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Lucas comes out of retirement to run for Congress again BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. - Former Rep. Ken Lucas came out of political retirement today to challenge freshman Rep. Geoff Davis for the congressional seat in northern Kentucky that he gave up after three terms to fulfill a campaign pledge. Lucas, 72, a conservative Democrat who often aligned himself with Republicans, said he was lured back to politics by the bruising partisanship and "widespread public corruption" in Congress. Lucas tried to link Davis to both in announcing his candidacy for the 4th District, which has been a traditional...

A Virginia-based campaign ethics watchdog group sent a letter to a federal prosecutor in Lexington asking him to look into whether Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney illegally promised jobs to staff members of retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas. Clooney is running for the 4th District seat against Hebron business consultant Geoff Davis, a Republican, and Michael Slider, a teacher from LaGrange and the Independent candidate.

Clooney will get son's help in NYC, D.C. By Courtney Kinney Post staff reporter Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney will once again get some help from his movie star son at two out-of-town fund-raisers this weekend. George Clooney will attend a fund-raiser in New York City Saturday and another in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to help raise money for his father's quest to win the 4th Congressional District seat. Saturday's event will take place at Patsy's, a famed Italian restaurant in New York's theater district, and cost $500, $1,000 or $2,000 a head. The Sunday event will take place at...

A visibly emotional U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas, who two years ago described a potential invasion of Iraq as being in the "interest of America and all freedom-loving people everywhere," Friday told a Northern Kentucky audience that his vote to authorize that war was the one he most regretted during his three terms in Congress. "I supported my commander-in-chief as president because there were supposed to be weapons of mass destruction," the Richwood Democrat, who is not seeking re-election, told about 80 politicians and businessmen at Covington's Metropolitan Club. "But I have to tell you from all the stuff that we've...

Nick Clooney campaigns for Congress DEMOCRAT WANTS TO SUCCEED LUCAS IN 4TH DISTRICT By Bruce Schreiner ASSOCIATED PRESS BEDFORD - Political newcomer Nick Clooney needed no introduction as he shook hands with people hunched over steaming breakfast plates at the Farmhouse restaurant. His face, once a fixture as a Cincinnati television news anchor, was familiar to the regulars chewing over issues between bites of eggs and sausage. "I knew him since I walked in the door, and I had never met him before," said Richard Ginn, a real estate appraiser and tobacco farmer. The 69-year-old Democrat and father of actor...

Kentucky's Only Democrat Congressman (Ken Lucas) Won't Seek Re-Election, Endorses George Clooney's Father Kentucky's only Democrat in Congress -- Ken Lucas -- won't run for re-election next year, The Kentucky Post is reporting. The Covington newspaper reports that Cincinnati T-V personality Nick Clooney -- father of actor George Clooney -- will run to fill Lucas's seat. Clooney, a 69-year-old Democrat from Bracken County, tells the Post that he and Lucas have discussed this since August. A formal announcement is expected this morning. Earlier this year, Lucas said he'd run for a fourth term, breaking a pledge he signed when he...