Sen. Mitch McConnell has a challenger for 2014. It’s Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes. She’s recieved pressure from within Democratic circles to run ever since Ashley Judd’s supposed run was torpedoed last spring. Nevertheless, it seems that Grimes has walked back on her promise to serve a full term as Secretary of State, which could be a politically disastrous move. After all, ten other plausible candidates decided to sit this one out. There’s a reason for that: Mitch doesn’t go easy on his opponents.
Erica Cahn at Roll Call reported on July 1 that:
Just days before her announcement, a Republican super PAC started to air advertisements attacking Grimes. The spots linked Grimes to President Barack Obama, who remains deeply unpopular in the Bluegrass State.
McConnell boasts an impressive war chest, and his campaign reported $8.6 million in the bank earlier this year. That number will likely change in the next two weeks, when the Republican announces his fundraising haul for the second quarter of this year.
Nevertheless, in her announcement today, Grimes has taken a liking to her underdog status.
I have met with my supporters, we have had a great conversation, and determined and decided that we can next make the best move, the best difference in the commonwealth of Kentucky, by running for the U.S. Senate…I agree with thousands of Kentuckians that Kentucky is tired of 28 years of obstruction; that Kentucky is tired of someone who has voted against raising the minimum wage while all the while quadrupling his own net worth. Kentucky is tired of a senior senator that has lost touch with Kentucky issues, voters and their values.
What twenty-eight years of obstruction? McConnell came in during the 1984 midterms during the Reagan economic boom. He was also serving when Bill Clinton worked with congressional Republicans to foster one of the greatest periods of prosperity since World War II. Additionally, she says McConnell has “lost touch” with Kentucky voters, but it seems that her reward for nominating Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention last year, as NRSC Executive Director Rob Collins noted, is the destruction of the Kentucky middle class.
Mitch McConnell has always put the people of Kentucky first and will keep fighting for them no matter how hard the liberal left tries to stop him. Senator McConnell is engaged in the most innovative, modern, and effective campaign in history and will make the case that conservative ideas will protect Kentucky from the radical assault on their livelihood being waged by President Obama, Harry Reid and Alison Lundergan Grimes.
“Just last year, Alison Lundergan Grimes stood proudly at the Democratic National Convention to nominate Barack Obama, who has followed through on his promise to destroy the coal industry; in essence declared a war on the state of Kentucky and the middle class families who call it home. Kentuckians have absolutely no reason to send Alison Lundergan Grimes to Washington to help pass the policies of a President whom they adamantly oppose and to elect a liberal Senate Leader who declared, ‘coal makes us sick.'”
Yes, someone is out of touch, but it isn’t Mitch McConnell. A person supportive of Obama’s energy policy is complicit to nothing more than a ‘regional genocide‘ against families dependent on coal. It’s also a policy that buries millions Americans with additional electrical costs. Is that pro-middle class? Is that rational? Is that moral? It’s akin to a tax increase, but it manifests itself as an amusing liberal narrative: vote for me and I’ll raise your living expenses. Yeah, you’ll be the most popular kid on the block.
Also, Romney won Kentucky by 14% in 2012. Obama isn’t popular in the Bluegrass State, leaving Grimes little to work with concerning voter outreach. On top of that, you had super PAC ads running against her, bad policy prescriptions emanating from Washington last week directed toward her would-be constituents, and no earned media leading up to the announcement. If this isn’t indicative of desperation from Kentucky Democrats, then it’s pure incompetence that will cost Grimes dearly in the end.
Today’s @AlisonForKY campaign announcement was the worst entry to a race since Ben Konop declared for Toledo Mayor. http://t.co/6gb1sI2Wux
— Brad Dayspring (@BDayspring) July 1, 2013
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