KDP Chairwoman: 'Democrats are back on track'

Jennifer Moore only recently ascended to the position of chairwoman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, taking the reins in December of 2007 at the recommendation of then Governor-elect Steve Beshear. Previously, Moore served as vice chair of the party. She also currently works as a partner at the Louisville personal injury law firm Grossman and Moore.

For 2008, Moore and the KDP will need to work to defend a heavily contested KY-3 House seat as well as push for wins for the open KY-2 seat and the Senate seat held by four-term incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell. That’s only on the federal level – half of the Republican-controlled State Senate is due for election as well as the whole of the Democratic State House.

“The State Senate is a focus of ours,” Moore said in an interview with PolitickerKY.com. “We saw several things were blocked there due to the Republican President’s [Senator David Williams] individual decision making on them.”

Moore said the KDP was currently “laying the groundwork for a statewide coordinated campaign,” ultimately focused on making resources from phone banks and canvassers accessible to Democratic candidates.

The KDP is expected to receive assistance in their efforts from national Democratic organizations, including the DCCC, which are targeting the KY-3 and KY-2 races, and the DSCC, which supported Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford's entrance into the seven-candidate Democratic primary.

In an earlier interview with PolitickerKY.com, Republican Party of Kentucky Chairman Steve Robertson said this national interest would be a “bad investment” because of what he argued were Republican tendencies in the state.

“It might be a bad investment from his perspective,” said Moore. “We are always grateful for support from national Democratic organizations. We fully expect them to play in Kentucky.”

Robertson also was critical of Democratic turnout programs, claiming they were not supported by “quantitative numbers” and arguing that 2007 Democratic efforts drove out more Republicans in some areas.

Moore took exception to the Republican's charges, saying Robertson “simply does not make sense” given Beshear’s victory and what she pointed to as increased Democratic turnout over extended periods of time. The KDP references their 2007 canvasses in every county of the state and noted increased Democratic turnout in Fayette and Kenton counties as examples of the success of their efforts.

This year, the coordinated campaign of the KDP hopes to make resources available to candidates across the state, said Moore. She noted that U.S. House candidates in lesser-known races such as Heather Ryan in KY-1 and Michael Kelley in KY-4 would have access to the party’s voter file and could utilize regional offices expected to be opened in their districts.

Moore also said the KDP was prepared to move forward after taking a special election loss in the 30th State Senate district. There, they lost a district of sixty percent registered Democrats after significantly outspending the Republican candidate.

Moore said the loss in the 30th did not impact Democratic perceptions of their chances in November.

“I don’t know if you can compare a special election to a November election,” said Moore. “Everything takes place in such a short time period. We are gearing up for the November election months ahead of time.”

Moore also briefly discussed the Democratic Senate primary, which pits Lunsford against six opponents. Last month, the KDP circulated an “Oath of Honorable Campaigning” among the candidates. Signees of the oath agreed to not launch personal attacks against each other.

Six of the seven candidates signed the pledge. The lone holdout was Louisville businessman Greg Fischer. In recent weeks, Fischer has launched a series of attacks on Lunsford’s history and business record.

Of the oath, Moore said it was circulated because “We should not be putting down other Democratic candidates. We need a clean primary race and we need to focus on running against Mitch McConnell.”

As for Fischer, Moore said if he was not successful in his bid, she knew he would ultimately support the Democratic nominee.

Kentucky twice gave its electoral votes to Bill Clinton, but then did the same for George W. Bush. Chairwoman Moore said she believed, following the 2007 election of Democratic Governor Steve Beshear, Kentucky Democrats were rebounding from a stretch of Republican dominance in the state. She now says she is optimistic about a Democratic presidential candidate winning Kentucky.

“What we have seen before is Kentucky as a blue state,” noted Moore. “We went the wrong way, from my perspective, in 2000 and 2004. Starting with last year’s race for Governor, Democrats are back on track…Everyday, people are talking about the Presidential race, and that can only be a good thing for Democrats.”