Well, my candidate for the Presidency has suspended his campaign. In doing so, he told supporters like me we still have work to do. To me, this now means continuing to fight for the ideals of this party, and getting candidates elected to the Congress who share one thing with John Edwards, a backbone.

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Kentuckians hoping to ditch Mitch in the Senate race here in our state got some bad news today. Millionaire Bruce Lunsford, a Democrat in name that can self finance has gotten into the Democratic Primary for the Senate seat held by McConnell. So you say, hey a Democrat that can self finance, great!! But follow after the fold to see why this is not good at all.

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Looks like we have another successful draft movement on our hands. Media Czech brings us the news in Breaking Blue that Marine reservist and Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne has announced his candidacy for the US Senate from Kentucky. He made the announcement over at Page One, a local blog, via video. As BlueGrassReport put it:

Andrew Horne has stronger Netroots support than any of the other potential Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate. Announcing his candidacy by video on a blog is, I believe, a Kentucky first, and symbolic of the kind of grassroots support he promises to build his candidacy around.

Watch the video below:

Horne is not considered a "top tier" challenger because he's never been elected to office, but this video is worthy of anything a so-called top tier candidate could have produced. Favorite line:

While Mitch McConnell carries George Bush's water on Iraq, I carried a rifle in Iraq.

And let's see, a veteran, never been elected, netroots support, running against an entrenched Bush ally...sounds an awful lot like a certain senator from Virginia...

As for how he matches up against McConnell, as a baseline number we can look to a Research 2000 poll from October, which found the following head to head match-up:

McConnell 45
Horne 34

That's actually fairly astounding that Horne keeps the minority leader of the senate to 45%, and that's with just 59% of Kentucky Democrats polled and just 35% of Independents supporting Horne. Not to mention that that poll was taken in the heady days when McConnell's net approval was soaring at -1 and, of course, before Horne officially got in. This is one race I'm looking forward to. I think we have a star on our hands.

Visit Horne online at AndrewHorne.org and throw him a few welcome to the race bucks at Act Blue. As for whether Horne will face a primary challenger, State Auditor Crit Luallen recently announced she would not challenge McConnell and we're still waiting for official word from Attorney General Greg Stumbo on whether he'll run; but so far, all signs seem to point to no.

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For Immediate Release Contact: Susan Dixen

Thursday, December 13, 2007 502.759.0772

ANDREW HORNE ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR U.S. SENATE IN KENTUCKY

"I'm running for U.S. Senate because it's time for a change and because Senator Mitch McConnell is more than part of the problem. He is the problem," said Andrew Horne

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As if we didn't know this before, Mitch McConnell is crazy. In a campaign appearance last week in Kentucky, he managed to at once threaten that withdrawing troops would inspire attacks on the homeland AND that we know that we're succeeding in Iraq because we've begun to withdraw troops:

"Our brave soldiers have protected us for six years successfully. If we brought all of them home today [terrorists] would be back here, so we need to stay the course. It's gotten better and there is a dramatic decrease in casualties and we have begun to withdraw troops."

He then went on to belittle the deaths of our brave fighting men and women.

"Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers."

Kentucky finally seems to have caught on to just how out of the mainstream McConnell is -- check out his horrendous recent approval ratings. And McConnell knows it. Why else is the minority leader of the senate actually campaigning for re-election almost a year before the election? He also knows he's in the DSCC's sites, the only question is what Democrat will challenge him. The picture got a little clearer today.

Bluegrassroots has Kentucky state auditor Crit Luallen's statement announcing officially that she will not be running for the senate against McConnell next year.

"While I have been honored that so many respected state and national leaders have encouraged me to consider running for the United States Senate in 2008, I have no plans to enter the race. I have just been re-elected as State Auditor and look forward to continuing to serve the citizens of Kentucky in that capacity. The polls show that Mitch McConnell is certainly vulnerable and Kentuckians are ready for a change.  I am confident that Democrats will field a strong candidate next year."

Way to get a dig in at Mitch! So who will be the Democrat to challenge McConnell? Well the local netroots are bullish on Lt. Col. Andrew Horne. From Polwatchers:

[Andrew] Horne, a Louisville lawyer and Iraq war veteran, said Thursday in an interview that he's beginning to lay the groundwork for a bid to challenge Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell if Luallen and Stumbo indeed officially bow out in the coming days.

The biggest knock against Horne is that he has not been elected to anything. Then again, some have said a key advantage for Horne is that he has not been elected to anything -- and thus, doesn't have a record that could provide fodder for the take-no-prisoners campaign style of McConnell.

Regardless, Horne said he's willing to take the risk.

"I'm not a politician. I am not afraid of losing. If I was worried about risk and danger, I wouldn't have joined the Marine Corps before I graduated high school. That's not a concern for me," he said. "I respond when my country needs me, not when it's convenient."

For a bit more on who Horne is, check out MediaCzech's interview with him HERE and more over at Bluegrassroots.

Help give Horne a nudge into the race over at Draft Horne and join the Draft Horne Facebook page. Great to see the race starting to come into focus. The sooner we get a candidate in the fight the better.

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