Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Is Chandler Ripe For An Upset?

When Chandler won the 6th Congressional district back in 2004, I thought he would be nearly impossible to dislodge him from that seat. Given his name recognition and his moderate politics, I thought he would be congressman for life. Fast forward a few years and my have things changed. Chandler has "grown" in office. Grow is a euphemism for becoming more and more liberal. His vote last fall for the cap-n-trade bill illustrates how far he has moved to the left. In 2004, he would have never voted for a bill that would be so devastating to Kentuckians. Today, he doesn't appear to have a problem with it. He also has been mum on his support for ObamaCare. Not even consulting his constituents on the matter.

The only problem with moving to the left is that he doesn't live in a liberal district. In fact, his district went heavily for McCain in the last presidential election. That puts Chandler's growth in office at odds with his constituents. The only question is could a challenger enter the race that would be strong enough to match Chandler in the money race? Looks like we might actually have such a challenger.

Rep. Ben Chandler (D-Ky.) was also an unwitting victim of a challenger surge, with Republican Andy Barr outraising him in just two and a half weeks of fundraising, $186,000 to $160,000.

The amount of money Barr was able to raise so quickly has to be a warning bell for Chandler. I expect Chandler will start distancing himself from Pelosi and Obama during the remaining legislative session. I wouldn't be surprised if he voted against ObamaCare and other priorities of the left. Even so, I think he has enough liberal votes to make him vulnerable to Barr in such a red district. The next reporting period will tell us a lot about this race. If Barr can keep progressing towards a million dollars he will have the money necesssary to unseat Chandler. The sixth district has definitely become a race to keep an eye on in 2010.