(Cross posted at DitchMitchKY.com)
As we pointed out here earlier this week, the main stream media has begun to pick up on the fact that Mitch McConnell is vulnerable, very vulnerable, in next year's election. Both the Lexington Herald Leader and the Courier Journal ran columns today highlighting Senator Mitch McConnell’s problems heading into 2008. In fact, the title of the HL article declares "McConnell Vulnerable."
Larry Dale Keeling at the HL even gives a shout our team here at Ditch Mitch while pointing to the fact that McConnell is also being attacked by his base and highlights DraftForgy.com.
McConnell is skewered daily by blogs on the left (DitchMitchKy) and the right (DraftForgy). He's already being targeted by TV ads paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a group called Americans Against Escalation in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Al Cross at the CJ clearly lays out the major problems facing McConnell: his unwavering support for President Bush and his ill-conceived war in Iraq and his failed leadership on the immigration overhaul he fought for before voting to kill at the eleventh hour.
After keeping President Bush's immigration bill alive, he voted to kill it in the face of energized opposition, including advertising that lumped the Kentucky conservative with liberal lion Teddy Kennedy.
He took a tough public shot from an unnamed colleague speaking through conservative columnist Robert Novak, contending that he failed to show leadership during the closing hours of the immigration debate.
He was the target of attack ads from antiwar groups linking him with Bush's increasingly unpopular policy in Iraq, as he led the effort to block a vote on legislation that would have started a withdrawal.
While Larry Dale Keeling writes that the Dems don’t really have any "A" list candidates in the upcoming election, Al Cross correctly points out that Stumbo is one of the best campaigners in the party and has a lot of statewide name recognition. And, Keeling himself admits that Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne would be an attractive option for Dems against McConnell in an election that will largely be about the mess in Iraq.