Eastern Kentucky news coverage of the McConnell mailer
If you haven't already seen it, late last week the Kentucky GOP
sent a mailer on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's behalf warning voters that they could be involved with election fraud allegedly perpetrated by McConnell's Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes. The fine print revealed the mail piece to be little more than an attack mailer, but the envelope was designed to look like official government correspondence with "ELECTION VIOLATION NOTICE" in large type and a stern instruction that the contents of the mailer were to "BE READ SOLELY BY THE CITIZEN NAMED BELOW." (Their caps.)
Whether the mailer was trying to accuse Grimes alone or both Grimes and her supporters of election fraud, the best thing you could possibly say about it is that it was a deeply dishonest scare tactic intended to discourage voters from voting for Grimes by making them believe that doing so would be involving themselves in an illegal election scheme.
The mailer was so far over the line that even conservatives recoiled, including a tea party leader in the state who communicated his displeasure to Louisville public radio political reporter Phillip Bailey:
United Ky. Tea Party spox tells me @KYGOP mailer could “upset conservatives” by reminding them of @Team_Mitch tactics v. @MattBevin. #KYSen
— @phillipmbailey
Despite the criticism, McConnell not only denied that the letter was intended to intimidate, he stood by the letter:
McConnell says in Mt Sterling his controversial mail piece is not intimidating but 'entirely factually accurate" #kysen
— @TomLoftus_CJ
Actually, the only thing that's "entirely factually accurate" is that the letter was designed to mislead and intimidate voters. The only question now is whether people who realize what the mailer was really about—people like the tea party spokesman who said it reminded him of McConnell's campaign against Matt Bevin—decide to vote against McConnell in response.
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