FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, central Kentucky's delegate to Congress, said he is considering a run for the U.S. Senate next year.

Chandler, a Democrat whose district encompasses Kentucky's rolling horse country, said he has being encouraged by supporters and others to seek the post. Chandler said he's happy to remain in his current U.S. House post, but has an open mind toward running for the Senate.

"I have to at least think about it," Chandler said Friday during a rare visit to the Kentucky Capitol.

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is in his second term and says he is intending to seek a third one in 2010. Nevertheless, Bunning has been widely targeted as one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators up for re-election next year.

Bunning, 77, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, has had a series of recent gaffes, most recently cussing during a conference call with reporters about a month after making controversial remarks about a Supreme Court justice's cancer diagnosis.

Chandler, the grandson of Kentucky political icon and former Major League Baseball commissioner Happy Chandler, shrugged and grinned but did not respond when asked about Bunning's recent behavior.