Burn!
http://www.msnbc.com/...
Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes looked out at the butter-colored senior center, packed and vibrating. “As I walked in,” she said coolly, “I thought, ‘man, this would cost the Koch brothers a fortune.”
Word had leaked that the campaign of Grimes’ opponent, GOP Minority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell, was offering to pay the expenses of volunteers to contribute to “an enthusiastic atmosphere.” To her own hundred-strong crowd in a coal-country town with a population of 763 – cars lined up on the grassy shoulders outside, seniors rising readily to their feet to cheer – Grimes spelled it out: “I don’t have to pay you to be here.”
Grimes has never lacked for confidence, and you need it to try to take down a wily Senate veteran. But it helps that the news has been unusually good for the long-shot candidate lately. Kentucky’s two largest newspapers have endorsed her. (The Courier-Journal praised her “intelligence, energy and clear potential”; The Lexington Herald-Leader mostly offered a stinging assessment of McConnell.) Polls have shown the race to be deadlocked, which is hardly good news for the man who has been in the Senate for 30 years. And two of the brightest stars in the Democratic firmament, Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren, are headed to Kentucky this week to campaign for Grimes in the home stretch.
There was no denying the “enthusiastic atmosphere” in Calhoun, in a crowd heavy with lonely Democratic activists who had long wished to kick McConnell out. When Grimes said the Koch brothers were practically McConnell’s family, some shouted, “That’s right!” When Grimes shouted, “He can buy the airwaves, but can he buy you?” the crowd was ready with their deep-throated “no.”
Grimes needs their enthusiasm, and their turnout muscle, if she is to upend the conventional wisdom that McConnell will hold on, and with him Republican control of the Senate. She has clearly understood McConnell’s unpopularity to be the core logic of her campaign, even as Kentuckyians might worry about giving up his long-fought-for status in the Senate. “Seniority might be worth something,” Grimes told the crowd, “if it weren’t up for sale to the highest bidder.” - MSNBC, 10/28/14
Yep, Grimes has been working her way through the state but has been very focused on Northern Kentucky:
http://www.cincinnati.com/...
In contrast to her last Northern Kentucky rally where 300 people showed up at the Newport World Peace Bell, this modest rally received little advance notice and involved more hugging and handshaking then speeches.
Grimes' father, Jerry Lundergan, and her husband, Andrew, also came along. '
"Thank you guys for coming out!" Grimes said as she hugged people after stepping off the bus. "Nine more days!"
After making her way through the throng, Grimes spoke to the media about why she's optimistic about her chances to unseat Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. She said her organization will reach every corner of the state before Nov. 4.
Despite Northern Kentucky's conservative image, Grimes said she'll do well up here.
"I think we're going to surprise a lot of people with the excitement and the energy that is up here," Grimes said. "As you see here today, we're just dropping by to say hello to supporters and volunteers and it's a line outside down the street." - Cincinnati.com, 10/26/14
Meanwhile, McConnell is trying to see if an old dog can still learn some new tricks:
http://thehill.com/...
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), fighting for re-elction in a tight contest, is up with a new humorous ad in the Louisville television market that echoes the famous “Bloodhounds” ad that helped first elect him to the Senate.
The spot entitled “Commercials” is a montage of public relations professionals urging the senator to embrace whacky ideas to break through to voters.
“You know a lot of people tell me how to do my commercials,” McConnell, dressed casually in a light blue work shirt and navy blue blazer, says to the camera.
It cuts to a team of corporate PR types urging McConnell to stand in between two trucks, then flips to a gag image of his face superimposed on a daredevil standing astride two golden semis roaring down a highway.
“That sounds dangerous,” McConnell deadpans to the camera.
Another guru suggests an ad with a talking baby, which McConnell reviews skeptically on an iPad-type device.
The next scene features McConnell’s longtime ad associate Larry McCarthy — who bears a striking resemblance to director Steven Spielberg — pitching an ad with bloodhounds.
“That’s not going to work,” McConnell says again to the camera.
The ad culminates with a narrator intoning, “Maybe it’s enough to say ‘Mitch fights for Kentucky,’” over a picture of him standing in a Capitol Hill hallway.
The final scene is of McConnell sitting on a stool surrounded by bloodhounds. - The Hill, 10/27/14
McConnell used bloodhounds in his attack ads against then Senator Walter Dee Huddleston (D. KY) in 1984:
But this new ad is nowhere effective as the original bloodhounds ad. Now this is a real attack ad:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The Senate Democrats' campaign arm is returning to Kentucky airwaves with a new ad in the final week of the costly Senate race.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Tuesday released an ad criticizing Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for spending three decades in Washington while his Kentucky constituents struggled to make ends meet. The ad features a teacher who says McConnell voted for pay raises for himself but opposed increases to the federal minimum wage.
The DSCC stopped airing ads in Kentucky two weeks ago. Last week they said they were returning to voters' televisions. This week, they released this ad. - TPM, 10/28/14
If McConnell loses, I think this will be the big issue that sinks him:
http://www.msnbc.com/...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in the midst of the toughest race of his career, still isn’t quite sure how he wants to present himself to voters. On the one hand, the longtime Republican senator is proud to be the nation’s top obstructionist, helping create the most dysfunctional Congress in modern history. On the other hand, McConnell wants the public to see him as the consummate dealmaker.
To help prove the latter point, the GOP incumbent cited an interesting example last week.
Though he hasn’t mentioned it much on the campaign trail over the past year, McConnell specifically touted his effort to push President George W. Bush’s plans to reform Social Security in 2005, which would have set up private accounts for retirees.
“After Bush was re-elected in 2004 he wanted us to try to fix Social Security,” said McConnell. “I spent a year trying to get any Democrat in the Senate – even those most reasonable Democrat of all, Joe Lieberman – to help us.”
We now know, of course, that Democrats weren’t interested in privatizing Social Security. Neither was the American mainstream, which hated the Bush/Cheney idea. But the fact that McConnell brought this up, unprompted, was a clumsy error from a senator who’s usually more disciplined. - MSNBC,10/27/14
Lets help Grimes finally end McConnell's career by getting involved and donating to her campaign:
http://alisonforkentucky.com/