Whitfield to make major announcement

He's running for re-election.

Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-1st District, is going for his eighth term in 2008. "After considering my options for 2008 and what still needs to be accomplished, I have decided with the support of my family there is just too much unfinished business not to run again," Whitfield said in a statement today. Whitfield, 64, was first elected in 1994. He is one of the senior Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The lawmaker so far has raised $1 million for his campaign. "The issues of today - strengthening our economy and stopping excessive government spending, reforming Congress to bring some accountability to the budgeting and appropriations process, improving access to health care, ensuring coal remains in the nation's energy portfolio and winning the War on Terror - are all reasons I have decided to run for reelection as a United States congressman representing the First District of Kentucky," Whitfield said.