Two Sleeper Senate Races: Kentucky and Kansas

by: Matt Stoller

Mon Jul 14, 2008 at 17:13

That Roberts is going negative this early, and lying about his intended campaign strategy, is evidence that he is taking this challenge very seriously.  If I were Roberts, I'd do the same thing, and Slattery risks being defined as a Washington lobbyist.  I'm intrigued by Slattery; he's not the most progressive guy in the world, but he stood up to Reagan, Colin Powell, and the neoconservatives in the 1980s on Nicaragua.

In Kentucky, Democrat Bruce Lunsford is beginning to self-fund against Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell.  McConnell is the smartest Republican operative in the Senate, so getting rid of him would go a long way toward destroying Republican cohesion.  He has $9M in the bank, having raised a total of $15M so far this cycle, good rewards for a lifetime of legislating on behalf of big oil, big telecom, defense contractors, etc.

Lunsford will put huge sums of money into his race, which reduces the need to put progressive money into Kentucky.  The Supreme Court, by striking down special privileges for opponents of self-funders for House candidates, might have also given Lunsford an additional boon to his race.

Kentucky is going to be a more localized race, since Obama doesn't play well there.  Kansas is a place where Obama has more traction, so Slattery could hitch his wagon a bit more to the leader of the Democratic party.  Both races are longshots, but a wave could help create a far more progressive Senate next year.