BluegrassReport.org

KY2: It's (Almost) Official -- Boswell To Challenge Lewis

Music to my ears...looks like we have a top-tier challenger for one congressional seat as State Sen. David Boswell (D) appears ready to challenge the very unimpressive and beatable U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R) for his 2nd Congressional District seat:

Democratic State Sen. David Boswell of Owensboro said he is planning a press conference "in the very, very near future" to officially announce his candidacy to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis of Cecilia.

"I do plan to run for the U.S. Congress in the 2nd District," Boswell said yesterday. "I think people, overall, are ready for change. They're ready for a new guard."

Boswell, who was agriculture commissioner from 1984 to 1988 and has been a senator since 1991, said the win by fellow Democrat Steve Beshear in Tuesday's governor's race gives him and other potential candidates for next year's election a huge boost.

Now we need to find candidates in the 1st, 4th, and why not take a shot in the 5th, even if it's an enormous longshot?

Aside from never knowing what can happen in a political election, why not aggressively challenge all seats instead of effectively conceding them? I'm sure we can find a young local lawyer in the district that would be willing to take the plunge and get some political hands-on experience.

The Silver Lining: There's Still Time To Drop-Out...

Third quarter congressional fundraising numbers are out, and despite former U.S. Rep. Anne Northup (R) hosting a big fundraiser for him last month, it seems that Erwin Roberts' (R) fundraising leaves a lot to be desired in his quixotic quest to knock-off U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D) in one of the worst possible years for a Republican challenger to try to defeat a Democratic incumbent in a majority Democratic district.

	Raised QTR	Raised Year	Cash-on-Hand
Yarmuth (D)	$129,887	$730,288	$536,050
Roberts (R)	$67,923	$111,215	$63,900

Making things worse for Roberts is how the NRCC is broke:

"At the end of August, the National Republican Congressional Committee reported only $1.6 million cash on hand, with $4 million in debt. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, by comparison, had banked over $22 million, with only $3 million in debt."

Translation: The DCCC has $19 million while the NRCC is in the red, meaning the NRCC will be lucky to help vulnerable incumbents at most -- yet alone underfunded challengers in Democratic districts -- and even they acknowledge more loses of House seats are on the way for Republicans in 2008.

And if that wasn't bad enough...the unindicted co-conspirator (aka Roberts) has these additional eight hurdles that make his quest more like climbing Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen on his first mountain climb ever. But there's plenty of time for Roberts to reconsidering the enormity of the challenge before him and get out before getting spanked.

Oh yeah, here's how the congressional delegation did:

	Raised QTR	Spent QTR	Raised Year	Spent Year	Cash-on-Hand
Whitfield (R-KY1)	$125,928	$27,609	$350,232	$150,992	$932,193
Lewis (R-KY2)	$107,915	$41,593	$376,293	$156,030	$312,993
Yarmuth (D-KY3)	$129,887	$54,330	$730,288	$252,132	$536,050
Davis (R-KY4)	$199,377	$97,772	$827,877	$438,678	$530,907
Rogers (R-KY5)	$78,090	$28,352	$148,849	$128,041	$1,007,224
Chandler (D-KY6)	$144,570	$22,609	$450,170	$71,572	$934,520

Seems that Lewis is tempting fate again with his very tepid fundraising. You'd think he'd learn by now. I suspect he'll have much more on his hands in 2008 than he did in 2006, and raising $100k per quarter with only $300k in the bank seems mighty, mighty foolish...

P.S. -- Just got my Article 1 button in the mail, along with a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Thanks much to the awesome Yarmuth staff. They rock.