Besides her residency, another issue that could hurt Judd in Kentucky is her fierce opposition to mountain top coal mining, a big industry in the state. And that's got some Kentucky Democrats concerned about the prospect of Judd as their party's 2014 Senate nominee. No other major Democrats are considering bids at this time.

But Judd does have the support of one of the top elected Democrats in the state.

"She's smart. She knows the issues, and she does it in a very pleasant way, she talks about them in a very unthreatening way. So I think she'd be a great candidate," Rep. John Yarmuth said last week.