And at least one national group might not be far behind in wading into the race between Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Democrat Steve Beshear, a former lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The Bluegrass Freedom Fund, a so-called 527 group set up by Democratic operatives, has spent the summer stocking its war chest as it prepares to boost Beshear's candidacy.

The group raised $86,000 as of June 30, according to its report filed with the IRS.

Labor 2007’s mobilization to elect Beshear, along with lieutenant governor candidate state Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, is picking up speed as local unions around the Bluegrass State gear up to toss out the incumbent Fletcher. During his tenure, he has worked with his corporate cronies to try to slash wages by attempting to gut prevailing wage laws and attacked workers’ rights through his campaign to outlaw union security clauses and turn Kentucky into a “right to work” for less state.

The Republicans, says Kentucky Political Report editor Lowell Reese, “hope for Reagan Democrats down in Western Kentucky” to be moved into Fletcher’s column. Fletcher’s “stance on casino gambling, packaged with four or five other issues, including the Ten Commandments, abortion, domestic partnership insurance and gun control” will split the Democratic base. Fletcher will need a big margin in rural areas in Western Kentucky this fall to offset Beshear’s strength in Louisville. The GOP is also hoping that the coming campaign can put a negative face on Beshear. “Beshear has not been defined…,” notes Reese; “In the [Democratic] primary, it was a love fest. The Democrats didn’t bring out any of the negative stuff about each other.”

So far, however, Beshear has been skilful in responding to Fletcher’s attacks. The Courier-Journal reported that when the governor criticized Beshear for a ruling he made as state attorney general that schools must not display the Ten Commandments, Beshear told the Fancy Farm audience that displaying the commandments wasn’t as important as living by them, adding “If this administration had been living by them, they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now.” Beshear, notes Reese, “gave the best speech” at Fancy Farm.

From the national level, Dean says the Democrats will use their state-level expertise to analyze every voting district in the country, to stop what he charges have been Republican vote fraud schemes. "They use vote caging, vote purging, voter intimidation, funny business about where they assign voting machines -- and even the voting machines themselves are under suspicion," Dean said.

Party leaders discussed a strategy to win gubernatorial elections this year in three Southern states -- Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi. Of the three, Democratic strategists say they're giving the Kentucky race the best chance of success. Democrat Steve Beshear takes on Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher in the Nov. 6 election. Fletcher was indicted by a grand jury for alleged political involvement in his state's civil service hirings. Last year he entered an agreement, admitting wrongdoing in exchange for the dismissal of three misdemeanor charges.

Dean has big plans for the Democrats. It all comes down to his fifty-state strategy, in which the national party pays the salaries of top operatives in every state, red and blue alike.