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U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes will face off in a debate televised on Kentucky Educational Television in October. The agreement from the candidates comes after both campaigns have been slow to work with one another on a forum for a debate — both accepted separate debates early on with Grimes saying in June she would appear on KET. McConnell sent Grimes an invitation to debate the day after the primary election. He proposed that two debate three times before Labor Day and that the debates be conducted in the freewheeling Lincoln-Douglas style with no audience...

Just read in The Courier Journal (a KY newspaper) that Mitch McConnell and Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes will debate one another on Kentucky Educational Television (KET) on October 13th. Dang, I'd pay to see that. Maybe C-SPAN will carry it. But, I have a question: Is this young lady sharp enough to debate a crusty, old fart who has been in the Senate ever since the day God said: "Let there be light"? Ol' Mitch must be "feeling his oats" if he consented to debate. That's more than Pat Roberts and Thad Cochran will do. Just wondering if...

Libertarian Party candidate David Patterson, a 42-year-old police officer, announced Monday that he has obtained more than the 5,000 signatures required to be placed on the ballot in this November's general election for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Patterson's candidacy is a wild card in Minority Leader McConnell's effort to take over the reins as Majority Leader of the Senate in January 2015, should Republicans regain the majority there. A recent Bluegrass Poll of the Kentucky U.S. Senate race found McConnell ahead of Democrat Grimes in a two-way race with a 47%-to-45% lead, albeit within the poll's margin of error,...

For the pro-coal senator, the "war on coal" begins at home. ... while McConnell presents himself as a defender of Kentucky coal mining, a member of his own family who serves as a key campaign surrogate is taking a role in an organization that funds one of the most aggressive anti-coal campaigns in the country. McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, sits on the board of directors of Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has plunged $50 million into the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal initiative, an advocacy effort with the expressed goal of killing the coal industry. In 2011, Bloomberg Philanthropies...

WASHINGTON – A Democratic operative deleted her Twitter account Monday following a series of what some called racist remarks about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao. Chao, former U.S. Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush, is Asian. Kathy Groob, who describes herself as an “advocate for women in politics,” sent a series of tweets related to Chao at a political event Saturday. According to WKMS, Groob sent the tweets in response to comments McConnell made at the event, in which he referred to his wife as "the only Kentucky woman who served in a president’s cabinet." In...

As the Kentucky U.S. Senate race remains in a dead heat, courting the vote of Kentucky women is becoming a main objective of both campaigns. And Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell has enlisted the help of his wife, former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. In a new ad released by the McConnell campaign Tuesday, Chao looks into the camera and criticizes the approach Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes takes with women voters. “Have you ever noticed how some liberals feel entitled to speak on behalf of all women?” Chao asks before saying that Grimes gender-based attacks are “desperate and false.”...

CORBIN – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell began his two-day, 10 county, Team Mitch Coal Country Bus Tour on Thursday morning in Corbin with a message of influence being at Kentucky’s aide when it comes to the coal industry. McConnell chose to poke fun at former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned with Grimes Wednesday in Hazard, Kentucky. The senator, who has been in Washington nearly 30 years, told the crowd he has a long history with the Clintons and of beating the candidates they come to Kentucky to campaign for. “You know, the Clintons, they go on just keep coming...

In a joint appearance with former President Bill Clinton at the Carrick House in Lexington, Alison Lundergan Grimes declared her support for the coal industry — attacking U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell on the loss of coal jobs under his watch. Mentioning the line of attack leveled against Grimes that she would work in lock step with President Barack Obama, Clinton said, that McConnell must think Kentucky “has stopped teaching arithmetic.” His point, Obama will only be in office until the end of 2016, and the position of U.S. Senator is a six-year term, meaning a different president will be in...

FANCY FARM – While this year’s political speaking at St. Jerome Parish began with a selfie, it quickly returned to its 19th century roots of zingers and criticism between the U.S. Senate candidates, their allies and a record-breaking crowd. ............ But it was the supporting cast who got in the memorable lines – and even a quick rule-bending gimmick by the governor. ............ McConnell also found a way to weave together his two favorite arguments against Grimes: that’s she’s inexperienced and she’s tied to President Barack Obama. “By any standard Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country. If...

I don't care if a pro-Abortion Socialist takes a Senate seat in a normally conservative state. I don't care that with Alison Grimes in the Senate there could be millions of more abortions around the world and nation wide than if she hadn't won I don't care because Mitch McConnell is such a nasty guy who insulted me Mitch must learn a lesson. Let the babies die. This thread on the KY Senate race inspired this question. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3186098/posts

Former President Bill Clinton will return to Kentucky on Wednesday, August 6, for a campaign rally with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in Eastern Kentucky. This is Clinton’s second planned trip to campaign for Grimes in the 2014 U.S. Senate race against Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Clinton’s first trip for Grimes came in February at a Louisville fundraiser at the Galt House which drew nearly 1,200 people. “We are humbled by President Clinton’s continued commitment to our campaign and the hardworking people of Kentucky,” Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said Saturday. “The President shares Alison’s vision for...

LOUISVILLE — High profile Democrats from across the state came together in Louisville Thursday night at the annual Wendell Ford Dinner to rally around Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes and roast Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. To the chant of “amen” Grimes rallied 700 Democrats in a showing of solidarity in her campaign against the most powerful Republican in the United States. With just months left to go Grimes and McConnell remain in a virtual dead heat in the polls, and the Democratic Secretary of State told the crowd she’s primed to go all the way. Grimes told...

While Republicans are reluctant to speculate about the possibility of a Mitch McConnell loss to Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky this November, when asked if his number two, Texas Republican John Cornyn, was a lock for Leader if he does lose, it appears Cornyn may have good reason to look over his shoulder in the event that scenario plays out. Given that a McConnell loss would likely mean the GOP would have failed in winning a Senate Majority, it would seem a change in leadership might be in order. Some Senators also seemed to express concern that Cornyn would be...

It’s a taboo subject among Senate Republicans but one that’s on many senators’ minds: What if Mitch McConnell loses his reelection bid? There appears to be no clear answer to that question, at least not right now. In interviews and private conversations with more than half of the 45-member Senate Republican Conference, there is a split over a potential McConnell successor. His top deputy, John Cornyn of Texas, is favored to succeed him, several GOP senators said. But others ranging from John Thune of South Dakota to Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander — or a dark horse — are among those who...

Event organizers of the 134th Fancy Farm Picnic are firming up the last of their speaking roster for this year’s event as the main attraction of Grimes versus McConnell has staff updating the venue, and guests are being warned to be respectful as a national TV audience descends upon the village of Fancy Farm. Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s staff confirmed that the senior Senator for the state will be at the event. McConnell’s Democratic challenger Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes will share the stage with McConnell in a repeat of last year’s showdown. Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator Republican...

The issues of gender equality and women’s rights are being used by Democrats in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race to illustrate the disconnect between Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and women voters as a pro-choice group begins to run ads in the state and a big name McConnell foe criticizes his stances. NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, a group which has endorsed Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes and called her a “pro-choice champion”, released an ad Tuesday to run statewide in Kentucky for a week. The group says the 30-second ad, titled “Mitch McConnell Will Never Do the Right Thing for...

The Medicare claims from a budget plan proposed in 2011 are again at the center of the Kentucky U.S. Senate race as the campaign of Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell released another ad on the topic Monday defending his record. The McConnell campaign released a new web ad Monday morning hitting Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes on her campaign’s first negative TV ad , which caused controversy because of claims made by Grimes. The ad, titled “Asked and Answered”, uses clips of news programs questioning the claims in the Grimes ad where a retired coal miner asks Senator McConnell why...

Business group has been major force in 2014 races.On the day after New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial elections last fall, Mitch McConnell showed up at a board meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with another race on his mind. He announced that the day’s most consequential contest had been neither Chris Christie’s victory nor Ken Cuccinelli’s defeat. Instead, the Senate minority leader explained, it had been a GOP primary in South Alabama. The Chamber had shelled out about $200,000 in the sleepy district on the Mississippi border to rescue a mainstream candidate who was struggling to fend off a...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes says Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell has taken votes to hurt the state’s seniors but bypassed a question Tuesday about what she would do differently. After addressing the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers (IBEW) District 4 Progress Meeting in Louisville Tuesday, Grimes took questions from reporters on her new ad released prior to the event. When asked about the validity of the $6,000 out-of-pocket increase figure used in the ad, Grimes responded by saying McConnell will have to answer to his vote on the Paul Ryan budget. According to a fact check of...

Fellow Conservatives: Senate Democrats plan to bring up legislation later this month that will give new life to a corporate welfare program called the Export-Import Bank. The Ex-Im Bank is a loan guarantee program that forces American taxpayers to subsidize foreign companies. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports the bank will cost taxpayers $2 billion. That’s two BILLION dollars of your money being spent to pick winners and losers. It's cronyism at its worst. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Ex-Im Bank "removed four officials in recent months amid investigations into allegations of gifts and kickbacks, as well as...