Oh boy! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! The liberals finally get me a challenger! She forgets, I have seniority! Muaaaaaaaaaah
Mitch, shut your "Obama one term President crap" trap! You're going down!
And.... She's in!
Announcement from U.S. Senate Candidate Alison Grimes:
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell got a challenger for his U.S. Senate seat on Monday and her name is Alison Lundergan Grimes.
“I have met with my supporters. We have had a great conversation and determined and decided that we can next make the best move, the best difference in the commonwealth of Kentucky by running for the U.S. Senate,” Grimes said at a news conference in Frankfort, Ky.
“Over the course of the past 12 weeks I have taken the time necessary to gather all the facts to make truly an informed decision and that includes listening to my supporters all across this state,” Grimes said. “Make no mistake members of the media this due diligence was not reluctance, it was not hesitancy, but rather a deliberate gathering of all the necessary facts to make a decision that should not be taken lightly. During this process the question never was: ‘Is Mitch McConnell vulnerable? Does Kentucky deserve a change?’ The answer to both of those two questions remains and is yes. The question before my supporters which we have been working diligently on is, ‘How best can we continue to make a difference and move this commonwealth forward.”.
Grimes said she is “no stranger to being an underdog” and McConnell’s ads already running “are based out of fear, of losing his 30 year grip on power and this Kentucky woman does not believe the voters of Kentucky will be fooled that easily.”
And not surprisingly, the old fart shoots back at Alison Grimes's decision to run for the U.S. Senate with statements right out of his ass:
“Accepting the invitation from countless Washington liberals to become President Obama’s Kentucky candidate was a courageous decision by Alison Lundergan Grimes and I look forward to a respectful exchange of ideas,” McConnell said in a statement shortly after the announcement.
Respectful exchange of ideas eh? So tell me Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, when was making the GOP's priority to make President Obama a one-term president a respectful exchange of ideas?
Nope. Didn't think he'd answer that. After all, Mitch McConnell is.... Well... Mitch McConnell.
There are of course already Democrats either in the race or considering jumping in the race:
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Former Miss America Heather French Henry is still considering jumping into the race, as is Bill Garmer, an attorney and former state Democratic Party chairman, and Tom Fitzgerald, an environmental attorney, but this news is sure to affect their decisions.
There are three lesser known Democrats who have formally declared their candidacies: University of Louisville professor Greig Leichty, Louisville music promoter Bennie J. Smith, and building contractor and former congressional candidate Ed Marksberry.
Here are the pluses so far with Alison Grimes as a U.S. Senate candidate (yes, I'm not kidding, she's really in this time):
1) She's a popular Secretary of State in Kentucky from what I understand. Given the most critical portion of the Voting Rights Act was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, it is rather effective to have a Secretary of State in Kentucky challenging Mitch McConnell because neither he nor the Republicans in Congress have been supportive of expanding voting rights. Grimes knows from first hand experience as Secretary of State and she can be a better spokesperson than McConnell on issues that matter to voting rights.
2) Grimes is probably the youngest female U.S. Senate candidate in history. This can be very empowering to women, particularly young women, as they work to fight for greater recognition among the workforce. It will be hard to see how McConnell can get the women vote considering the fact that Grimes challenging him makes her old enough to be his daughter. Actually, Grimes wouldn't want to be McConnell's daughter. Too conflicting.
3) Another thing with Grimes being young, she can definitely galvanize the youth vote in Kentucky, particularly at universities. Given Barack Obama is not up for re-election, 2014 will be a referendum on Mitch McConnell, not Barack Obama. There is quite simply no way Mitch McConnell will be able to appeal for the youth vote, unless we're talking about Young College Republicans. He's just not likable.
As far as anything else, we have yet to see what will happens in the course of the next few days, weeks and months as Alison Grimes sets up her campaign website, organizes volunteers and reaches out to voters.
We know this race isn't going to be easy to win but then again, McConnell has been polling consistently below 50% in a number of polls and Grimes as of recent polls (prior to her officially running) has been no lower in the polls than 40%). That's good in advance of her announcement of running. July 1st, 2013 is still early in the campaign cycle but Mitch McConnell is already running campaign ads and Grimes announcing herself as a candidate gives the Democratic Party a big sign of relief as it can now focus on recruiting candidates for other races across the country.
Now granted there are other candidates already in the U.S. Senate race and maybe more yet to announce their decision to run, I say now is the time we start kicking some SERIOUS ASS.
Yeah, I know. No campaign website up as of yet. No donation link. No volunteer information. Not enough information on Alison Grimes.
Well, keep in mind we're also not nominating Bruce Lunsford.
5:07 PM PT: By the way, as a side note, It's nice to know there's a person just five days older than me and a fellow Sagittarius who is running for the U.S. Senate. Now THAT'S empowering for me!
5:25 PM PT: My diary is already searchable on Google and on the first page of the search results. Not bad! :)