Kerr for Congress
Posted on 02/05/2004 11:05:54 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
FRANKFORT - In the heated campaign for Kentucky governor in November, the Democrat tried to run against President Bush's economic policies and lost big-time.
Now, in a special election for the House seat vacated by the gubernatorial winner, the Republican candidate is only too happy to make the Feb. 17 contest a referendum on the president, who is hugely popular in the Bluegrass State.
GOP state Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr ran a TV ad showing her with the president at the White House and portraying her as "cut from the same cloth" as Bush.
Kerr is up against Democrat Ben Chandler, who lost the governor's race to Republican Ernie Fletcher.
"In the governor's race that Chandler just ran, he made his opposition of Bush a centerpiece," said Billy Piper, Kerr's campaign manager. "Senator Kerr is making an equally big centerpiece out of her support for the president in her campaign."
Whoever wins the special election will have to run again in November and possibly in a primary in May.
The contest later this month is a chance to break a string of losses for Kentucky Democrats, who had held the District 6 seat before Fletcher won it and had held the governorship for a generation. The party also faces the retirement of the lone Kentucky Democrat in Congress when Ken Lucas leaves office in November.
A victory for Chandler would be "a huge shot in the arm" for state Democrats, said Dale Emmons, a Democratic consultant.
"If Chandler wins that race, Democrats from coast to coast will taunt Bush with it," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Chandler, a 43-year-old former state auditor and attorney general, suffered a 10-point loss to Fletcher. He became the first Democrat in Kentucky since 1967 to lose an election for governor, the office held twice by his late grandfather, A.B. "Happy" Chandler.
During his campaign for governor, Chandler blamed Bush's economic policies for unemployment. But Bush came to the state twice for Fletcher, making two stops in the weekend before the election.
Terry McBrayer, a member of the Democratic National Committee and a former Kentucky Democratic chairman, said the party watched the governor's race for a sign that Bush was vulnerable on such issues as the economy and the cost of prescription drugs.
"For whatever reason, national issues did not resonate," he said. "Bush's popularity in Kentucky was extremely high, so the issues did not stick."
from an S.C. paper? She's trying to lure Bush in to campaign for her, rightfully so...
Well?, Is GWB snubbing her @ her attempt keep to keep the seat in the GOP?...any opening now, will only encourage the 'RATs.
What, exactly, makes the Democrats think they even have a shot at this seat? If a pro-Bush Congressman used to hold the seat and then crushed the anti-Bush candidate statewide, why should we think that a pro-Bush message would be a weaker sell in his own district?
Thassit! Ain't KY politicks jes' wunnerful?
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What, exactly, makes the Democrats think they even have a shot at this seat?
Name recognition alone carries lots of water in KY. Chandler's grandaddy was Governor way back when, and with all the Demo patronage at the state level, he's looking for this to be a stand-or-die thing.
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