Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway Live At C&L Today-- Bellowing Teabaggers Downstairs

I've been noticing a disturbing trend in the Kentucky contest for the Senate seat that McConnell forced Jim Bunning to give up. Whenever you line up the candidates on the issues, you find 3 nearly lockstep conservatives against one progressive. The lockstep conservatives are McConnell's Republican Machine handpicked candidate, his boy Trey Grayson; the John Birch Society/teabagger candidate, Rand Paul; and a worse-than-Blanche DINO, Dan Mongiardo who thinks the way to the Democratic nomination is to agree with the Republicans... on everything. And then there's Kentucky's principled Attorney General, Jack Conway, who's made a name for himself standing up for ordinary Kentucky families against the special interests which tend to dominate Kentucky politics. Take a look at this simple grid comparing how the four candidates stand on some of the issues.

clicking on it makes it legible

The other day I got Jack on the phone and asked him to come by Crooks and Liars today to talk with the Blue America community about his primary race and his probable November run against Rand Paul. He'll join us this afternoon at 5pm (ET/2pm PT) at C&L. Yesterday we posted a thumbnail rundown on the race here. Tomorrow Rand Paul and a mob of anger-stoked teabaggers have announced their intention to march on Jack's office to demand that he join the right-wing Attorneys General trying to overturn healthcare reform, just as conservative Republicans went crying to the courts to try to kill Social Security when progressives passed that. Problem for little Rand and his band of kooks is that Jack not only supported the healthcare legislation, he's already thinking of ways to perfect the bill and is one of the first Senate candidates I've spoken with who is excited about the Alan-- not Trey-- Grayson approach to cost controls by offering a Medicare-for-all solution to any American citizen who chooses to buy in.

He turned the frivolous law suit-crazed anti-healthcare fanatics down flat, saying that what they're asking for is "a Republican Party gimmick" that "makes for good Tea Party politics but is based on questionable legal principles." Unfortunately, his anti-Choice/anti-gay Democratic opponent, Mongiardo, is on the same page as the Republicans! He seems to be getting his campaign slogans from the same place as Trey Grayson, straight from Mitch McConnell's office. They're all talking about trashing the healthcare bill and "starting over," a pure GOP talking point.

Let's repair to the comments section at C&L at 2pm and meet Jack Conway, a man we're hoping will be one of several red to blue pickups in the Senate this November, and not just red to blue, but, far more important, reactionary to progressive.

Jack Conway Has Been An Extraordinary Attorney General-- And He's Just The Guy To Turn Back The Teabaggers Behind Rand Paul

Kentucky isn't some hopeless red state like Utah or Mississippi-- not by a long shot. Sure, it's the home of two of the worst obstructionist carbuncles in the United States Senate, Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning but this is also a state that has elected an outstanding governor, Steve Beshear, and one of America's best Attorneys General, Jack Conway, not to mention a real tribune of the people in the form of Congressman John Yarmuth (who beat Bush rubber stamp Anne Northup twice, 51-48% in 2006 and 59-41% in 2008, when Obama won that district decisively, 56-43%). No, Kentucky is a real swing state and it offers an excellent opportunity for real change this year.

McConnell, worried that the increasingly hysterical and senile Bunning would have no chance to win, forced him out of his re-election bid by cutting off all funding and replacing him as the standard bearer for the Republican Party Machine with colorless, dull McConnell stooge Trey Grayson. Recognizing a chance to strike a blow against GOP corruption, the teabaggers got behind Ron Paul's off-kilter son, Rand, who is now heavily favored to beat the McConnell candidate. Many Republicans are worried because it is widely felt that although Paul can surely win the Republican primary, he will have almost no chance of winning in November when it isn't only Republicans voting, especially if he faces a real Democrat like the aforementioned Kentucky A.G., Jack Conway. Democrats and Independents are unlikely to vote for a certifiable crackpot and Establishment Republicans would rather sit this one out than vote for someone with ideas as kooky and dangerous as Paul's.

Thursday Rand Paul and the teabaggers are demonstrating in front of Conway's Frankfort office, demanding he sue the federal government to stop... healthcare reform. They're wasting their time with this April Fool's prank since Conway is the only candidate to be campaigning on healthcare reform. In fact, not only did he state unequivocally that he would have voted for the bill-- despite having reservations about some of the provisions-- but he is already making plans to work to make healthcare more affordable for more working families along the lines of the Alan-- not Trey-- Grayson Medicare buy-in legislation wending its way through the Congress. Conway was one of the first A.G.s anywhere in America to denounce the preposterous lawsuit pointing out that it "makes for good Tea Party politics but is based on questionable legal principles."

His campaign was quick to point out that he is a firm supporter of the healthcare legislation, calling it "a rare opportunity to stop insurance company abuses, lower costs for businesses and individuals, and provide affordable coverage for up to 900,000 Kentuckians who are uninsured. While far from perfect, it expands coverage for uninsured Americans, stops insurance companies from discriminating against individuals with pre-existing conditions and helps small businesses."

The conservative Democrat running against Conway in the May 18th primary, Dan Mongiardo seems to be getting his talking points from the same place as Trey Grayson: Mitch McConnell's office. He's campaigning against healthcare reform and he's virulently anti-Choice and anti-gay (although there have always been rumors that he's "anti-gay" for the exact same reason Miss McConnell is).

Here are a bunch of wealthy old Republican men demanding that Jack Conway join their circus-- and his response. Give it a look and you'll see why we're excited about seeing a decisive, forward-looking Democrat win the primary and then vanquish the teabagger candidate for Senate. Please consider contributing to Conway's campaign at the DWT ActBlue page. He'll be a live guest at Crooks and Liars on Wednesday afternoon at 5pm (ET).

Bunning, Pissed At McConnell And Cornyn, Announces His Retirement

Bunning's retirement likely to help Jack Conway

Bunning's angry-- angry enough to denounce NRSC Chair John Cornyn and Miss McConnell for systematically drying up his fundraising sources-- but not angry enough to follow through on his threat to resign and let Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, appoint a replacement. Instead, Bunning, one of the Senate's most reactionary members-- right up there with Jim DeMint (R-SC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Richard Burr (R-NC), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) the half dozen neo-Confederate obstructionist fanatics who have decided to sacrifice the safety, security and well-being of the U.S. in a racially-tinged jihad against President Obama-- just announed he won't run for re-election. The most recent Senate approval polling (June 24) shows that neither Bunning nor Miss McConnell has persuaded Kentucky voters they're doing good jobs. Bunning's latest approval rating is a deadly 41% and McConnell's is 47%.

McConnell, who considers Kentucky his feudal domain, had decided that the 78 year old Bunning is too crazy, unpopular, eratic, and senile to be re-elected. Instead he has decreed that he wants a Republican hack he can easily control, Trey Grayson, KY's Secretary of State (who McConnell is rumored to have a long standing crush on). Grayson is more popular than Bunning but is by no means guaranteed the nomination, let alone the Senate seat. Some conservatives consider Grayson an untested squish who isn't far enough to the right and isn't as tough as Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, the Democratic front-runner. (Grayson was once a Democrat and voted for Bill Clinton, something that could hurt him with the lunatic fringe-- the Republican base-- in a primary.)

Ron Paul's son, Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul, who has the same kind of whacky, devoted following as Papa Paul, says he plans to run as the non-Insider candidate. Paul is expected to announce at the annual Fancy Farm picnic on Aug. 1 in western Kentucky. There is also an off-chance that Tim Couch, former University of Kentucky football star, may run, probably feeling baseball has had enough time in the spotlight and that it's football's turn. He's marrie dto a former Playboy bunny, Heather Kozar.

Had Bunning resigned it is likely that Governor Beshear would have appointed declared Democratic candidate, Daniel Mongiardo, the extremely conservative Lt. Governor, best known for a lack of backbone and unwillingness to stand up to right-wingers, Senator. That would have gone along way towards guaranteeing him the Democratic nomination. Now he will be evenly matched with the state's moderate and much-admired Attorney General Jack Conway.


An April poll shows that moderate Conway would beat Grayson next year but that the reactionary Mongiardo would be edged by Grayson. Inside-the-Beltway hack Chris Cillizza was quick to show he can be as twisted and insidious as Head Villager David Broder, declaring within minutes of Bunning's retirement announcement that the move "drastically increases Republicans' chances of holding the seat next fall."

Bunning, who is being praised to high Heaven by the hypocritical McConnell and Cornyn, will still be in the Senate long enough to vote against health care for Kentucky's needy residents and, of course, against President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

Good News In Kentucky Senate Race

Jim Bunning will either retire early, lose the Republican primary, or be defeated in November, 2010. But one thing is sure, he won't be obstructing anyone in the 112th Congress. His 28% approval rating is the lowest I can remember for a sitting U.S. Senator. And he certainly earned it.

Meanwhile the Democratic Lt. Governor, Dan Mongiardo, is pretty mediocre and certainly doesn't represent the future of the Democratic Party-- unless it's headed down the same dead end as the GOP-- just got a first rate primary challenge for the right to the Democratic nomination. Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced this week. His announcement video is below. He seems like a good candidate and I'm hearing that all the best Democrats in Kentucky-- like John Yarmuth, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, and Crit Luallen-- will be at his official kick-off tomorrow at the Ali Center in Louisville (4:30).

If Cornyn and McConnell are successful at driving Bunning into retirement, Secretary of State Trey Grayson would be the likely replacement from the right-wing party. Recent polling shows Grayson beating Mongiardo and being beaten by Conway. Take a look at the clip of Jack announcing; he's good. (And then if you want a hoot, enjoy Bunning's plea below it):




Jim Bunning from Howie Klein on Vimeo.

Arch-Obstructionist Jim Bunning Gets His First Official Challenger-- Dan Mongiardo Is In

Kentucky reactionary, Jim Bunning, one of the Senate's most clueless obstructionists, has his first official opponent for the 2010 re-election campaign that many political observers predict will never happen. Bunning, who, at 77, is so senile that he can barely function and was unable to campaign in 2004, is considered the most vulnerable incumbent in the Senate-- and the one most likely to not run again. Ironically, the man who declared his own candidacy this morning, Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo, nearly defeated Bunning last time, less than 1.5% separating them (about 23,000 votes).

"The people of Kentucky deserve a senator that has the vision, energy and record to help improve our state and country... We have a senator who is simply not getting the job done. He offers no ideas, no actions and no solutions. I believe today, as I did in 2004, that Jim Bunning continues to fail the people of our Commonwealth. Kentucky's families deserve better."

Mongiardo, a longtime physician from coal mine country, said reforming health care was the driving force behind his decision to take on Bunning again. "I have made fixing our broken health care system my life's mission," Mongiardo said. "I understand and see every day how the cost of health care is burdening families and damaging the ability of businesses to compete, to grow, and to create jobs."

Republican power brokers feel Bunning has virtually no chance of holding the seat. Jon Cornyn and state party leaders are gently trying to encourage him to announce retirement as soon as possible. GOP congressmen Ed Whitfield and Geoff Davis are both champing at the bit to run for the seat, as is Secretary of State Trey Grayson.