Conway considers run for Senate

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is considering a run for the United States Senate.

Attorney General Jack Conway of Louisville has given his strongest indication yet that he plans to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2010 Kentucky U.S. Senate race.

"There's a good chance I'll run for the Senate," Conway, 39, said yesterday morning during an interview on ICN6 cable's Northern Kentucky Magazine program.

"I've been saying all along I owe Kentucky voters my best effort at attorney general ... so I'm going to get through the (legislative) session," he said. "And I'll say something in the coming weeks."[...]

"I'm encouraged by the level of support I'm getting," Conway said. "It would be a tremendous honor to run. I'm looking at it very seriously. Kentucky needs a new generation of leadership in that particular Senate seat, so I'm excited about the possibility."

Two well-known Democrats who have run for statewide office -- Central Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler and state Auditor Crit Luallen -- have also expressed interest in the race.

But Conway said the three "have been talking," possibly an indication that the three have agreed that Conway will run and the others won't.

"Ben Chandler has said publicly he is considering the race," Conway said. "Ben is a friend, Ben is a political ally. I have been talking to Ben. Crit Luallen is a friend, an ally, I think of Crit as a big sister. She is considering the race as well. And all three of us have been talking.

"I think amongst the three of us, what we want is a credible candidate, we want the best representation for Kentucky that we can get in the United States Senate, and if that happens to be me, great, if that happens to be Crit or Ben, I'd be supportive of that," he said. "But we're talking."