Manchester Attorney Files to Challenge Congressman Hal Rogers

by Dan Conti, Kentucky Public RadioThe 2012 Congressional race in Kentucky's 5th district will be a rematch of a contest six years ago between incumbent Republican Hal Rogers and Democrat Kenneth Stepp.Stepp is a 62-year-old lawyer from Manchester. He filed his paperwork with the Secretary of State's office this week to run for the post Rogers has held since 1981.Stepp doesn't see it as a disadvantage to be on the ballot with President Barack Obama this fall. He says the president has done a pretty good job with the economy.“We haven’t recovered as much as we should, but we did stop the downslide and did start to end the decrease in jobs,” he said. “And things have approved under the Obama Administration, but they aren’t really back to where they would have been if there hadn’t been a recession.”Stepp says it's important to preserve the health care reforms that were approved by Congress two years ago. He also wants to see U.S. troops out of the Middle East.