December 5, 2012|10:52 am
Ashley Judd could run for Senate
in her home state of Kentucky despite previous evidence to
the contrary, according to reports. The liberal actress
and eighth-generation Kentuckian has been reaching out to
political contacts, which could point to her competition
for Republican Mitch McConnell's seat in 2014.
"I do receive a lot of encouragement to run," she said at
an event hosted by EMILY's List and Marie Claire magazine.
"And my deepest desire is to be useful. I want to help serve
my fellow [citizens]. And I may be doing that to the best of
my capacity … in the space I'm operating in. Or it may be
time to look at possibly running for office."
To that effect, she has spoken to Democratic Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Democratic pollster
Jefrey Pollock, according to Politico. They both declined to
comment on the contents of their conversation. Rep. John
Yarmuth (D-Ky.), however, was more willing to speak after
talking to Judd.
"She is doing all the things that a serious candidate
exploring a race should do," he told Politico. "I think
there are a lot of people … who wanted to let her know that
her candidacy would be an exciting prospect for us. … A lot
of the labor unions, they were telling me that too."
Despite the positives of running for Senate for Democrats-
Judd could raise a lot of money from out-of-state sources,
she has high name recognition, and she was described by her
grandmother as a "Hollywood liberal"- the negatives
could squash her chances before anything gets underway.
Judd no longer lives in Kentucky, and the state is
extremely right-leaning, giving President Obama just 38
percent of the vote last election. Rarely have entertainers
won statewide elections without first being involved in
local politics, The Washington Post pointed out. And
the one local issue Judd has been involved in- she is
against mountaintop-removal coal mining- could be spun as
anti-coal in a very pro-coal state.
Furthermore, her opponent, Sen. Mitch McConnell, didn't get
to be Minority Leader for nothing. He is far more experience
in politics than she, and his representative was eager to
highlight that fact.
"It's going to sting. We're going to make sure that you
don't come out with your nose clean," Jesse Benton,
McConnell's campaign manager, told Politico regarding any
eventual opponents. "We're going to drive your negatives up
and very aggressively and publicly litigate your record
before the citizens of Kentucky."
44-year-old Judd has begun finding prospective supporters
and conducting opposition research, according to Politico.
The actress' representative, though, has only reiterated
that she is "very honored" by the attention to a prospective
campaign, and has not yet decided to run.
Read more at
http://global.christianpost.com/news/ashley-judd-for-senate-could-a-hollywood-liberal-win-kentucky-86121/#6W0uljpiX4xPq9HP.99
