by Maria Puente, USA TODAY
U.S. Sen. Ashley Judd? Some Democrats are wondering.
In
all the pundit chatter leading up to and in the aftermath of Tuesday's
re-election of President Obama, the most intriguing talk was about
actress and Obama activist Judd as a potential U.S. Senate candidate in
her former home, Kentucky, or even her current home of Tennessee.
Judd,
who campaigned vigorously for Obama, has hinted before she might run
for public office but never said anything about the U.S. Senate. But
that hasn't stopped wishful Dems from dreaming.
On MSNBC Wednesday
evening, NBC's political honcho Chuck Todd reported "serious
speculation" about Judd being recruited to run in Kentucky against
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who's up for re-election in 2014
and might be in trouble with his own party thanks to the GOP's sorry
showing Tuesday, especially the failure to re-take the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Louisville Courier-Journal
interviewed U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who said a Judd-McConnell
match-up would be a "premier race" and the money would "pour in" for
her.
Even before the election, Huffington Post political analyst
Howard Fineman said on MSNBC that Democrats in Kentucky would love to
draft the 44-year-old TV/movie star, the sister and daughter to
best-selling country stars Wynonna Judd and Naomi Judd.
"They want her. I know they want her," Fineman said. "The money people in Kentucky want Ashley Judd."
Judd
grew up in Kentucky and went to college there but lives in Tennessee
with her husband, race car driver and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner
Dario Franchitti. She attended the Democratic National Convention this
summer as a delegate from the Volunteer State.
Judd told The Tennessean
in August that Democrats had not approached her about running against
Tennessee's U.S. Sen. Bob Corker in Tuesday's election and she wouldn't
have said yes even if they had.
"The way I'm doing my service right now is the best use of me," she said.