Why is Sen. Mitch McConnell slamming tea party foe?
| WASHINGTON
Senate minority leader MItch McConnell has a new ad out Monday that hits hard at a Kentucky Senate election opponent. But the opponent in question isn鈥檛 Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. It鈥檚 Matt Bevin, a tea-party-supported candidate who鈥檚 running against Senator McConnell in the Republican primary.
Hmm. Is Team McConnell worried that Mr. Bevin, a wealthy Louisville businessman, was impressive at the big Fancy Farms, Ky., political picnic over the weekend? Veteran political reporter
Perhaps that鈥檚 because Bevin, though a political novice, got off some of the best and toughest lines at the event.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to run to the left of Mitch McConnell. I鈥檓 not going to run to the right of Mitch McConnell. I am going to run right over the top of Mitch McConnell,鈥� Bevin said.
Anyway, back to the McConnell attack ad: It repeats the McConnell campaign鈥檚 long assertion that the self-described job creator is in fact 鈥淏ailout Bevin," due to the fact that he got state money to help rebuild his family bell factory after a devastating fire.
That鈥檚 Connecticut state money, by the way, since that鈥檚 where the factory is located.
adds an extra layer to this story, charging that Bevin鈥檚 business failed to pay taxes at least eight times, and was the 鈥淣o. 1 tax delinquent鈥� in its area. Plus, it adds that Bevin failed to pay taxes on a million-dollar home 鈥� in Maine.
In case voters don鈥檛 get that reference, the ad helpfully zooms across a map of the eastern US, showing just how far Bevin鈥檚 house is from Kentucky.
鈥淏ailout Bevin. Not a Kentucky conservative,鈥� says the ad鈥檚 text at the end.
If nothing else, the fact that McConnell felt it necessary to spend money to take on his primary opponent so early shows that he鈥檚 worried about being squeezed from both sides of the political spectrum.
Most observers still say he will have little difficulty winning the GOP primary. He鈥檚 got the support of his fellow Republican Kentucky senator, Rand Paul, himself a tea party star. Bevin is an amateur taking on a hardened pro.聽, McConnell is leading Bevin by a margin of nearly 3 to 1.聽
But polls show McConnell in a tight race with Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic secretary of State. If a nasty primary lowers McConnell鈥檚 favorability ratings further, and marks him as vulnerable, that could hurt him in the general election in fall 2014.
The Grimes campaign released on Monday showing her ahead of McConnell by two points, 44 to 42 percent. McConnell has a strongly negative job rating, notes the Grimes-sponsored survey, while Ms. Grimes is in net positive territory.
Of course, Grimes has yet to face a campaign's-worth of negative McConnell ads, which might drive those ratings down. And Kentucky remains a red state. That means Grimes continues to face an uphill battle, no matter what the early numbers show.
