Dean to help Democrats in Kentucky 6th

Here's the link: http://www.rollcall.com/pub/49_60/news/3827-1.html

After raising more than $50,000 for Iowa Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell in less than 24 hours last week, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's presidential campaign is weighing a similar effort in Kentucky's 6th district, where a special election to replace Rep.Ernie Fletcher (R) is expected to be held in late January.

"We have built a grassroots campaign capable of doing this in targeted races in both the Senate and the House," said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi. "We welcome the chance to try one more time between now and Iowa." The date of the special election is not entirely clear, but it is likely to fall right around the time of the Iowa caucuses (Jan. 19) and New Hampshire primary (Jan. 27). Strategists for House Democrats are hopeful that a victory there will allow them to claim much-needed momentum heading into the 2004 elections. Fletcher was elected governor last month, and both national parties anticipate a competitive race to replace him.

The $52,000 total collected for Boswell in the 24-hour Dean fundraising drive represented roughly 33 percent of the $143,000 the Iowa Democrat had raised from individuals through Sept. 30.

"Dean wants to be elected president with a Democratic House because he realizes it will be a lot harder to get his agenda accomplished if Tom DeLay is running the House," Lofgren said.

I think that it's great that Dean is campaigning here and a really smart campaign move. Even Dean's detractors have to admit that he's one of the two frontrunners. However, the biggest worry about Dean from congressional members has been what his affect on down the ticket races will be. If he can prove (by helping the eventual candidate here, hopefully Ben Chandler) that he can help candidates win, he will remove this worry.

:thumbsup:

If we can win this seat, I have strong hopes for the 2004 elections.

to replace Fletcher? Is Clooney running for this one? Please help us put a D in for Fletcher's replacement, it's my district and we have 2 GOP senators.

but Clooney is running in KY-4 (the Lucas open seat).

help both. LOL I haven't even heard who's running - I'll vote Dem no matter what. :)

Are any other candidates raising money for Senate and House candidates? This is a good move---shows that he's looking ahead.

We have a seat that could well be vulnerable after the medicare vote, but Gep is worthless in this area. He doesn't connect with the rural voters. Unfortunately, it's tough for us to field a candidate here. I have to wonder if one who isn't backed by the NRA couldn't win with some grassroots support coming from people with health care interests, though.
I predicted that Dean's campaign would ripple. It's awesome that he's helping other Dems. I so wish he could come here and help us!

let them know....maybe you'll be surprised...

:evilgrin:

It's important to make a truly national campaign in which we "take back America" to borrow his slogan. I'm strongly leaning toward Dean. I am tired of national Democrats ignoring or not paying enough attention to so many races.

I wondered when this started why on earth Gep wasn't running for Kit Bond's seat rather than the presidency. It seemed to me that his chances might have been be slightly better than the presidency OR nomination if he ran a good enough campaign, and that race would be where he could have had the most potential to yes- "take our country back!"
Linking up with Dean would have been a great way to go.
One reason I have been supportive of Dean is that I kind of suspected that the enthusiasm he has generated could ripple to other candidates.

http://maysville-online.thimblemedia.com/article.asp?catid=2&articleid=2048


Some stuff about this race in my local newspaper in KY..