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Tea party darling Thomas Massie on Tuesday won the Republican nomination to run for an open congressional seat in Kentucky's 4th District. The relative newcomer of politics, a protege of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, beat two well-established Republicans in state Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington and Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore. With 74 percent of precincts reporting, Massie had 13,708 votes or 45 percent, to 8,844 votes for Webb-Edgington or 30 percent. Moore had 5,299 votes or 17 percent. The race proved that the tea party movement remains strong in Kentucky. Paul endorsed Massie and was actively involved in the race, even...

In a stinging rebuke of the Kentucky Republican establishment, tea-party-affiliated Lewis County Judge-Executive Thomas Massie won tonight’s GOP primary to replace retiring Rep. Geoff Davis (R) in the 4th district. With 72 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press called the race for Massie. He had 44.9 percent of vote, state Rep. Alecia Webb-Edgington had 29 percent and Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore had 17.4 percent. Davis, along with former Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning (R), backed Webb-Edgington, who had broad establishment support. Conservative Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) backed Massie. The district is safe Republican turf,...

Born in Montreal, the Hebron, Ky.-native Rep. Geoff Davis comes off as a passionate, prickly conservative in his fourth term. Davis serves on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is fast becoming known for focusing on the need to restrain government overreach and keep regulators accountable. [ ... ] In the last Congress, Davis introduced the REINS act, which aims to force up-or-down congressional votes on future major regulations. Davis’s name is likely one you will hear more and more as Americans wake up to the reality of regulatory excess. His votes have earned him a 92-percent rating...

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Republican Rep. Geoff Davis apologizing to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday after referring to him as "that boy." Addressing a Republican gathering Saturday night, the Kentucky lawmaker said, "That boy's finger does not need to be on the button." Davis was talking about political and national security issues at an annual GOP dinner. Davis' campaign said it sent a letter to Obama apologizing for the remark, which was widely reported on blogs and newspaper Web sites, including the Lexington Herald-Leader. "My poor choice of words is regrettable, and was in no way meant to impugn...

ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: A Republican House member Monday sent a letter of apology to Sen. Barack Obama, after calling him "boy" and comparing him to a "snake oil salesman" in attacking his national security credentials at a weekend fund-raising dinner in Kentucky. According to a Lexington Herald-Leader blog item, Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., said Saturday that he had recently participated in a "highly classified, national security simulation" with Obama, and said that exercise showed that Obama can't be trusted to make difficult decisions. "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on...

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a "snake oil salesman." He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a "highly classified, national security simulation" with Obama. "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," Davis said. "He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country."

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a "snake oil salesman" [at a Northern Kentucky Lincoln Day dinner]. He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a "highly classified, national security simulation" with Obama. "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," Davis said. "He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country." -snip-

SurveyUSA has two new polls out tonight one in the House and one in the Senate that show Republicans Bob Corker in Tennessee and Rep. Geoff Davis in KY-4 actually picking up support since their previous polls in September. In Tennessee in polling taken all post-Foley (Oct 7-9) Bob Corker is now ahead of Rep. Harold Ford (Corker 48% - Ford 46%) in the battle for the seat held by retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist. That is a 5-point turnaround for Corker since SurveyUSA's last poll. In Kentucky's 4th congressional district Rep. Geoff Davis has seen a seven-point swing since...

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - President Bush on Friday warned against shielding the U.S. economy from global competition in a speech that was sandwiched between fundraisers for Virginia and Kentucky lawmakers facing tough midterm elections. "The United States of America must not wall ourselves off from the world and must not forget our duty to lead the world," Bush said at Northern Kentucky University where he expanded on a theme of his State of the Union address. To stay competitive, Bush said, the United States needs to keep taxes low, encourage entrepreneurs, secure the future solvency of Medicare and Social Security,...

Today President Bush spoke about the American Competitiveness Initiative to a large crowd at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, KentuckyHe also spoke at a fund raiser for Kentucky Congresman Geoff Davis at the Hilton Cincinnati Airport in Florence, Kentucky. The President also attended a luncheon for Rep Thelma Drake, R-Va., who was unable to attend her fundraiser due to an important vote in a House committee. But before he left for these events he met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, at the White House this morning

Lucas comes out of retirement to run for Congress again BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. - Former Rep. Ken Lucas came out of political retirement today to challenge freshman Rep. Geoff Davis for the congressional seat in northern Kentucky that he gave up after three terms to fulfill a campaign pledge. Lucas, 72, a conservative Democrat who often aligned himself with Republicans, said he was lured back to politics by the bruising partisanship and "widespread public corruption" in Congress. Lucas tried to link Davis to both in announcing his candidacy for the 4th District, which has been a traditional...

GOP Could Pick Up 5 House Seats by John Gizzi Posted Oct 22, 2004 With a week to go before Americans vote in all 435 congressional districts, Republicans look poised to expand their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, based largely on favorable redistricting since the 2000 census. In the swing states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, Republicans managed to dominate the redistricting process after the census, raising the number of safe Republican seats there. In Texas, a masterful (if controversial and belated) redistricting is now almost certain to yield the bulk of national Republican gains in this election...

New website detailing liberal Nick Clooney's record.

On the Kentucky campaign trail, where replicas of the 10 Commandments decorate lawns, being the father of George Clooney could lose you the election. David Rennie reports from VanceburgWere it not for his dark family secret, Nick Clooney - the Democratic contender for one of Kentucky's last Democratic-held seats in Congress - would be a near-perfect candidate. It takes a rare breed of Democrat to survive in the American South. In that deeply conservative region, politicians must bow to a creed of God, guns (good) and gays (bad). Mr Clooney is an anti-abortion, pro-gun army veteran, happily married to his...

The two men vying to fill Northern Kentucky's seat in Congress will meet face-to-face twice next week in the first true debates between them. Democrat Nick Clooney and Republican Geoff Davis will square off Monday in a live, statewide TV debate on KET and again Wednesday during a debate at Northern Kentucky University that is open to the public.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney Gregory Van Tatenhove today, the National Legal and Policy Center, a national ethics watchdog organization, called for an investigation into a promise made by Congressional candidate (KY-4) Nick Clooney to retain the staff of Rep. Ken Lucas if Clooney was elected. The letter documented that the Clooney campaign subsequently procured political and financial support from the Lucas staff.

It could be that would-be voters were miffed that Democrat Nick Clooney didn't attend. In that case, however, they could have attended en masse with signs howling "Where's Nick?'' and shown their annoyance with tough questions for Republican Geoff Davis and Independent Michael Slider.

A Virginia-based campaign ethics watchdog group sent a letter to a federal prosecutor in Lexington asking him to look into whether Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney illegally promised jobs to staff members of retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas. Clooney is running for the 4th District seat against Hebron business consultant Geoff Davis, a Republican, and Michael Slider, a teacher from LaGrange and the Independent candidate.

Clooney will get son's help in NYC, D.C. By Courtney Kinney Post staff reporter Democratic congressional candidate Nick Clooney will once again get some help from his movie star son at two out-of-town fund-raisers this weekend. George Clooney will attend a fund-raiser in New York City Saturday and another in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to help raise money for his father's quest to win the 4th Congressional District seat. Saturday's event will take place at Patsy's, a famed Italian restaurant in New York's theater district, and cost $500, $1,000 or $2,000 a head. The Sunday event will take place at...

Star-powered California cash from a who's who of Hollywood has poured into an unlikely political race in recent weeks -- the fight for Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District... Indeed, a full two-thirds of Clooney's donations to date come from outside his own home state, according to OpenSecrets.org, a campaign donation watchdog group.

In Louisville last night, actor George Clooney wrapped up a round of celebrity-driven fund raising for the 4th District congressional campaign of his father, former television personality Nick Clooney of Augusta. Two receptions at the Kentucky Center appeared to raise about $100,000, based on the number attending and the ticket prices — $1,000 for a reception with a photographer and $250 for a less exclusive event. Like-priced events Saturday night in the Clooneys' native Northern Kentucky, the heart of the district that runs from Oldham County to Ashland, appeared to raise about $140,000. Former Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, a Democrat...

It'll be Davis vs. Clooney Business consultant easily wins primary By Patrick Crowley The Cincinnati Enquirer HEBRON - Despite blistering attacks on his character, Geoff Davis won an easy victory in Tuesday's 4th Congressional District primary over Kevin Murphy and Kelly King. Davis, a Boone County business consultant who ran unsuccessfully for the seat two years ago, now faces Nick Clooney, an Augusta Democrat and longtime local media personality, in the fall.

By BRUCE SCHREINER The Associated Press 1/3/2004, 12:48 p.m. ET BEDFORD, Ky. (AP) — Political newcomer Nick Clooney needed no introduction as he shook hands with people hunched over steaming breakfast plates at the Farmhouse restaurant. "I knew him since I walked in the door, and I had never met him before," said Richard Ginn, a real estate appraiser and tobacco farmer. The 69-year-old congressional candidate has instant recognition in northern Kentucky from his days as a Cincinnati television news anchor. It doesn't hurt that he's also the father of actor George Clooney, the brother of the late singer-actress Rosemary...

Nick Clooney campaigns for Congress DEMOCRAT WANTS TO SUCCEED LUCAS IN 4TH DISTRICT By Bruce Schreiner ASSOCIATED PRESS BEDFORD - Political newcomer Nick Clooney needed no introduction as he shook hands with people hunched over steaming breakfast plates at the Farmhouse restaurant. His face, once a fixture as a Cincinnati television news anchor, was familiar to the regulars chewing over issues between bites of eggs and sausage. "I knew him since I walked in the door, and I had never met him before," said Richard Ginn, a real estate appraiser and tobacco farmer. The 69-year-old Democrat and father of actor...

Nick Clooney's bid for Congress won't stop GOP plans to capture the state's only Democratically held congressional seat, Republicans said Monday after Congressman Ken Lucas announced his retirement Monday and endorsed Clooney as his replacement in the 4th District. Geoff Davis, the Hebron businessman who narrowly lost to Lucas in 2002, said he's not deterred by Clooney, a household name in the tri-state for his long career in radio, television and newspapers, and as the father of Hollywood star George Clooney. About the 4th district • The 4th Congressional District stretches along the Ohio River over 23 counties, from Ashland...