A spokeswoman for Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, tweets this perfectly reasonable metaphor about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who will face Grimes if he survives the GOP primary:
Senator Gridlock is like an arsonist who lights the fire and then claims credit for helping put it out. #KYsen
— @CharlyNorton
And the National Republican Senatorial Committee responds,
first by saying the Grimes campaign is in "free fall" and
then:
Alison Lundergan Grimes’ Campaign is Melting Down
Because a handful of people—include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—saluted McConnell for his decision to finally agree to end the shutdown that he helped start. The problem with this spin is obvious: If McConnell wanted credit for being reasonable and avoiding a government shutdown, he shouldn't have supported it in the first place. It's good that he finally came to his senses, but it's not exactly a strong reelection platform.
And despite the GOP's spin that Grimes is melting down, today Public Policy Polling released a new poll conducted for Americans United For Change on October 14th and 15th with a margin of error of ±2.8 percent:
PPP’s newest Kentucky poll finds voters in the state extremely unhappy about the government shutdown, and taking it out on Mitch McConnell. The Republican Senator Minority Leader now trails Alison Lundergan Grimes 45/43 for reelection.
60% of Kentucky voters opposed the shutdown, compared to only 32% who supported it. Those numbers are in line with what we’ve found in other red states- it doesn’t matter if a place went for Obama by 20 points or Romney by 20 points last fall, the shutdown is a huge problem for Republican politicians everywhere.
Only time will tell if McConnell's decision to change course will save his political future, but at this point one thing is clear: He's the one who is nervous, not Alison Grimes.