The Most Important Election of 2014 (McConnell/Bevin)

blogs.rollcall.com ^ | 10/21/13 | Stuart Rothenburg

[Dick Bachert]

Don't forget THIS CLOWN!!

Hey, all you incredibly dumb and uninformed Americans, I’m Lindsey Graham. I’m a really, really, REALLY smart lawyer from South Carolina. Almost as smart as John Edwards and Elena Kagan.

Because I am from South Carolina, some of you uninformed BIGOTS might call me a “cracker.”

Actually, that suits me just fine because that would make me a Graham Cracker. So if you don’t like my position (most often bent over Obama’s or Harry Reid’s desk) on globull warming, immigration, the Kagan nomination or those OTHER unimportant issues (I slept through those classes on factual evidence in law school) – because I AM a Graham Cracker -- y'all can

BITE ME!

[Servant of the Cross]

Matt Bevin is no Clod Akin. Just listen to the man himself from a couple of his videos ...

Matt Bevin on the McConnell-Reid Deal

[dfwgator]

BITE ME!

He'd like that, wouldn't he?

[tanknetter]

Lots of good arguments to make for Bevin. McConnell “almost losing” in 2008 isn’t one of them.

McConnell won by 6 points in a race where Obama drove historically high turnout in the Black community.

Looking at Yarmuth’s (Congressman from Louisville) wins he got 59%, 54% and 64% in 08, 10, and 12, respectively. The bigger margins in 08 and 12 were due to coattails from Obamas massive turnout in the predominantly black West Louisville.

14 is a midterm election. No President at the top of the ticket, let alone one who will drive historic levels of black turnout. So, again, not a good argument to make ...

[NFHale]

“...he Most Important Election of 2014...”

They’re ALL important...

[cotton1706]

“14 is a midterm election. No President at the top of the ticket, let alone one who will drive historic levels of black turnout. So, again, not a good argument to make ...”

That’s fine. But McConnell has been viewed by all as the “most vulnerable” for some time. He’s already polling below the democrat, and his nomination will suppress and depress conservative support. He’ll have to claw his way to victory burning bridges all along the way for what will likely be his last term because he wants desperately to be majority leader. The people of Kentucky should alleviate themselves of all this by replacing McConnell with Bevin on the ballot and be done with it. Conservative support for Bevin will be sky-high and Grimes will be toast.

[Dick Bachert]

Yeth he would, you thilly boy...

[tanknetter]

Sorry, but “most vulnerable” by who exactly? And in what legitimate polls ( even setting aside it’s over a year out)?

Like I said, here and elsewhere, lots of good reasons to vote for Bevin. But people should do so for the right reasons, not wrong ones. Particularly of the wrong reasons are manipulations being cooked up by Libs and the media.

[anoldafvet]

No we do not have open primaries. I also believe you have to be registered with a political party by Jan 1 to vote in their primary.

[anoldafvet]

"Today, Dr. Michael Macfarlane of Louisville, Kentucky, announced his intentions to run for Congress in Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District."

Got this note in my e-mail this morning. My son knows him and says he is conservative. Even if he were a flaming liberal I would vote for him just to be rid of Yarmuth. I have called his office 3 times in the last 6 months and they have hung up on me each time.

Did you happen to notice that after opposing the bridges project for the past 25 years, he was front and center at the groundbreaking?

[Colonel_Flagg]

"And he acted like one of the few adults in the room."

B.S. McConnell sold my grandchildren into even deeper debt slavery. Thanks for nothing, Mitch. You jerk.

[cotton1706]

“Sorry, but “most vulnerable” by who exactly? And in what legitimate polls ( even setting aside it’s over a year out)?”

In this particular class, and this particular group of people, only Collins and McConnell were “vulnerable” to be taken out by a democrat. They are the weakest among them (Collins because it’s Maine and McConnell likely due to his longevity and poor showing last time). And looking at the states, I agree. And if Chambliss and Johanns decided not to retire, they would have won against a democrat as well. Chambliss’ seat is now a maybe for the democrats. The rest are aces in the hole.

Sessions (AL)
Chambilss (GA)
McConnell (KY)
Roberts (KS)
Johanns (NE)
Enzi (WY)
Risch (ID)
Cochran (MS)
Collins (ME)
Inhofe (OK)
Graham (SC)
Cornyn (TX)
Alexander (TN)

[RonPaulLives]

I hadn’t heard yet about Macfarlane running for 3rd District Congress, but I have been at work all day. I can tell you this about Macfarlane: if he were not running for office, he would be squarely in the camp of Mitch McConnell, as Macfarlane is a longtime member of the Jefferson County and Kentucky Republicam Party Executive Committees (bought and sold by McConnell). I hope that someone more Constitutional files (in the style of R. Paul or T. Massey) before the January deadline.

[JoeFromSidney]

I do know that a Bevin victory would send another round of shock waves through the GOP, undermining pragmatic conservatives and producing another round of hand-wringing among party strategists whose job it is to try to win majorities in the House and Senate — and the presidency.

two comments.

As G. K. Chesterton once wrote, the only trouble with pragmatism is, it doesn't work. We've seen that in spades with "pragmatic" Republicans.

Perhaps the job of Party strategists is to win majorities, but the job of those majorities is to uphold the principles of the Party they claim membership in. Winning a majority that betrays the people who voted for them is a lousy strategy.

[Political Junkie Too]

...Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, who will be the eventual Democratic Senate nominee...

Did she get elected through the Democrats' SOS program to sneak in Democrats to the positions that manage elections in Republican states?

-PJ

[william clark]

Kentucky’s senior senator did what [Republicans] are expected to do: put their own political future at risk to [do what Democrats say will] save the nation.

There. Fixed it.

[tanknetter]

Did you happen to notice that after opposing the bridges project for the past 25 years, he was front and center at the groundbreaking?

Yeah, but I thought that was because Sally Brown assuming room temperature gave him the political maneuvering room to do so.

[tanknetter]

Did she get elected through the Democrats' SOS program to sneak in Democrats to the positions that manage elections in Republican states?

Nope. Kentucky is one of the few states that still has a fairly robust Conservative Democrat (read: wolf in sheep's clothing) political class.

The problem facing Grimes as a Senate candidate is that she'll have to engage McConnell (if he's the nominee) on a variety of issues where she'll be linked to the National Democrat leadership on big state issues like coal and guns. Both of which she's actively trying to get to the right of McConnell on now.

As a gubernatorial candidate she could win by running an encapsulated campaign promoting herself as pro-gun and pro-coal. Now she has to explain how she can be pro-gun and pro-coal while at the same time cozing up to Liberal Dem politicians who are very much anti-coal and anti-gun AND acknowledging that she's going to have to vote with her Party on a lot of stuff.

One argument in favor of McConnell (just pointing this out, not acting as an advocate for it) is that him getting the nominee and beating Grimes will be a two-fer. In beating her for Senate he'll also destroy her on issues she needs to have in her favor for a gubernatorial run. It will effectively take her out of the running - and as AG (and with Abramson wanting to retire) she's the best candidate the Dems have for that position.

She knows this. She wants to be governor. She did her best to avoid being dragged into the Senate race. But after Ashley Judd decided she's rather split her time between just Tennessee and Scotland, Grimes was bullied and threatened by the Dems (who's waging a "War on Women" again?) into taking on McConnell.