Ashley Judd Sure Sounds Like She's Running For the Senate in Kentucky

Actress Ashley Judd, who earlier this year announced that she was splitting from her racecar driver husband, sure sounds like she is going to run against Mitch McConnell for his Kentucky Senate seat. Clearly Mitch is a little rattled -- he is polling with her name mentioned. And she is not doing much to dampen speculation. From NYMag:

Actress Ashley Judd's chances of winning a Kentucky Senate seat may be about as good as Mitch McConnell's chances of winning an Oscar, but discussing the possibility of a race between the two is too fun for anyone to pass up. On Friday, Judd appeared at George Washington University to discuss reproductive rights, though the reporters in attendance were much more interested in finding out whether she is serious about launching a campaign.

...Madeleine Albright and New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (who she met with in December), she emphasized her connection to her native state by complimenting the University of Kentucky's student newspaper and announcing her intention to put Kentucky daffodils in a vase presented to her by GWU's dean. The Kentucky talk is important, since Republicans there are already questioning her loyalty to the state by simultaneously pointing out that she currently lives in Tennessee and painting her as an out-of-touch Hollywood liberal.
 

 Conventional wisdom might say that Kentucky is way to red for a Hollywood liberal. But Judd is extraordinarily charming, beautiful, can spend a lot of her wealth in a relatively poor state -- maybe even match dollar-for-dollar the Senate Majority leader (Judd has a lot of friends in Hollywood and Nashville). Also, she has sutomatic name recognition and the degree to which the sequestration hits Kentucky could be a major drag on McConnel's re-election.

The verdict is still out.