Free Republic

How do you take a state Romney carried by 23 points with 116 of 120 counties and turn it into a dead heat? Ask Mitch McConnell. Kentuckians are not happy with Obama. Amidst the war on coal, even 40% of Democrats voted against Obama in the presidential primary. They overwhelmingly supported Romney in the presidential election, even though his persona was not exactly a great fit with the state. Obama has since escalated his war on coal. Wouldn’t it go without saying that the sitting Republican senator from the state would easily cruise to reelection? Yesterday, two polls showed the...

John Cornyn went on radio yesterday with Chad Hasty (on twitter: @chadhastyradio) on Lubbock’s NewsTalk 790 AM KFYO. When asked why he took his name off Mike Lee’s letter about defunding Obamacare, John Cornyn said he did so because of a Congressional Research Service report on the implication of Mike Lee’s strategy. There’s just one problem. John Cornyn took his name off the letter before the Congressional Research Service released its report. In fact, before Mike Lee’s office officially released the names on the letter, multiple sources in the Senate confirmed that Senator Cornyn removed his name after conversations with...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff is stepping down from his position to focus exclusively on the GOP leader’s reelection campaign and the national Republican effort to take back the majority next year. The move, Republicans say, is a reflection of the growing belief — and concern — that 2014 could be the last opportunity in years for the GOP to recapture the Senate after blowing their chance at the majority in the past two election cycles. So McConnell is moving a key aide out of his official Washington office to work entirely on campaign politics. Continue Reading...

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., looks to be headed into one of the toughest campaigns of his political career, as his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, leads him in his 2014 re-election race, according to a new poll. A survey by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling shows Grimes with 45 percent support and McConnell with 44 percent, Kentucky's Courier-Journal reports. The poll was paid for by two groups who oppose McConnell, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, according to the Courier-Journal. [READ: Poll: Mitch McConnell Trounces Challengers] Grimes, 34, is Kentucky's secretary of state who announced...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said Tuesday he has yet to decide whether to support a proposal to block government funding if it includes money for ObamaCare.Tea Party Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have ratcheted up the pressure on McConnell to threaten a government shutdown if Democrats refuse to relent on the healthcare overhaul. McConnell told reporters he’s in the midst of discussions about government funding, which will expire at the end of September, and the national debt limit, projected to run out at year’s end.“We’ve had a lot of internal discussions about...

The Mitch McConnell team originally seemed rather dismissive of Matt Bevin as a primary opponent. Content, publicly, to focus on the Democrat, behind the scenes McConnell and the Kentucky GOP are aggressively pushing local Republicans to unite quickly. They want to shut down Bevin early. Taylor Bumgardner, the Regional Field Director for the Republican Party of Kentucky, sent out a “Team Mitch” endorsement form on Saturday as an attachment to this email: I am contacting you because I am asking all County Chairs and Vice Chairs to fill out an endorsement form for Senator McConnell’s reelection campaign. We are looking...

Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes and Republican Matt Bevin may become unlikely allies in trying to tear down Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the marquee Senate race of the upcoming cycle. Both are signaling plans to frame McConnell with similar themes, targeting his personality and "scorched earth" campaign style as much as his policy positions. The strategy reflects what his opponents believe to be his greatest vulnerability — McConnell's deep unpopularity among Kentucky voters of both parties. But it's also a strategy informed by the challenges Grimes and Bevin face in trying to defeat what many observers agree...

Matt Bevin is getting a Mitch McConnell welcome in Kentucky: A slashing TV ad seizing on the political newcomer’s problems with his Connecticut-based bell manufacturing business. Bevin, a wealthy Louisville businessman, is slated to announce a primary challenge against McConnell on Wednesday, hoping to tap into tea party anger to pull off a major upset against the wily 28-year Senate veteran in 2014. Continue Reading Text Size -+resetAdvertisement Latest on POLITICO Poll: Obama nears all-time low New Filner accuser goes public Trump: Weiner 'sick puppy' House panel approves deep EPA cuts Tech lobby reports barely touch NSA FDA eyes menthol...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have a challenger from the right in Matt Bevin, a local businessman and Tea Party candidate who plans to announce his run for Senate this week. Bevin, who has been exploring the race since February, is reportedly already buying airtime and has met with multiple conservative groups about his run. He'll launch a 3-day, 8-stop tour of the state after he formally announces his intentions on Wednesday. Bevin is a partner at a Kentucky investment firm and the owner of Bevin Brothers Manufacturing, a Connecticut bell-making company founded 160 years ago. He previously...

The Senate Conservatives Fund, which former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., founded in 2009 but then left behind when he quit the Senate, went after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (up for re-election next year in Kentucky) with an email missive over the weekend. The group has a history of disregarding partisan concerns — often to the consternation of Republicans. In 2009, when DeMint was still in the Senate and running SCF, he approached former Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., on the Senate floor and told him he’d be backing Pat Toomey against him in a primary. Specter’s party-switch came shortly thereafter,...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Tuesday said he would not try to block immigration reform from reaching the floor despite the opposition of some conservative leaders. The green light from McConnell is a promising development for the 800-plus-page bill from the Gang of Eight that was unveiled at the beginning of the month. While McConnell stopped short of pledging his support for the legislation, he praised the Gang of Eight’s work and said he is “hopeful” of passing a comprehensive immigration fix through the Senate. “The status quo is not good, the current situation is not good,” McConnell...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to filibuster new gun control legislation, putting up a significant roadblock to Democratic efforts to move forward on the measure this week. ... McConnell is now the 15th Senator to sign on to the Republican gun control filibuster, an effort that has been spearheaded by conservative Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Lee (R-Utah). As the top Senate Republican, McConnell's support gives the filibuster a much higher chance of success, imperiling the already-delicate bipartisan negotiations on new gun control measures. McConnell's promise to filibuster also deflates criticism from the more...

<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is gearing up for a tough re-election fight next year in Kentucky.</p> <p>He wants to prevent one, too.</p> <p>McConnell is trying to head off a GOP primary challenge by cozying up to the tea party. He's also trying to scare off potential Democratic contenders — actress Ashley Judd is one — by providing a glimpse of his no-holds-barred political tactics.</p>

President Barack Obama on Monday rejected any negotiation with Republicans over the most pressing U.S. fiscal issue, refusing to trade cuts in government spending in exchange for raising the borrowing limit.

By a vote of 89 to 8 to approve a fiscal deal, the Senate demonstrated that President Obama surely is the most incompetent if not counterproductive deal-maker in an era that requires a good one. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Biden found the middle ground, with McConnell sneaking in a few gems. -snip- This is what compromise looks like. -snip- The vote once again shows that right-wing bullies like the Heritage Action Fund that threatened to “score” the vote (i.e., give lawmakers a demerit and set them up for primary challenges) are powerless in the face of real-world...