KENTUCKY: A RIGHT WING DEMOCRAT WILL TAKE ON AN EVEN WORSE RIGHT WING REPUBLICAN-- LUCAS vs DAVIS

File this in the "Good News, Kinda" Department. Former Democratic Congressman Ken Lucas officially announced that he's running to take back his old Kentucky home seat. Lucas, a 72 year old northern Kentucky conservative Democrat, first won the seat in 1998 and, unlike any of the lying Republican scoundrels who signed Gingrich's bogus Contract With America, retired to keep a term limits pledge (in 2004, when the seat was won by the far more conservative Republican lightweight, Geoff Davis). After a grassroots campaign to draft him, Lucas filed to win back his old seat this morning.

The good news, of course, is that Lucas puts a relatively safe Republican seat in play. At the very least, the Repugs will have to spend money to defend it that could be deployed to even more destructive purposes (like supporting DeLay or Ney or Doolittle or Pombo or Lewis or other Republicans likely to be indicted on bribery and related charges between now and November). And, of course, there is an excellent chance that the very respected, admired and popular Lucas will win back his old seat. In his announcement statement he explains why he's coming out of retirement:

"...over the last year, I’ve grown concerned about the widespread public corruption news coming from the Congress and the increased partisanship in the U.S. House of Representatives.  I’m disappointed that Geoff Davis has done nothing to separate himself from many of the figures involved in those scandals and that he has voted almost exclusively with his national party’s congressional leadership at the expense of bipartisan cooperation and good will. I’m running for Congress to return Kentucky values and common sense to Washington.  During my years in Congress, I worked hard to be a conservative, independent steward of the public trust. I worked with President Bush to cut taxes, protect the Homeland, grow the economy, and support our military. I worked with folks in my party to protect Social Security, help our farm economy, and improve education and health care in our area.  I never cared about my colleagues’ party registration. I always did what I thought was right for Kentucky and the country. I put aside partisanship and worked constructively with Republicans and Democrats alike on a host of issues that mattered to the people I represented.”

And you can take that quite literally. Lucas can probably be counted on to vote to organize the House along Democratic Party lines. But that's pretty much it. He's better than most Republicans but he's still a DLC hack. He rates a 0 from NARAL; i.e.- he votes 100% of the time (not 99%) with Republicans to destroy women's right to choice. His votes are as homophobic as the worst Republican you can conger up. He was for the abysmal bankruptcy bill that was tailor made for Big Businesses and credit card companies. The Chamber of Commerce loves him. The Christian Coalition loves him. The NRA gives him an "A." He sucked on the environment and gets a whopping 7% from the ACLU (worse than many Republicans).

Needless to say I'm not starting an ACT BLUE page for this guy. I hope he beats Davis because, as bad as he's likely to be, he'll be MUCH better than Davis. And Davis is an enthusiastic Tom DeLay stalwart who can be counted on to vote for whichever horrible fascists his hideous party puts up for leadership posts. There is no evidence that Lucas won't vote with the Democrats. How's that for an endorsement?