John Yarmuth

John Yarmuth
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 2007–
Preceded by	Anne Northup
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	November 04 1947 (1947--) (age 60) Louisville, Kentucky
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Catherine Yarmuth
Religion	Jewish

John Yarmuth (born November 4, 1947) is the U.S. Representative for Kentucky's 3rd congressional district. He is a former independent newspaper publisher. A Louisville native who graduated from Atherton High School in 1965, he graduated from Yale University, majoring in American Studies. After working for U.S. Senator Marlow Cook from 1971 to 1975, he returned to Louisville to begin his publishing career when he founded the Louisville Today magazine (1976–1982). He later worked as a vice-president of University Relations at the University of Louisville.

Prior to his election to Congress, Yarmuth was best known for founding the weekly paper, Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), in 1990 and for writing a progressive-oriented weekly political column that was featured on the first page of most issues.

Yarmuth is also known as a television debate participant. In 2003, he and former WHAS-AM radio talk show host John Ziegler debated political issues on the weekly WAVE program Yarmuth & Ziegler, with Yarmuth taking the liberal side and Ziegler, the conservative side. On a successor program, Hot Button, which ran from September 2004 to December 2005, he faced off with conservative Jim Milliman.

Yarmuth sold LEO in 2003 to a company owned by Times Publishing Company of Pennsylvania, owner of the Erie Times-News, though Yarmuth remained on board as a columnist and consultant until January 2006, when he declared he was running for Congress. His column was put on hold until the campaign was over. He is Kentucky's first Jewish congressman.

2006 Congressional campaign

Yarmuth filed candidacy papers on January 31, 2006 to represent Kentucky's 3rd congressional district. Having won the Democratic primary on May 16, defeating Andrew Horne, Burrell Charles Farnsley and James W. Moore, he defeated incumbent Anne Northup (R) in November of that year.

In June 2006, Robert Kahne, a college student who had volunteered for the Yarmuth campaign went to Northup's campaign headquarters with a fake name to become a volunteer. The intern was found to be a Yarmuth volunteer when a Northup campaign member thought he looked familiar and found his picture on a website for Yarmuth supporters. The Yarmuth campaign denied any knowledge of his actions, and he was no longer allowed to volunteer for them after his prank was discovered.^[1]

On August 7, 2006, The Courier-Journal reported that The Hill revealed a week before that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had earmarked $51.5 million for television advertising in 32 congressional districts across the nation, but none for Yarmuth's challenge in the Third Congressional District.^[2]

On October 20, a Courier Journal article stated that a WHAS11/SurveyUSA poll revealed the race had tightened dramatically, with Yarmuth leading Northup 48 to 47 percent. Another poll a month earlier had Northup leading by 6 points.^[3] A WHAS11/SurveyUSA poll released on November 2 showed Yarmuth leading Northup 52 to 44 percent.^[4]

Because polls close early in Kentucky, many analysts saw this race as a key indicator and it immediately became one of the most watched House races in the nation.

Yarmuth defeated Northup in the general election. He garnered 122,139 votes (51%) to Northup's 116,157 votes (48%). Independent candidates garnered 2,896 votes (1%).

Trivia

Yarmuth appeared on the March 8, 2007 episode of The Colbert Report in the show's "Better Know a District" series. In a parody of his old Yarmuth & Ziegler debate series, he was prodded to do a point/counterpoint debate against Stephen Colbert. After agreeing to the "debate," Colbert forced him to defend the shredding of kittens in woodchippers.^[5]

References

1. ^ Blake, Aaron. "Republicans allege double-agent plot in Kentucky House race", The Hill, 2006-06-06. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
2. ^ Stewart, Kay. "National Democratic campaign doesn't plan ads for Yarmuth", The Courier-Journal, 2006-08-07. Retrieved on 2006-09-01. 
3. ^ Stewart, Kay. "Poll: Northup, Yarmuth race in dead heat", The Courier-Journal, 2006-10-20. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
4. ^ Hebert, Mark. "Yarmuth ahead in new poll", whas11.com, 2006-11-02. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
5. ^ Carroll, James R.. "Yarmuth jokes on the 'Colbert Report'", The Courier-Journal, 2007-03-09. Retrieved on 2007-03-09. 

External links

• U.S. Representative John Yarmuth official House site
• John Yarmuth at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Mr John A Yarmuth campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — John Yarmuth issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — John A. Yarmuth campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative John Yarmuth (KY) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — John Yarmuth profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: John Yarmuth voting record
• Yarmuth for Congress official campaign site

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