Kentucky Democrat Attorney General Greg Stumbo probably couldn’t be happier.  He brought high profile misdemeanor charges against the sitting Republican governor of his state, Ernie Fletcher. Racked up a slew of headlines, video footage, and rhetoric.  And just yesterday – dropped the charges.  Sweet deal for Stumbo – bitter deal for the Governor.

After months of hammering press and charges of grand conspiracies, Stumbo drops his charges when:  Governor Fletcher’s job approval rating is third lowest in the country, and a recent ethics opinion discouraged Stumbo from running for Governor against Fletcher in 2007. 

Stumbo says that he’s not interested in running for Governor “at this time”.  That’s great political speak for “I’ll announce later, probably after the November ’06 General Election, when people are paying attention and I can use words like “reflect”, “called”, “reform”, and “new beginnings”” – ok last one was two words.  

Politically, this thing has been such a hustle from the start.

The Lexington Herald Leader does a broader analysis here.