How did Mitch McConnell end up winning so easily?
| Washington
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell won reelection easily on Tuesday, defeating Barack Obama in his Kentucky Senate race.
What, Mr. Obama wasn鈥檛 on the ballot? Senator McConnell鈥檚 opponent was Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes?
Yes and yes. But McConnell tied Ms. Grimes to Obama and administration coal policies that are highly unpopular in coal-dependent sections of the state. He hammered that connection home in ad after ad in the closing days of the campaign, helped by Grimes鈥檚 fumbling response to the question of whether she鈥檇 voted for the president from her own party.
Obama鈥檚 approval rating in Kentucky is some ten points lower than his low-40s national average. That was an obstacle for Grimes that she just couldn鈥檛 overcome.
鈥淢ake no mistake: tonight is a repudiation of President Obama鈥檚 policies,鈥� said Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky at McConnell鈥檚 victory party, .
McConnell also took the possibility of defeat seriously from the start of the campaign. He was not going to be Richard Lugar, the veteran Indiana Republican swept from his Senate seat in 2012 in large part because voters decided he was a creature of Washington, not a Hoosier.
McConnell鈥檚 mediocre approval ratings drew a tea party-backed primary challenger, businessman Matt Bevin. But Bevin鈥檚 polished manner wilted under harsh attacks on his business practices from McConnell and establishment GOP super political action committees.
Grimes ran a hard campaign and Democrats hoped for an upset in a state where Obamacare, repackaged as the state鈥檚 Kynect health exchange, was fairly popular and successful. some polls showed her only three or so points behind.
But the fundamental rightward tilt of Kentucky reasserted itself in the end. By Election Day most forecasters had McConnell as the overwhelming favorite and the race was quickly called in his favor after polls closed. National Democrats may wish they鈥檇 diverted money from the state to closer races in Georgia and Iowa, in the end.
