Joe Sonka October 11th, 2007

(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)

Let’s get that Draft Forgy train rollin’! Here’s a big write-up on the possible challenge that Mitch McConnell will face in the primary from one of our favorite looneys of the KY right, Larry Forgy.

From the right-wing nutjobs at Cybercast News Service:

(CNSNews.com) - Before he led his party in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was credited for building his home-state GOP into a competitive political force. But after a bloody GOP primary earlier this year for the governor’s race, some Bluegrass state Republicans are not ready to unite behind the Senate minority leader as he prepares for his 2008 reelection bid.

“I’m very proud of Mitch and all of his accomplishments, but I feel like he is partly the cause of this,” said Velma Childers, 77, of Pikeville, Ky., who was the state co-finance chair for George H.W. Bush’s presidential campaigns in 1988 and 1992, and a former state GOP committee member.

“I know a lot of Republicans who are angry at him and several have told me that. It broke my heart what has happened to my party,” Childers said.

Though the national Democratic Party is targeting McConnell’s seat, the divided GOP in Kentucky might prompt a legitimate primary challenge against the four-term incumbent.

Larry Forgy, the 1995 Republican nominee for governor, is considering taking up the task based almost entirely on what McConnell does to help embattled Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher in his race against Democrat Steve Beshear, to be decided on Nov. 6.

“He can not count on a united Republican front in 2008 in the event that the damage he’s done to Gov. Fletcher proves to be fatal,” Forgy told Cybercast News Service.

Though McConnell was officially neutral, it’s widely believed by Forgy and other Fletcher supporters that the senator orchestrated former Republican Rep. Ann Northup’s unsuccessful primary challenge against Fletcher. In the post-primary, some Fletcher supporters accused McConnell of not doing enough to help the governor.

Forgy, who almost won the governor’s office in 1995, is known for being a master at plain-spoken red meat stump speeches.

“I believe Sen. McConnell has done serious damage to Gov. Fletcher, and I’m sore about it, as are about 30-35 percent of Republicans in the state,” Forgy said.

“I don’t have the desire to be in the U.S. Senate. I think it’s a corporate mess. But if Mitch McConnell thinks he can continue to dump on Gov. Fletcher and have no retribution in 2008, he’s got another thing coming,” he added.

This party rift stemmed from a state employee hiring scandal that led to Fletcher’s indictment on misdemeanor charges in state court. The charges were dismissed, but Fletcher faced criticism from his own party while battling the Democratic attorney general who pursued the case.

McConnell has raised $9.15 million and has $6.8 million on hand for his 2008 Senate race.

Forgy has raised no money, and disavows the Draft Forgy Web site as a probable Democratic dirty trick to further divide the party. Still, Forgy - an attorney who was the state’s campaign chairman for President Ronald Reagan in 1984 - thinks he would start out with a substantial number of people already against McConnell.

“I would run to win, but what I’m telling you is that I could get 30-35 percent of the vote without spending any money,” Forgy said. “It would be David vs. Goliath, with an articulate enough David.”

McConnell’s chief of staff Billy Piper thinks there is no reason for a Republican rift in the state.

“Sen. McConnell enthusiastically supports Gov. Fletcher and has appeared at fundraisers with him and looks forward to campaigning with him in the future,” Piper told Cybercast News Service.

On this point, Forgy was cynical.

“We don’t need him in rural Kentucky,” Forgy said, as Fletcher is already doing well in many rural regions. “We need him in eastern Louisville at precinct meetings.”

• 2008 KY U.S. Senate Race , Larry Forgy , Mitch McConnell
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