Michael Kelley

With incumbent U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) skipping last night's 4th Congressional District candidate forum on Kentucky Educational Television, Davis' Democratic opponent slammed the incumbent on numerous issues and defended himself from earlier attacks by the Republican.

Last week, Davis' campaign said its candidate wouldn't debate physician Michael Kelley (D-Lagrange), claiming Kelley "is not taking this race seriously" and pointing to Kelley's low fundraising take. That jab afforded Kelley the chance to launch into a critique of the campaign finance system during last night's televised appearance.

"Saying that I am not a serious candidate because I am not going to wade into the sewer and grab special interest cash no matter how slimy or filthy it makes me - well, I guess I disagree with him on that one," said Kelley.

Kelley showed $7,000 in funds on-hand on his last FEC report, compared to over $840,000 for his opponent.

The Democrat called for a system of public election financing in objecting to fundraising methods by his opponent.

"He has used the power and authority given to him by the voters to shakedown lobbyists for campaign cash, and I think it's shameful," said Kelley. "We have a system right now where we choose our Congressmen based on who's the best fundraiser."

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) will not be debating his opponent, Lagrange physician Michael Kelley, this election cycle, as the race for the 4th Congressional District seat enters its final weeks.

Davis’ campaign attributed its decision to what it described as the differing character of the two campaigns involved.

“Congressman Davis' opponent is not taking this race seriously,” said Jeremy Hughes, the two-term incumbent’s campaign manager. “Michael Kelley's only major campaign event to date consists of riding a bike, and he has raised less than $13,000 from fourteen donors.”

Kelley’s campaign is an admittedly low-budget affair, with the candidate previously telling PolitickerKY.com that he didn’t expect to raise a lot of money, as he viewed most political fundraising as akin to “selling my integrity.”

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) says it is hitting "district-wide cable" with a new ad, amid efforts to get Davis re-elected to a third-term.

The ad, which comes from the relatively quiet 4th Congressional District race, tries to paint Davis as unique among Washington politicians.

"In a city filled with career politicians, Geoff Davis is different," says the narrator of the thirty-second spot.

The narrator then refers to Davis' military history and background in manufacturing.

"Geoff Davis took that experience to Congress and delivered new job training opportunities to Kentucky," continues the narrator.

The ad, which hit the air on Tuesday, is Davis' first of the campaign in which he is pitted against Lagrange physician Michael Kelley.

DNC Chair Howard Dean speaks to Kentucky's delegates today: Politicker photo

DENVER -- As the surprise opening speaker at this morning's Kentucky delegation breakfast, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean spoke with familiarity about Kentucky politics, referencing races up and down the ballot and laying out strategic suggestions for the assembled delegates.

At the beginning of his remarks, Dean referenced the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford as a priority for the state.

"He's in striking distance. How about that?" Dean asked about the challenger to incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville).

Lunsford was last shown 12 points behind McConnell in a mid-August poll, though his ability to self-finance his campaign has led many analysts to predict an ultimately competitive race.

Beyond that, Dean said another top priority for Kentucky Democrats was more local in scope.

"The first thing that people need - in addition to electing Bruce - is we really want to take back the state Senate," said Dean, referencing the state legislative body currently in Republican hands.

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth's (D-Louisville) race for the 3rd Congressional District is still the only U.S. House campaign in Kentucky on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's list for targeted television ad buys, even after the list was expanded by 20 in recent days.

Yarmuth's re-election effort against former U.S. Rep Anne Northup (R-Louisville) was included in the DCCC's initial target list of 31 races, for which the organization aims to buy ad time in September and October. The DCCC reportedly allocated $659,000 for ad buys in the 3rd District.

The liberal news outlet Talking Points Memo reported yesterday that the DCCC had expanded their list to include 20 more races, but none of the additions are in Kentucky.

According to reports, the DCCC has now allocated a total of $53 million towards ad buys for the 51 targeted races.

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell): Getty Images Photo A recent poll conducted on Kentucky's 4th Congressional District race showed numbers very similar to the results from election night in 2006. In a late-June SurveyUSA poll, incumbent U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) was shown leading his Democratic opponent, physician Michael Kelley of Lagrange, 54 to 41 percent among 550 likely voters.

Similarly, Davis was re-elected to the 4th District seat in 2006 by only a slightly slimmer margin, 52 to 43 percent.

The difference this year is that Davis faces a much lower-profile candidate than in 2006, when he beat former 4th District U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas (D-Richwood) in a campaign that cost the two candidates over $5 million.

For Kelley and his supporters, the new poll numbers are encouraging given their similarities to 2006 - and the fact that Kelley has spent almost nothing in the race.

"It's a lot smaller gap than most people would have believed possible," Kelley told PolitickerKY.com.

As today's filing deadline for the second fundraising quarter passes, PolitickerKY.com has provided updates as numbers from candidates across the state become available. Below are links to our complete coverage, arranged by races.

US Senate:

Lunsford brings in $600K; $1.3M on hand

$3 million quarter and $9 million on hand for McConnell 

KY-1:

Whitfield stays over $1 million into 3Q

KY-2:

Drastically different financial pictures in KY-2 as Guthrie holds large cash-on-hand advantage 

While many of Kentucky's candidates for Congress are scrambling to impress with their fundraising numbers as today's second quarter filing deadline passes, two members of the Commonwealth's Congressional delegation are evidently comfortable enough to share the wealth from their campaign warchests.

U.S. Reps Geoff Davis (R-Ft. Mitchell) and Hal Rogers (R-Somerset) have each made sizeable contributions to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) according to an article by Politico, cited by the blog Blue Grass, Red State.

Davis outlayed $200,000 to the NRCC in a fundraising drive intended to help "minimize expected losses in November," according to Politico.

Rogers contributed $150,000.

Oldham physician Michael Kelley is the only Democratic candidate running for the 4th Congressional District seat currently held by Geoff Davis (R-Hebron). Kelley enters the race as a relative unknown compared to the previous Democratic suitors to the 4th, with none of their financial or organizational advantages.

In this interview with PolitickerKY.com, Kelley speaks of his hopes to connect to voters with a "non-traditional" campaign - it will include the candidate cycling across the district. Kelley also acknowledges the challenges of a race against an entrenched political veteran, his own distaste for campaign fundraising, and how his medical experience could inform his work if elected.

Michael Kelley

"I don’t think I would want a Congressman who is excited about wasting millions of dollars on a campaign, because once you get comfortable spending millions of dollars for no real tangible good, well, now maybe you are comfortable spending billions of dollars or hundreds of billions of dollars for no real tangible good."

The campaign of Oldham County physician Michael Kelley today released an official statement on the controversy surrounding his opponent's use of the word "boy" to describe Senator Barack Obama.