Second derailment this week ...
Northup's entry in governor's race may end the Fletcher train wreck

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2006, 11 a.m. -- Former Congresswoman Anne Northup will file her candidacy paperwork this afternoon and formally announce her plans to seek the Republican nomination for governor.

Northup has selected state Rep. Jeff Hoover, the state house leader, as running mate. They will announce their campaign with a backdrop of a dozen or more GOP lawmakers who have said they'll support her entry in the race -- including local state Rep. David Floyd.

Floyd told the Herald-Leader that he would continue to support Gov. Ernie Fletcher while Fletcher holds the office of governor, but that he was concerned about his ability to win reelection in November.

Floyd told the newspaper that he believed Fletcher was "victimized" by the grand jury investigation into the Fletcher administration's hiring practices. Fletcher issued a blanket pardon to prevent any of his administration from being indicted for the violations that were eventually cited in the grand jury's report.

Fletcher and Paducah businessman Billy Harper both told the newspaper that Northup's entry in the race would not deter their campaigns. Harper has spent more than $2 million on TV advertising as the sole "anyone-but-Fletcher" Republican candidate. Political pundits say that Harper's failure to recruit a running mate outside Western Kentucky has crippled any real chance for him to beat Fletcher or win the governor's race.

Kentucky's Congressional Republicans have withheld their backing of either Fletcher or Harper, so expect Northup's campaign announcement to be followed soon with the blessings of Sens. McConnell and Bunning and Reps. Rogers, Lewis, Davis and Whitfield.

Will Harper do the honorable thing and withdraw from the race? Not likely; he and Northup have a "he said/she said" feud underway over her run for governor.

Harper said Northup told him she would NOT enter the governor's race this year, which I'm sure helped him decide to go ahead and enter the race. Northup's rumored entry in the race upset Harper, who told the media that Northup broke her promise not to run. Northup's staff said she recalled making no such promise -- proving once again that all's fair in the world of politics in Kentucky.