Not long ago our old pal Moneybags Mitch McConnell resorted to his old tricks of misleading tacticts to win elections. I mean, when your record of rubber-stamping every failed policy which has created almost every pressing problem our country faces, you really hope the voters don't notice.

(Cross Posted At Hillbilly Report)
Bruce Lunsford, Kentucky Democratic Senatorial Candidate,  held a press conference, in Louisville today to unveil his 8 Point Plan For Energy Independence. While shooting video of the Press Conference I couldn't get my mind off the Mitch McConnell political ad that seemed to blame Bruce Lunsford for the high gasoline prices so I decided if I had the opportunity I would ask Bruce about it. The opportunity presented itself and the 1 minute video is below.

Boy, here in Kentucky we sure are straddled with two of the worst the national Republican Party has to offer. First we have Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, then we have Exxon Ed Whitfield, whose election year Renaisance doesn't quite reach to the point of holding Karl Rove accountable for contempt of Congress. Read on about some goings on in the Bluegrass state.

Well, we knew it wouldn't take too long for Mitch McConnell to begin his smearing, and outright lying. Yes, fresh after charging for his time in a supposedly non-profit, Christian bookstore, Mitch McConnell is unleashing his war-chest of dirty money to try and smear the Democratic Senatate candidate in Kentucky, Bruce Lunsford.

Summer is upon us and the blistering heat of Kentucky's political process is about to kick into full swing. Democrats have incumbents in John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler, and are contesting all but one of the current Republican seats. Now with summer arriving in Kentucky, the fight is on!!

Hi, I’m Bruce Lunsford. I’m challenging Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and I plan to win. I’ve spent some time reading Daily Kos and find the amount of energy you have for improving our country invigorating. The sentiment here is similar to what I hear from citizens of every walk of life in communities across the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 24 years of Mitch McConnell has been bad for Kentucky and bad for America.

Every State. Every race. Right here.

This is number 22 in a planned series of 50 entries between now and November, looking at each of the 50 states in terms of every race on that state's ticket--Presidential, Gubernatorial, Senate, House, State legislatures--the whole Colonel’s Big Bucket! Special attention paid to identifying and promoting the most important contests per state.

Today, put on your favorite bluegrass album, pull up a chair on the back porch, pour yourself a mint julep and prepare to discuss KENTUCKY!

Given what happened yesterday, I feel it's important I repost my earlier diary on who are the GOOD Democratic challengers when it comes to FISA.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  (For the Senate, I'm only including those who voted against cloture yesterday for the bill.)  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

The netroots / blogosphere has picked its favorites, be they Rick Noriega or Darcy Burner or Scott Kleeb.  (All three of whom are great candidates.)

In this diary, I wanted to spread the love a bit to a few candidates that don't get mentioned much, or at all.  Please help me in this task.

Oftentimes moderate Democrats running in Republican districts, who don't and can't hew to the hard left like we might like, lose out in the online popularity contests.  But at the end of the day, their one vote will count for just as much, and will each be replacing the vote of a bad GOP legislator.

In this diary I detail 5 house candidates and 5 senate candidates that are worthy of your donations - even $5 - via ActBlue at this link.  Even better, sign up for a recurring contribution - it helps ensure the candidates a steady financial situation.

Adam B has the details of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the millionaire's amendment, which raised contribution limits to candidates facing self-funding opponents.

In essence, the court just ruled that even though a millionaire can spend what he or she wants to say what he or she wants, the fact that his or her opponent gets to raise additional money is an infringement on the millionaire's free speech rights.

The problem is that, as the dissent says here, no one is stifling the millionaires' speech. They can still spend whatever they want to say whatever they want. This just enhances their opponents' speech.

The notion that enhancing your opponents' speech is infringing on your own is a brand new level of crazy, and I say that as someone who essentially agrees with Buckley that money equals speech. (Try to get your message out to a wide audience without spending a dime.)

Apparently, to conservatives, money only equals speech when it's rich people's money.

There is a quick and easy way to fix this -- pass a new law that would raise the contribution limits to both candidates, the millionaire included. If the Daddy Warbucks candidate could raise money, he or she wouldn't have to self-fund, so in essence, this would mostly help the challenger.

If you're wondering why Congress would be motivated to do this, keep this in mind -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is facing a self-funding Democratic gazillionaire in Bruce Lunsford. Lunsford spent about $2.12 million of his own money during the primary, and given his past free-spending ways ($14 million through two unsuccessful gubernatorial elections), is likely to spend millions more in the general election.

Of course, McConnell currently has the big advantage (a $7 million gap as of the last pre-primary report in April). But Lunsford can theoretically close that gap with a single check. So perhaps that'll get him to sign on to fixing what is, in essence, the most ridiculous Supreme Court decision I've seen in a long, long time.

2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year in U.S. politics, with tons of progressive candidates running in every state.

This year is also an opportunity to highlight the role that big money plays in shaping the views and voting records of lawmakers, particularly money from Big Oil. Despite extremely high gas prices and record profits for oil companies, the following three members of Congress continue to place the interests of Big Oil ahead of the concerns of their constituents.

Follow me after the jump to learn about this unsavory triad.

In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.  But so far, it's been all over the map.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

Since Tom Delay left, there is no Republican I have wanted to lose more than the smug Mitch McConnell. Oh, there are plenty of crazies, sleazies, and just run-of-the-mill jackasses to go around, but McConnell's face on the teevee screen causes an involuntary shudder.

I deferred to my toddler who, in better days, was in his bouncey seat when Delay's mug popped up on the television, and he promptly screamed. Smart kid.

AP reports that former 'tough guy actor' Sonny Landham is looking into getting into the race as a Libertarian. He mocks the Democratic candidate as an 'elitist', but he saves his real fire for McConnell and the GOP. And this SurveyUSA poll shows only a 4 point GOP lead (sorry, no MoE).

I have been telling everyone that Kentucky Democrats are turning the corner in the Bluegrass state. After flirting with the Republicans for just over a decade, Kentucky voters are ready to come back to their Democratic roots. It really is no coincidence. It began some time after the disasterous election of 2004 for Democrats and our country.

June Update
Senate gains looking solid. Dems have a lot of work to do to go from solid gains of 4-5 seats to huge gains of 7-9 seats.

Current Senate: 49 Dems, 1 Socialist, 1 Lieberman, 49 GOP.

This is a little bit of a shocker... it's widely held that Barack Obama has a severe Appalachia problem, one that he would need to overcome in order to compete everywhere.  Few states exhibit his inherent problems more than Kentucky, but today, SUSA has polled Kentucky again and shown that Obama has slashed McCain's lead in Half.  
                  (5/18)  [3/16]
McCain: 53%  (56%) [64%]
Obama:  41% (32%) [28%]
Differ:     +12   +24   +36

The best news is that we're looking at McCain's likely ceiling and the trend for Obama is very promising.  Here's the party ID:

Democrats: Obama 59%, McCain 35%
Independents:  McCain 47%, Obama 42%

Ideology
Moderate: McCain 48%, Obama 47%
Liberal: Obama 80%, McCain 13%

I know, I know...it's not likely, but a brother can dream can't he?

Following up on my post from yesterday and incorporating some of the suggestions/corrections from the comments made there, let's take a look at our best case scenario in the November Senate elections.

Right now, we're at 49 Ds, 49 Rs and 2 I's.  When the smoke clears on election night in November we'll be at 62 Ds, 37 Rs and 1 I.
Here's how it's going to happen....

Here’s how the Dems can win a filibuster-proof 60 seat majority in the U.S. Senate.  It’s not going to be easy, but it can happen.

Right now, there are 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and 2 Independents (Sanders-VT & Lieberman-CT) who both caucus with the Dems.

In November of 2008, there will be 33 Senate seats up for election AND one special election - to replace the retired Trent Lott-MS.  For the Dems to achieve a 60 seat super-majority they will need to win 9 seats that are now held by a Republican.  Here are the 9 seats that are in reach: