Mitch McConnell

While Kentucky may be focusing on this year's U.S. Senate competition between incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville), one candidate is already gearing up for a shot at a Senate seat in 2010.

Former U.S. Customs agent and self-proclaimed "national security whistleblower" Darlene Fitzgerald announced on Tuesday that she will run for the seat of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Southgate) a Democrat in the next federal election cycle in the Bluegrass state.

"I am going to be one less person in Washington who can neither be bought off or bullied," Fitzgerald told PolitickerKY.com.

Fitzgerald enters the political fray spending several years pushing for "whistleblower" protections for federal government employees.

The campaign of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) today pounced on the news that the Sierra Club was running radio ads critical of its candidate in Kentucky.

Deeming that the ads show opponent Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) "welcomes the support" of the pro-environment organization, McConnell's campaign argued Lunsford shared the position on coal of both the Sierra Club and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

"Here's the question for Kentuckians: can Bruce Lunsford be trusted to support Kentucky coal, which helps drive our economy and keep our electricity rates low? The answer is unequivocally no," said McConnell campaign manager Justin Brasell in a press release dispatched today. "Lunsford would be taking orders from the Sierra Club and Sen. Harry Reid, who make no excuses for their hatred of coal."

The Sierra Club has a history of opposing coal power, labeling the energy source prominent throughout Kentucky as "dirty coal."

Termed the "Switch and drill" platform, Libertarian Senate candidate and former actor Sonny Landham released an energy plan today centering on decreasing demand for oil from member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] by allowing more domestic drilling and encouraging the use of hydrogen as a fuel.

"The market for oil is not a free market," reads Landham's platform. "It is dominated by an economic cartel - OPEC...The very purpose of an economic cartel is to control prices."

Landham's platform - penned jointly with one-time 4th Congressional District Republican candidate Roger Thoney - argues expanding domestic drilling while pushing alternatives to oil will force the hand of OPEC states.

"This would greatly decrease the demand for oil from OPEC countries, forcing them to lower their prices or increasing production, in order to do the same," read a statement from Landham's campaign.

A proponent of expanded drilling in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) trotted out a unique defense while speaking to a meeting of Lexington area business and civic leaders.

"As you all probably know in Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas, they think oil rigs are pretty," McConnell said, according to Lexington television station WTVQ.

Those states - all with borders touching the Gulf of Mexico - are most likely to be home to offshore oil exploration, should a federal moratorium on the practice be lifted.

Lifting that ban is a principle plank of many Republicans' plans to lower gas prices this campaign season.

At the Commerce Lexington Public Affairs Luncheon on Tuesday, McConnell called gas prices the most important issue of the election season. The four-term incumbent said he supports allowing states to decide on drilling off their shores - an option currently barred by the moratorium.

MURRAY -- In a well-received speech in front of 300 western Kentucky Democrats, U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) said unseating his opponent should be a principle goal of those pushing for "change" in the federal government - a concern he aligned with both presidential candidates.

"If you want to change the culture in Washington, what better message can you send than to remove the biggest obstacle from changing the culture - to send Mitch McConnell packing," said Lunsford. "He is the quintessential poster boy of the old Washington politics."

"Change" is a principle buzzword this election cycle given its central usage by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and Senator, Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "Change" is also a staple term in Lunsford's rhetorical lexicon, yet at the Purchase Area Jefferson-Jackson dinner Lunsford did not attribute it solely to the man atop the Democratic ticket.

"There may be a lot Barack Obama and John McCain disagree on," said Lunsford. "One thing I have found that they both agree on is that both of them believe that we need to change the Washington culture."

The first indication of the climate in Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District may offer a boost to Democrats holding out hope of picking up the seat left open by the retirement of U.S. Rep Ron Lewis (R-Cecilia).

A new poll by the New Jersey-based firm SurveyUSA gives state Senator David Boswell (D-Sorgho) a 47 to 44 percent advantage over his colleague, state Senator Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green).

Nine percent of the 545 "likely" voters polled indicated they were undecided in the race, while the poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 percent.

The results come after Guthrie's camp dispatched a memo yesterday saying any public polling done now would be "unreliable."

Presumptive Republcian presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) appeared at a McCain Victory Fundraiser in Louisville on Saturday night that nearly broke the state's fundraising record.

The event's $2 million take nearly topped a state record, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, falling just short of the $2.1 million raked in by at a 2007 GOP fundraiser featuring President George W. Bush.

The $2 million in contributions collected will now be divided between the campaign of the guest of honor, the Republican Party of Kentucky, and national Republican organizations.

LOUISVILLE -- This week, Kentucky's U.S. Senate race featured a slew of press release assaults from the campaign of incumbent U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) targeting opponent Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville).

McConnell's campaign has focused in on Lunsford for what they call "hypocrisy," due to the Democrat's investment in a private equity fund with some holdings in oil and oil-related businesses.

"The fact is he is profiting from the very policies he criticizes and Kentuckians are tired of his double standard," said Justin Brasell, McConnell's campaign manager, in a release.

Lunsford, however, rejected McConnell's assertion, saying he had little control over his investments in the hedge fund.

"That's the McConnell deception. He knows that when you invest in mutual funds for a period of time it's really like investing in a blind trust," Lunsford said on Thursday. "There's no control by me in where those investments go.

A new poll from Rasmussen Reports shows incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) with a seven point lead over his opponent, businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville). The results are a significant change from the late-May poll by the same firm showing Lunsford up five points - a poll derided as "bogus" by the McConnell camp.

The survey of 500 "likely" voters in Kentucky shows McConnell up 48 to 41 percent over McConnell just over a month after Rasmussen gave Lunsford a 49 to 44 percent lead.

The margin of error on the newest poll is plus or minus 4.5 percent.

The release of yesterday's United States Supreme Court ruling overturning the so-called "millionaire's amendment" could have an impact on races across the country involving self-financing candidates, though the ruling won't apply to U.S. Senate races until a seperate legal challenge is filed. Presently, the campaign of millionaire businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) does not immediately plan on being the first to file that challenge.

The candidate targeting the amendment in the case decided before the court was Jack Davis (D-N.Y.), a two-time U.S. House candidate who spent millions on his own campaign efforts.Thus, the court's ruling technically only applies to House races until the precedent of the decision can be applied to Senate competitions via another court challenge.

Such a challenge would likely easily pass muster with a lower federal court, as the Supreme Court's ruling creates binding precedent for lower court decisions.

Still, a spokesperson for the Lunsford campaign today said they would hold off on filing the necessary legal challenge to apply the ruling to their race, for now.