Someone will emerge the winner

We just don't know who it will be yet.

From the Glasgow Daily Times is an interesting article about how we sense opportunity from Ernie's mistakes.

In Washington, Republican President George W. Bush’s approval numbers are at the lowest level of his presidency and the cloud of scandal hangs over the heads of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Whip Tom DeLay. The war in Iraq appears to be going badly and the government has seemed unable to respond to disasters along the Gulf Coast.

It sounds like a recipe for a Democrat Party resurgence. But national Democrats are divided over the war in Iraq, John Roberts as Supreme Court Chief Justice, and how to respond to the Republican majorities. In Kentucky, no obvious candidate has emerged to gain back the governor’s mansion in 2007.

Ben Chandler, 6th District Congressman and former attorney general who lost to Fletcher in 2003, seems uninterested. He says he is "having the most fun I’ve ever had" serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

State Auditor Crit Luallen, Attorney General Greg Stumbo, Treasurer Jonathan Miller, Speaker of the House Jody Richards, former Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, and Louisville businessman and Chandler’s running mate in 2003, Charlie Owens, but none seems to have generated enthusiasm.[...]

Briscoe said Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson and Chandler are the only potential Democrat candidates right now who generate excitement among rank-and-file Democrats, but neither is willing to run – for now. He thinks if Fletcher’s fortunes continue to fade but he remains the Republican candidate in 2007, either could change his mind.

State Democrat Party Chair Jerry Lundergan said his party is concentrating first on 2006 county, state legislative, and congressional races in order to build a base from which to recapture the governor’s mansion in 2007.

"There’s lots of enthusiasm about the governor’s race," Lundergen said. "But the fact of the matter is the time to focus on that race has not come yet."

Luallen is undergoing treatment for a second bout of cancer and is associated with the scandal-plagued administration of former Gov. Paul Patton whom she served as Cabinet Secretary. Henry was Patton’s Lt. Governor and settled a case in which he was charged with over billing Medicaid. Stumbo, who heads the investigation into Fletcher’s hiring practices, is accused of doing so in order to further his own political career and he has ethical problems of his own, a paternity suit and a conviction for public intoxication.

Miller told the Daily Times last week he will decide his political plans this spring. Richards, who last spring said he was not a candidate for governor but seemed to hedge that statement later, said he is concentrating on the 2006 General Assembly session and preparing to run for Speaker again the following year.

It will be interesting to see who emerges for each race but a lot of us are focusing on 2006.