Matt Gunterman April 28th, 2007
The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer’s Keith Lawrence reports today [the M-I is subscription only, so no link] that state Senator and former state Commissioner of Agriculture David Boswell is considering a 2008 run against Congressman Ron Lewis, who is the “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” member of Kentucky’s Republican congressional delegation (and there’s some stiff competition for that title, especially if you throw dementia-suffering Senator Jim Bunning in the mix).
Lewis has the intellect and personality of a brick, so he’s just the sort of sycophant that Senator Mitch McConnell admires and finds most useful. If Mitch McConnell says jump, Ron Lewis asks over which cliff. For instance, to show you how subservient Lewis is to McConnell, consider that Ron Lewis, who is about as proud a bigoted, sexist, homophobic, anti-science politician as they come, endorsed the pro-gay rights, pro-abortion rights, pro-gun regulation Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney because Mitch McConnell told him to. McConnell absolutely hates Senator John McCain and will do anything it take to deny him the Republican presidential nomination.
Boswell would make for a strong candidate. He’s won statewide office before, and he’s taken some tough and progressive stands against a generally regressive majority in the state senate. He’s also, from my experience, a friendly man and a tough and excellent campaigner. In 2002, Mitch McConnell’s Republican smear machine went full force after Boswell, who himself insisted on running a clean and positive campaign. Boswell won reelection by a wide margin.
Kentucky’s Second Congressional District is a tough nut to crack, however; it’s home to three dispersed and very different metro areas: Owensboro, Bowling Green, and Elizabethtown, and is thus in the Evansville, Nashville, and Louisville television markets.
Here’s Lawrence’s article:
Boswell taking ’serious look’ at run for Congress in 2008
State Sen. David Boswell hasn’t thrown his hat into the ring yet for a run for Congress next year.
But his hand is on the hat brim.
Boswell, a Sorgho Democrat, said U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, a Missouri Democrat, called him recently to talk to him about the race.
“I’m going to take a serious look at it,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis hadn’t faced serious competition from Democrats for a decade. But last year, he was challenged by state Rep. Mike Weaver, a Vietnam veteran and conservative Democrat.
Lewis won with 55 percent of the vote. But Democrats were encouraged that that was the smallest victory margin the Cecilia Republican had enjoyed since his first election in 1994.
Boswell said the fact that Democrats retook control of the House last fall gives him encouragement about the race.
He considered a race against Lewis in 2000, but decided against it.
Boswell served in the state House from 1978-83, then was agriculture commissioner from 1984-87. After working as a Frankfort lobbyist for a few years, he was elected in 1990 to replace the retiring Delbert Murphy in the state Senate.
He has held that post since 1990.
Boswell lost a race for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1987. He considered running for governor this year or being the running mate of another candidate but decided against it.
He said he decided to talk publicly about a possible race for Congress to let him gauge public reaction.
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And Jim Pence has this to add:
The “Most Reverend” Rep. Ron Lewis of Kentucky’s Second Congressional District with the “Most Toothless” Sen. Mitch McConnell.
