This is great:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), who is running to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), unveiled a new website Wednesday attacking the senator over jobs in their state.
The website features a document with the headline "Mitch McConnell's Jobs Plan:" and no text underneath. Underneath the document is the subtext "30 years is a long time to have writer’s block."
Charly Norton, a Grimes spokeswoman, said the site is intended to call out McConnell for not helping the state from his position of power in Washington, D.C., which he likes to tout back home.
"The site underscores the stark contrast between Alison Lundergan Grimes -– the only #KYSEN candidate to propose a comprehensive Kentucky jobs plan -– and Mitch McConnell who after nearly 30 years in Washington, still refuses to offer a plan to create jobs," Norton said in a release. "Kentucky's unemployment rate remains higher than the national average and far too many Kentuckians are still looking for work. The commonwealth’s middle-class families can no longer afford to pay the price for McConnell's failed leadership." - Huffington Post, 1/29/14
You can click here to check out her website:
http://wherearethekyjobs.tumblr.com/...
Grimes released her jobs plan a week ago which you can check out here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Grimes has been making job creation a key issue in her campaign and going after McConnell's record is a winning strategy. She recently brought this up in a local interview:
http://www.wcpo.com/...
Q: WHAT ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT TO KY? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE?
A: Washington is not working for Kentucky. It’s time to put politics aside, and do what’s right for Kentucky.
Unemployment, under-employment and economic hardship have plagued the state of Kentucky for far too long. This is unacceptable. Mitch McConnell has had nearly 30 years to help get Kentuckians back to work and has failed to offer a jobs plan.
Kentucky families deserve better: good jobs and a good quality of life. I am the first in this race to roll out a comprehensive jobs plan for the Commonwealth. Unlike Mitch McConnell’s failed record, my plan for Kentucky will help increase family incomes and encourage businesses to grow and create new jobs, and prepare and train Kentuckians for the rapidly changing global marketplace.
There is not one silver bullet that will address all of Kentucky’s economic needs. It will take a multi-pronged approach: doing the right things with proper investment for a sufficient amount of time.
I believe we can grow our economy by: taking full advantage of the natural resources and people we have; expanding science, math, and computer education; investing in our infrastructure; and diversifying our economy to attract more businesses.
Our campaign is about helping real people. Good people, hardworking Kentuckians who deserve a senator who is fighting to protect the middle class. - WCPO 9, 1/28/14
And Grimes' campaign is getting serious help from organized labor:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
We Are Kentucky, a super PAC formed to support the Senate candidacy of Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), raised $260,500 in its first six months of operation, according to a report filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
Labor unions provided the majority of the funds for the pro-Grimes super PAC. The United Auto Workers and the United Association, a union of plumbers and pipefitters, each donated $100,000 to the group. Jerome Kohlberg, a co-founder of the private equity powerhouse Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., gave $50,000; a trust in his wife Nancy's name gave another $50,000.
The next largest donation came from Salt Lake City venture capitalist Ryan Smith, an increasingly big donor to Democratic groups and causes. Smith gave $10,000 to We Are Kentucky. - Huffington Post, 1/29/14
Job creation is a great platform to take down McConnell but the Affordable Care Act could also lead to McConnell's demise:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
In yesterday’s speech, President Obama gave a shout-out to Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, citing his tireless efforts to expand Obamacare coverage to his own constituents in a deep red state. As enrollment mounts, Mitch McConnell has refused to directly answer questions about Kentuckians befitting from the law.
Counter-intuitively, some Kentucky Dems believe McConnell will ultimately face a reckoning on this issue. There is no more experienced McConnell watcher and antagonist then Dem Rep. John Yarmuth, so when he says McConnell is cornered, it’s worth listening.
“Who knows how many hundreds of thousands will eventually have coverage who didn’t before — and Mitch would take it away from them,” Yarmuth, of the Third District in Louisville, told me. “I think it opens up some pretty strong vulnerabilities.”
McConnell’s ads feature an energy worker who benefitted from his efforts to bring him health care, but Yarmuth says Dems can counter: what about all those who’d lose coverage if Obamacare were repealed?
“I would suggest Alison attack Mitch for wanting to take health coverage away when he is boasting about having gotten health care to one guy,” Yarmuth said. (Alison Lundergan Grimes has been cautious on the ACA, standing up for its expansion of coverage but generally avoiding the topic.)
I pointed out polls show Obamacare is very unpopular in Kentucky. “Clearly when you put the Obamacare tag on it, there isn’t a great response,” Yarmuth replied. He pointed out Grimes never voted for the law, adding: ”Alison can point to the need for it to be improved and then talk about how Mitch only wants to repeal it, which an overwhelming amount of Kentuckians don’t want to do…in 29 years, Kentucky is still basically near the bottom of all the states in health status.” - Washington Post, 1/29/14
By the way, it sounds like Yarmuth is setting a trap for Tea Party voters:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
"You can make a case that Mitch is easier to beat than Bevin," Yarmuth said in an interview with The Plum Line's Greg Sargent. "People are tired of him. They see him as the embodiment of government dysfunction. He probably will survive the primary. But he’s going to alienate a number of voters in the primary — it’s going to be nasty — who then will not come out."
Bevin, unlike some other conservative primary challengers, has proven enough of a nuisance to McConnell that the top Senate Republican has had to watch his right flank. Still, McConnell, even by Bevin's own admission, is likely to win the primary and face Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) in the general election. A new Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday found McConnell with a slim one-point lead over Grimes. - TPM, 1/29/14
We'll have to see about that. In the mean time, while Grimes is out focusing on job creation, McConnell continues to try to take the economy hostage:
What I’m saying is we ought to attach something significant for the country to [President Obama's] request to increase the debt ceiling…it’s irresponsible not to use the discussion — the request of the President to raise the debt ceiling — to try to accomplish something for the country.
That's right: once again, the Senate minority leader insisted congressional Republicans have to use the debt ceiling to extract concession. McConnell's brilliance is just how much dishonesty he can pack into so few words.
At the heart of McConnell's audacious bull is his reference to "the request of the President to raise the debt ceiling," in order to give the impression that a debt ceiling increase is a favor to President Obama. It's not and he knows it.
This is actually pretty simple. Congress sets revenue levels. Congress sets spending levels. That's how the system works, as laid out in the Constitution.
The Obama administration has to spend at the levels Congress sets. Obama can't just decide to spend more or less or tax more or less. The one quirk is that the Treasury Department technically has to get authorization from Congress to borrow if the spending levels Congress has set are above the revenue levels Congress has set. "The president's request" to raise the debt ceiling is essentially permission to do what Congress -- including McConnell -- has already legally and Constitutionally required the president to do.
McConnell is saying it would be "irresponsible" to allow the President to do what Congress already mandated that he do.
What's more, the failure to raise the debt ceiling really would be a disaster for the economy. Even the temporary suggestion that it might not happen was a huge blow in 2011. Raising the debt ceiling already is "something significant for the country" -- it prevents default. What do Republicans "get" if they raise the debt ceiling? The same thing everyone does: they get a functioning government and a functioning economy. To insist you need a "concession" in exchange for raising the debt ceiling suggests you prefer the alternative. - TPM, 1/30/14
Yeah, good luck with that Turtle Man. In the mean time, if you want to donate or get involved with Grimes' campaign, you can do so here:
http://alisonforkentucky.com/