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Kentucky: Is health care Chandler's Achilles' heel?

September 2, 2009 —

In Kentucky’s 6^th District (Lexington, etc.), US Rep. Ben Chandler (D), now in his third term, has enjoyed easy re-elections for the past two cycles. In 2006, Chandler was sent back to Washington with 85% of the vote against his only opponent, a Libertarian, and in 2008, he defeated a Republican by 65% to 35%, at the same time the McCain-Palin ticket was carrying the district by 55% to 43%. 

There is, however, a fly in the ointment for Chandler in 2010. President Obama’s health care proposals have stirred up an angry swirl of resentment in the district, fueled in part by talk radio as well as by this conservative region’s suspicion of anything that smacks of big government, welfare statism, or “socialism.” This is offset only in part by a lot of lower-income voters who hope to benefit from a reformed health care system, because the “anti’s” are much more vocal.

Usually politically astute, Chandler may have misjudged how to deal with the vehemence of the conservative foes of ObamaCare. Instead of holding a town hall meeting, letting the screamers scream, then having his say, Chandler has announced he won’t have such a meeting -- indeed, he hasn’t held one in past years and sees no reason to change.

“Some of his weak Democratic support has been put off by this,” says veteran political columnist Al Cross.

In a recent column in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Cross noted that Chandler’s own performance in a town hall meeting could be problematic “if he misspeaks -- or gets snarky with critics, as he did at a business-group meeting and radio appearance” a year ago. So instead of hosting a public gathering, Chandler is traveling about the district meeting with both friends and foes of health care reform.

Chandler is no raving liberal. Knowing his district’s history, he has pursued a moderate course in Congress, with a 2006 National Journal rating averaging 59% liberal to 40% conservative. He is a member of the moderately conservative Blue Dog Coalition. Chandler also has strengths that could offset his health care problems.

“He’s got that Chandler name,” notes Kentucky Roll Call editor Lowell Reese; “it’s still strong among older folks.”

Chandler is the grandson of A. B. “Happy” Chandler, former governor, US senator, baseball commissioner and one-time presidential candidate, whose nickname sums up both is personality and the appealing legacy he left behind. Finally, despite these assets, Chandler takes nothing for granted. In the 2^nd Quarter of this year, he added $128,000 to his campaign kitty, bringing his cash-on-hand to a very impressive $1,267,000.

In the meantime, however, Chandler is taking considerable heat from the right-leaning airwaves. He already earned conservative and business enmity for voting for the House-passed “cap-and-trade” legislation to limit carbon emissions. And he was an early supporter of Obama in 2008, which might make it more difficult for Chandler to separate himself from the president, whose approval numbers continue to decline.

As a result, Chandler is one of some 80 Democrats who have been targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) for the 2010 elections. And the Republican National Committee has run a series of 60-second radio spots urging voters to tell Chandler to oppose President Obama’s health care plan.

And he’s drawing some opposition, which might or might not prove troublesome to this normally strong politician.

A potentially threatening opponent for Chandler is Lee Cruse, a popular Lexington radio talk show host, television commentator and comedian (move over Senator Al Franken [D-MI]). As the morning field anchor for WLEX-TV, Republican Cruse would bring major name ID to the race; moreover, he has been highly critical of the Obama health care proposals and thus might be able to capitalize effectively on that issue. In a public statement on the race on June 30, Cruse said, “I am still on the fence because of the personal sacrifice my family would have to make,” noting that if he runs, government regulations would require that he leave his current job. The word is he’s still considering the race.

In addition, Republican Matt Lockett, a salesman based in Versailles, filed with the Federal Election Commission on June 15. He has an undergraduate degree in political science and a Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Before his current employment, he served on the staff of a church. He has not sought public office before.