Dean fancies Dem chances in KY; sees Lunsford 'in striking distance'

DNC Chair Howard Dean speaks to Kentucky's delegates today: Politicker photo

DENVER -- As the surprise opening speaker at this morning's Kentucky delegation breakfast, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean spoke with familiarity about Kentucky politics, referencing races up and down the ballot and laying out strategic suggestions for the assembled delegates.

At the beginning of his remarks, Dean referenced the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford as a priority for the state.

"He's in striking distance. How about that?" Dean asked about the challenger to incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville).

Lunsford was last shown 12 points behind McConnell in a mid-August poll, though his ability to self-finance his campaign has led many analysts to predict an ultimately competitive race.

Beyond that, Dean said another top priority for Kentucky Democrats was more local in scope.

"The first thing that people need - in addition to electing Bruce - is we really want to take back the state Senate," said Dean, referencing the state legislative body currently in Republican hands.

The state Senate has been a hot topic at the delegate breakfasts. During yesterday's meeting, Kentucky Democratic Party chair Jennifer Moore ran through a list of the contested races, emphasizing that the Democrats focus on swinging several Republican-held areas to their side and defending vulnerable Democrats.

Dean also had high hopes for Kentucky's U.S. House seats, asserting that U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth (D-Louisville) and Ben Chandler (D-Versailles) would win their re-election efforts in the Commonwealth's 3rd and 6th Congressional Districts, respectively.

"We’ve got some other good candidates," said Dean. "We ought not to forget about Heather Ryan and Michael Kelley... and David Boswell. We’ve got some shots there, too."

Dean's reference to Boswell's hopes could be expected, as the 2nd District open seat race was categorized as an "emerging race" by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee - symbolizing that some national attention is on the competition between state Sen. Boswell (D-Owensboro) and state Sen. Brett Guthrie (R-Bowling Green).

The acknowledgement of Ryan's 1st District effort and Kelley's campaign in the 4th comes as something of a surprise, however, as those lightly-funded and admittedly long-shot bids against entrenched incumbents have struggled to garner attention from many state and national Democrats.

For Democrats to succeed in any of these races, however, Dean told the Kentucky delegates that "we need you to get the vote out."

Dean then outlined the "neighbor-to-neighbor" turnout program central to his so-called "fifty-state strategy." That program - unveiled in Kentucky in June - recruits Democratic activists to discuss politics with those in their own community.

The Democratic chairman said the logic of the program was based on the success on the political outreach efforts of labor unions - programs Dean said had helped build significant Democratic support in those organizations.

"[Union workers] vote Democrat most of the time because they have somebody talking to them that they’ve worked with for 15 years that reminds them why its important to vote Democrat. That is what this plan is modeled after," said Dean. "People don’t vote Democrat because their union leaders tell them to. They vote Democrat because the guy on the shop floor is someone they know."

Dean also encouraged Kentucky activists to take advantage of early voting provisions in their state to avoid last-minute campaign tricks.

"Registering to vote is not enough. Not only do you make sure they vote, but almost every state has a provision for early voting – that is crticial because you know very well what is going to be underneath somebody’s windshield wipers the Sunday before an election," said Dean.

Dean has made a series of surprise visits to delegation breakfasts during the first two days of the Democratic National Convention. This morning, he also visited Maine delegates gathered in the room next to the Kentucky delegation.