US Senate

Incumbent:  Jim Bunning (R - Unhinged)
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First elected to the US Senate in 1998, Bunning barely won his reelection in 2004, getting only 51% of the vote.  For comparison, George W. Bush carried Kentucky 60%-40% in the same election.  Bunning’s poor performance was even more remarkable considering that his opponent (then-state senator and current Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo) was relatively unknown statewide prior to the campaign.  The campaign itself was marked with extremely erratic behavior by Bunning, in which a surrogate implied Mongiardo was gay, while Bunning announced that al Qaeda was out to get him and claimed Mongiardo looked like “one of Saddam Hussein’s sons”.  He repeatedly dodged debates with Mongiardo before finally agreeing to appear in one debate, via satellite.  During that debate, Bunning was criticized for cheating by using a teleprompter. 

Bunning Quote That Explains a Lot:  “Let me explain something: I don’t watch the national news, and I don’t read the paper […] I watch Fox News to get my information.” 
October 23, 2004
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