MORE ON MITCH IN TROUBLE.

MORE ON MITCH IN TROUBLE. To add to what Andrew Green says in his TAP Online piece today, Matt Gunterman of Ditch Mitch highlights a Washington Times article also suggesting that Mitch McConnell might be in serious jeopardy in 2008:

When the Washington Times is running stories about Senator Mitch McConnell’s extreme vulnerabilities in Kentucky, you know the buzz on him is not good inside the Beltway.Take a look at the comments in this article by Larry Forgy, a Lexington lawyer and former Republican gubernatorial candidate who came within a hair of being elected governor in 1995. He’s adopting a very Pat Buchanan-esque populist Republican message. I think he’s taking the possibility of a run against McConnell very seriously. What does he have to lose? The McConnell branch of the Kentucky GOP already hates him, and the Fletcher and Nunn branches of the party would rally around him (thus Forgy would have a ready and energized base). He’d humiliate McConnell in the process by at least taking 30 percent of the votes (hell, you’d better believe I’d switch my registration to Republican to vote against McConnell in a primary), and in a perfect storm the little bugger might actually win that primary.

The best Democrats in Kentucky have been reluctant to throw their hats into the ring, because most everyone still believes that Jim Bunning's seat, which comes up in 2010, will be more vulnerable than McConnell. Nevertheless, with the support of an enthusiastic anti-Mitch crowd and what appears to be a series of events not developing in McConnell's favor, victory in 2008 is hardly unthinkable. McConnell's position as the Senate point man for the Bush administration isn't helping his cause, either. It's interesting that on opposition to McConnell on both the left and the right has developed out of national instead of state issues; the war, and immigration seem to be hitting him the hardest. Green is right to note that McConnell has a lot of money and is a solid electoral strategist, so if I were forced to I'd probably bet on him keeping his seat, but if even McConnell's going to be in trouble it speaks very well of the chances for serious Democratic senatorial gains in 2008. --Robert Farley