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.

There's more...

Yesterday posts appeared on Kos and MyDD telling of the disasterous new numbers that have been polled for Mitch McConnell recently. While these numbers were music to my ears, I noticed that only one link to one potential challenger of Mitch McConnell, Crit Luallen was linked in the story.

There's more...

After Tuesday's Kentucky election where Democrats greatly benefited from the scandals of the current GOP Governor, attention has immediately turned to who will run against Senator McConnell in November '08. We need to focus on who is the best candidate for the job, and who is the best candidate in a matchup against Mitch.

It seems that the new leadership of the Kentucky Democratic Party is split over two names Lt. Col.  Andrew Horne and  Crit Luallen. While Crit Luallen does has decent name ID, she is liked amongst small Democratic circles and has some things to offer a voter keen to dismiss McConnell, she will not appeal to the necessary majority nearly enough to grant her McConnell's Senate seat. I like her a LOT, but she is not ready to take on the McConnell machinery. I wish that were not the case, but McConnell will rip her to pieces in a general and win yet another term.

The Question Democrats in Kentucky have to answer, Lt. Col. Andrew Horne or Crit Luallen?

For the sake of brevity, I will lay out the top ten (of many) reasons why I believe that Lt. Col. Andrew Horne is the one and only candidate that can give Sen. McConnell a real run for his money.

http://DraftHorne.org

There's more...

Another great SCHIP ad from Americans United For Change (h/t kos), this time ripping Mitch McConnell for his support of Bush's SCHIP veto.

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As Jonathan wrote earlier, McConnell is seriously vulnerable next year and after last night, we have the chance to translate the momentum we have in Kentucky into the candidacy and victory of a real progressive in Kentucky State Auditer Crit Luallen.

Draft Crit HERE. And meet Crit below.

There's more...

I haven't seen this mentioned here, but my impression of the Democratic "bench" in Kentucky (I grew up there -- moved away 6 years ago or so, so I'm not quite as up to date as I used to be) is that just as significant as electing a governor (and lt. gov.) this time, we have set ourselves up with a strong bench.  

The '94 congressional elections and the aftermath of Gov. Patton's (D-Corrupt) adminstation left the Kentucky Democratic Party in a sad state.  We had no statewide farm team to groom for higher office.

What a difference now!  In addition to electing Steve Beshear governor, new Treasurer Jack Conway and reelected Auditor Crit Luallen will go on to run for higher office.  And Lt. Gov.-Elect Dr. Dan Mongiardo (who lost the squeaker in '04 against US Sen. Bunning (R)) has has his political fortunes dramatically revived.

But the most significant of these may be Crit Luallen.  To quote the Bluegrass Report (sorry for the lengthy quote -- please go check out BGR):

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