor last year, he had to hold off making it official for MONTHS because he couldn't find a running mate. Just about every dem in the state with a pulse turned him down. He barely got True on board in time for the January 30 filing deadline. I'm not sure what Renee is thinking.

Tomorrow: The Traitor, the Speaker, the Pot Head and the Bullman.

Read Part Two

Get the latest on Kentucky politics at Pol Watchers and Bluegrass Report.

There's more: "Dirty Ernie and the Seven Ponies - Part 1" >>