Some more big news today out of Kentucky:
http://thehill.com/...
Kentucky Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth spilled the beans Friday on a planned trip for Hillary Clinton to campaign for Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky this fall.
“I sure want her in Kentucky and I know she’s going to come to Kentucky and campaign for Alison Lundergan Grimes, and she’s welcome here. She’s very popular here, as is President Clinton,” he said on the "Bill Press Show," confirming she’ll “absolutely” be there when asked.
While the Grimes campaign has previously said she’d welcome a visit from the former secretary of State — as would most Democratic candidates this year, who see the enthusiasm surrounding the potential presidential contender as a powerful possible boost to their campaigns — it had not previously confirmed plans for Clinton to head down to the state in her fierce battle to knock off Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Though she’s perhaps this cycle’s most coveted surrogate, Clinton has largely avoided the midterm campaign trail so far, only attending a fundraiser for failed Pennsylvania congressional candidate Marjorie Margolies, whose son is married to her daughter, Chelsea.
She’s long been expected to make a stop in Kentucky, however, as Grimes has close family ties to the Clintons. Her father, Jerry Lundergan, is a prominent Democratic Party leader in the state and ran Clinton’s Kentucky operation during her 2008 presidential campaign.
Those family ties brought Bill Clinton to Kentucky early on for Grimes, and Yarmuth said he’ll be stopping by again this fall as Grimes heads into the final leg of the campaign. - The Hill, 7/18/14
Clinton's presence on the campaign trail will be a big assist to Grimes' campaign. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D. MA) has been campaigning for Grimes as well and brutally hitting McConnell on this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) lambasted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Wednesday for his refusal to help students carrying heavy debts, criticizing McConnell's suggestion that students should just consider cheaper colleges if they're not wealthy enough to go to the most expensive schools.
At a town hall event in Buckner, Kentucky last week, an attendee asked McConnell how he believes the government can help alleviate student debt. McConnell replied that it is not the government's role to forgive "obligations that have been voluntarily incurred."
"Not everybody needs to go to Yale," McConnell said, before going on to tout the benefits of for-profit education, which often leaves students mired in even more debt and unable to find decent jobs.
Speaking at Make Progress, an annual gathering of young progressive activists and student leaders held on Wednesday, Warren hit back.
"Mitch McConnell believes that when it comes to a choice between protecting tax loopholes for billionaires or reducing student loan interest rates, he will work to protect every last dollar of every last tax loophole," said Warren. "And then he tells students to dream a little smaller, to do with less and give up a little sooner."
"His vision for America is that no one reaches higher than they can already afford," she added.
Warren has made student debt her signature issue, part of her larger emphasis on income inequality. Earlier this year, she introduced a bill that would have enabled millions of people to refinance their student debt, and would have raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans to offset that cost. McConnell, who mocked the bill as "a show vote," led a filibuster that ultimately torpedoed the bill in the Senate.
The failure of that bill appears to have fueled Warren's antagonism toward McConnell. As political retribution, she recently campaigned for Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), McConnell's challenger in the November midterm elections. At an event at the University of Louisville on June 29, Warren and Grimes both attacked McConnell for being out of touch with the needs of Kentucky students. - Huffington Post, 7/16/14
And Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D. NV) been hitting McConnell on this:
http://www.politico.com/...
Harry Reid on Tuesday called Mitch McConnell’s views on gender equity “shocking” and “troubling,” claiming less than four months before the election that the “war regarding women is not over.”
Last week, McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, said he believed women have come a “long way” on pay equity, citing the rise of female executives, according to The Oldham Era, a community newspaper in Oldham County, Kentucky. Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate majority leader, said those remarks were reminiscent of George W. Bush’s infamous “mission accomplished” moment regarding Iraq in 2003.
Reid, citing Senate Republicans’ blockade of a bill aimed at narrowing pay disparities, said McConnell was declaring victory prematurely.
“The only thing missing from the Republican leader’s declaration would be an aircraft carrier and a large ‘mission accomplished’ sign hanging in the background,” Reid said. “The Republican leader suggested the notion of ensuring the rights for American women is tantamount to preferential treatment. That was his opinion. That’s as shocking as it is troubling.” - Politico, 7/15/14
And Grimes has been kicking ass in fundraising:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), raised more than $4 million from April through June, breaking a state fundraising record.
In a press release, her campaign also announced that Grimes had pulled in a total of $11.3 million in her U.S. Senate run and had $6.2 million cash on hand at the end of June.
The $4 million-plus raised in a single quarter surpasses the previous $2.9 million record for a Senate race in Kentucky -- a record that McConnell set in 2008.
"Kentuckians are coming together to invest in our campaign because they recognize that Alison Lundergan Grimes will bring a new generation of leadership to the U.S. Senate," Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said in a statement.
The campaign noted that contributions had come from all 120 counties in the state and from all 50 states. It also touted the 100,000 donations under $50. - Huffington Post, 7/15/14
And all of this has McConnell scared:
http://www.courier-journal.com/...
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is on the air with a new ad -- this one taking to task President Barack Obama for his policies on coal that McConnell claims has harmed Kentucky's economy.
The 60-second ad is airing statewide, according to the campaign.
In it, he and others -- many of them identified as working in the coal industry -- complain about the state of the coal industry and lay the blame on the Obama administration, which has been slow to approve permits for new mining operations and which has proposed tough new rules for coal-burning power plants.
Jonathan Hurst, Grimes' campaign manager, who has noted in the past that mining jobs have declined for decades, took to the offensive. "No matter how many ads Mitch McConnell runs, he can't hide from the fact that he has failed to save a single coal job in his 30 years in Washington," he said. - Louisville Courier-Journal, 7/18/14
We absolutely can defeat McConnell but we can't take anything for granted. Lets not wait until Hillary shows up, lets make sure Grimes' campaign maintains momentum and is ready for victory in November. Click here to donate and get involved with Grimes' campaign:
http://alisonforkentucky.com/