Pol Watchers

Do Ky. Dems want Obama in the Bluegrass State?

Ryan Alessi
Herald-Leader political writer

Last week some Kentucky Democrats, such as the governor and state party chairman, trekked to Denver with an eye toward urging Barack Obama to come to Kentucky to campaign this fall.

But it's a delicate situation in Kentucky. While those Democrats think it might be helpful to both Obama and some other candidates to have him stump in the Bluegrass state, others are shying away from being linked to their presidential nominee.

The reaction from at least one Democratic congressional candidate was essentially: Really, it's OK if he doesn't make it to Kentucky.

Owensboro's state Sen. David Boswell, who is running for the open 2nd District congressional seat, artfully dodged reporters' questions last week about Obama, even as the Illinois senator was on the brink of accepting the party's presidential nomination.

"I'm for David Boswell for the United States Congress," Boswell said when asked repeatedly about how he viewed Obama's candidacy. "We'll talk about that later. I'm for David Boswell."

Later at the same event, Boswell told reporters that he wasn't sure whether he would vote for Nancy Pelosi to remain speaker of the House if he were elected.

"If Nancy Pelosi's leadership leads to projects and programs that are beneficial to the 2nd Congressional District, I would support her," Boswell said. "I think it would be presumptuous for me to say, 'Yeah, I'm going to give blanket support to Nancy Pelosi,' not knowing who might be running against her."

Democratic officials say it's not a surprise that Boswell would try to keep some national party leaders at arm's length when campaigning in the largely rural, conservative 2nd District. "Generally most 2nd District Democrats do not fit in that mold of the national Democratic Party," said LaRue County Judge-Executive Tommy Turner, a Democrat. "That is what David Boswell has to bring out — that he will not be a D.C.-thinking Democrat."

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KY Dem chairman makes pitch to Dean

Jennifer Moore, the chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, said spoke one-on-one with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean Tuesday morning and asked for national help on a couple key races.

"I was lobbying him because we want to make sure we get some people into Kentucky to help our candidates," Moore said by phone from Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention. "We want to make sure we’re at the top of their list."

Dean spoke to the Kentucky Democratic delegation at breakfast Tuesday morning. Specifically, Moore said she talked with Dean about two particular races.

"One would be Bruce Lunsford's," she said referring to the Democrats' candidate for U.S. Senate who is challenging GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. "The other is the open seat in the 2nd congressional district."

That district, which Moore noted was held for decades by Democrats until Republican Ron Lewis won that seat in 1994, is the only congressional race in Kentucky without an incumbent now that Lewis is retiring. Democratic state Sen. David Boswell of Owensboro faces Republican state Sen. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green.

Moore said she asked Dean to encourage high-ranking national Democratic officials, such as Delaware senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, to campaign in Kentucky this fall.

"Sen. Biden, the vice presidential candidate, has strong Kentucky connections," Moore said, referring to his sister-in-law who hails from Owensboro and brother who lives in Louisville. "He's traveled in Kentucky, campaigned here and helped our party raise money."

And the chances of landing Biden and others?

"I’m working on it," she said.

- Ryan Alessi

National figures begin to weigh in on 2nd District race

Both candidates for the open 2nd congressional seat are beginning to get heavy-duty fund-raising help from Washington figures.

Republican U.S. House Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri will talk energy policy with GOP 2nd congressional candidate Brett Guthrie in Elizabethtown Wednesday afternoon.

Later, Blunt will headline a fund-raiser in Louisville for Guthrie's campaign, as first reported by Pol Watchers last week.

Guthrie, the state senator from Bowling Green, faces Owensboro's state senator, David Boswell, in the Nov. 4 election to replace longtime U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, a Hardin County Republican.

Boswell, meanwhile, said Monday night he has tentatively scheduled a fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., for Sept. 18 that will be headlined by Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and former U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford, for whom Boswell once worked as a constituent services liaison while Ford was Kentucky's governor.

 That is the first sign of help national Democrats have given to Boswell. However, Boswell told reporters that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Kentuckians at a fund-raiser this summer for U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth that the 2nd congressional race was a target for them. Boswell, who started the summer with $45,000 in his campaign account, acknowledged that he needed to pick up the fund-raising pace before the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee would make a significant investment in the race.

Despite receiving positive vibes from Pelosi, Boswell hesitated in committing his support to voting for her as speaker again if he's elected to Congress.

"I would support Nancy Pelosi on certain issues that are germane and relevant to the people of my district," he said. "I don't know what kind of opposition Nancy Pelosi might have. I think it would be presumptuous for me to walk in there and say 'Yeah, I'm going to give blanket support for Nancy Pelosi,' not knowing who might be running against her."

- Ryan Alessi

PolVideo: 2nd District candidates agree on ag

The two candidates fighting for the open 2nd congressional district found little to debate about at the Kentucky Farm Bureau forum in Elizabethtown Monday night. Democrat David Boswell and Republican Brett Guthrie, both state senators, gave similar answers to nearly every agriculture-related question thrown their way.

As one Farm Bureau board members, Pat Henderson said afterward, it might not have made a good news story but it was good news for Kentucky farmers.

"I was very pleased that they support our positions," Henderson said. "They both have a knowledge of agriculture and are very supportive of trying to address the problems that we face."

So instead of regurgitating the details of the evening, here's a brief video report from Elizabethtown:

- Ryan Alessi

Fischer to serve as Boswell's finance chairman

Louisville businessman and former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Greg Fischer has signed on as volunteer finance chairman to help raise money for the financially strapped congressional campaign of David Boswell.

Fischer said he will begin to set up fund-raising events across the 2nd congressional district where Boswell, a longtime Democratic state senator from Daviess County, faces Republican state Sen. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green in that open seat race.

Guthrie entered the summer with more than $660,000 on hand in his campaign account compared to Boswell's $45,000. Boswell also was out-raised during the spring Democratic primary, which he ended up winning comfortably over Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire.

Fischer told Democrats at a Frankfort party event Tuesday night that if Boswell shows strong fund-raising he could attract help from Democrats in Washington, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That organization has a program called "Red to Blue" that focuses on helping candidates in open an competitive races in districts held by Republicans. Boswell, so far, hasn't cracked that list.

"He is being received as a tremendous candidate throughout the state," Fischer told the Franklin County Democratic executive committee. "People just want to see him raise a little bit more money and maybe get the DCCC involved and build the campaign."

Fischer told the Herald-Leader that he expects prominent Democrats such as former U.S. senators Wendell Ford and Walter "Dee" Huddleston to headline fund-raising events for Boswell this fall.

Fischer, who owns stadium seating company Dant Clayton Corp. and is a co-inventor of the combination ice-drink  machine, finished second to fellow Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford in this spring's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. It was Fischer's first bid for public office.

-  Ryan Alessi

Big name Republicans helping KY GOP raise $

In addition to presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's joint fund-raiser with the Kentucky GOP later this month, other national figures will be in the Bluegrass to help raise money for that party's candidates.

 U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio will headline an event for GOP state Sen. Brett Guthrie's congressional bid. That fund-raiser is set for Friday night at the Prospect home of longtime Maker's Mark president Bill Samuels.

Guthrie is running against Democratic state Sen. David Boswell in the 2nd congressional district in west-central Kentucky. That seat is being vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Ron Lewis. Guthrie, who ran unopposed in the GOP primary, has raised more than a half-million dollars already.

On Wednesday, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who took the helm of the Republican leadership organization GOPAC after losing the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Maryland, will help Anne Northup stock her  campaign fund in her bid for the 3rd congressional district. The event, at the Seelbach Hilton Hotel in Louisville, starts at 11:30 a.m. on June 18, said Scott Will, Northup's campaign manager. Northup is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth for the Louisville congressional seat that she held for 10 years before losing to Yarmuth in 2006.

But by far the biggest upcoming fund-raising event remains the joint event between McCain's campaign and the Kentucky Republican Party.

The state GOP created a committee called the Republican Party of Kentucky's Victory effort, which will serve as the financing for its get-out-the-vote effort this fall to benefit the full GOP ticket. McCain and U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is up for re-election in November, will headline the joint fund-raiser for McCain's campaign and the Victory committee in Louisville June 28.

"We are going to do our part to ensure that John McCain goes to the White House and that Mitch McConnell is returned to the U.S. Senate," said Cathy Bailey, chairwoman of McCain Victory Kentucky, in a statement.  "We've seen an outpouring of support. Kentuckians want to show the world that this is a bright red state and that we are proud to have Sen. Mitch McConnell take care of business for Kentucky in Washington, D.C."

- Ryan Alessi

Haire on the air in KY-2

The race for the Democratic nomination in Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District hit TV on Friday, when Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire launched his first ad.

He faces state Sen. David Boswell of Owensboro in the May 20 primary. The winner will face Republican Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green in the general election.

In campaign finance filings last month, Haire had raised just over $200,000, compared to $34,000 for Boswell.

Here's the ad, which focuses on Haire's accomplishments.

- John Stamper

(Hat Tip: PolitickerKY.com)

Campaign fund-raising roundup

Congressional and U.S. Senate candidates must turn in their fund-raising figures through March 31 to the Federal Election Commission by April 15. Here's a look at what some of the prominent candidates are expected to file:

U.S. Senate 

This is the marquee Kentucky race for the fall. U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is up for re-election and faces token opposition in the GOP primary from a challenger running a limited campaign with a Tennessee P.O. box. Meanwhile, seven Democrats -- including two millionaire candidates -- are duking it out for that party's nomination.

• UPDATE 12:17 a.m. Tuesday: McConnell's campaign announced it would report raising a total of $12.2 million through March 31, which the campaign says is "a new record for Kentucky." McConnell's re-election fund will have more than $7.7 million in the bank, the news release adds.
  
• Democrat Bruce Lunsford says his report will show that he's raised $280,000 and put in $470,000 of his own money before March 31. (He later said he added $545,000 more from his personal fortune that won't show upon the April 15 report)
• Democrat Greg Fischer says he's raised more than $500,000 and kicked in another $500,000 of his own.

2nd Congressional District

This will the be the race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, a Republican from Hardin County. Republican state Sen. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green is running unopposed in the GOP primary but is amassing a warchest for the fall when he will face the winner of a clash between two Owensboro Democrats.

• Guthrie is expected to reveal raising more than $400,000 after a busy fund-raising period highlighted by a $76,000 event in Washington and a Lexington luncheon featuring Vice President Dick Cheney that brought in six figures.
• Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire, a Democrat, has told Owen Covington of the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer that he will have raised about $200,000.
• State Sen. David Boswell, an Owensboro Democrat, told a crowd at a rally last week that "he had brought in $38,000 through Wednesday, and was hoping to generate $5,000 or $6,000 in contributions Thursday night," Covington reported.

3rd Congressional District

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville will face the winner of a four-candidate GOP primary for his bid for a second term.  But the favorite to emerge with the Republican nomination is Anne Northup, who represented that district from 1996 through 2006. A Yarmuth-Northup rematch would be a nationally-watched race.

• Yarmuth has amassed more than $1 million, WHAS-TV's Mark Hebert reports.
• Northup, meanwhile,  could show raising as much as $450,000 since entering the race in January, reports Jefferson Poole of Blue Grass, Red State.

- Ryan Alessi

Last-minute moves enliven races for Congress

FRANKFORT — The question “What just happened?” echoed outside the secretary of state’s office Tuesday for several minutes after the 4 p.m. candidate filing deadline passed.

Reporters, a gaggle of mostly Republican lawmakers and various political observers and aides who had gathered in the west wing of the Capitol frantically tried to make sense of how U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Cecilia, had suddenly withdrawn his candidacy for an eighth term and, in the process, revealed his intention to install his chief of staff as the presumptive Republican nominee to replace him.

But Republican state Sen. Brett Guthrie of Bowling Green had been tipped off. Guthrie turned in his papers for the 2nd Congressional District when he realized what was going down as the clock ticked toward 4 p.m. The 2nd District double switch capped an especially furious few hours of political shuffling that bulldozed Kentucky’s 2008 election landscape.

Just on Tuesday afternoon, three Democratic U.S. Senate candidates filed to run, two Kentucky congressional races, including the newly open 2nd District, sprang up on national “watch lists” and more than 30 state legislative candidates emerged to fill out the roster of exciting, competitive races for both the May 20 primaries and the November general election.

“This is going to be a fun year in Kentucky politics,” Secretary of State Trey Grayson said in one of Tuesday’s biggest understatements.

Rothenberg: Kentucky House seats safe for now

If the Rothenberg Political Report is right, Kentucky's 2008 U.S. House races will be a bore.

The political newsletter says all but one of Kentucky's six House seats pose "limited risk" for the incumbent party.

The only exception is in Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District, where first-term Democrat Rep. John Yarmuth faces a challenge by Republican Erwin Roberts, a former aide to Gov. Ernie Fletcher. The Louisville race is in Rothenberg's "Democrat Favored" category.

- John Stamper