The McConnell challenge that wasn’t

Politico/Playbook ^ | 5/20/14 | JAMES HOHMANN

[Baynative]

Matt Bevin seemed like the ideal candidate to challenge Mitch McConnell. The handsome and personable businessman, a father of nine, impressed national conservative groups looking for a chance to knock off the Senate Republican leader.

These groups, from the Senate Conservatives Fund to FreedomWorks, the Tea Party Patriots and the Madison Project, invested more than $1 million in the Kentucky GOP primary. Bevin himself spent more than $3 million, including $1 million of his own fortune.

And, yet, polls indicate he’s going to get creamed Tuesday.

[ChildOfThe60s]

unlike many of the Freepers posting on this site this evening......I believe McConnell will beat Grimes in the general election

Maybe he will. But he won't do it with my vote. I have watched for 6 years what he did with my last vote. My animosity for that man runs very deep. Even more so after the primary campaign.

[JRandomFreeper]

Grimes currently has more absolute numbers of votes in her primary than the entire slate of Republicans has.

Grimes is going to win in November.

That's not a bad thing. McConnell voted the way Reid wanted most of the time anyway. So votes in the Senate won't really change.

/johnny

[Monorprise]

We are in a Civil War to the Democrats and Liberal’s advantage.

Why McConnell has provoked this fight is beyond me. It seems we are all being played by the left into our own self-destruction as a force for good.

[highball]

Perfect result in November?

GOP wins Senate, but McConnell loses to Dem. Now THAT would be one helluva message.

Yeah, except that the message they'll take from it is "Those nasty conservatives fatally damaged him in the primary. Next time don't let 'em anywhere near it."

And nothing that keeps the Senate in Dem hands can be called a "perfect result". We need every seat we can get.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

This race is just beginning!!! Grimes was riding high...just like Wendy Davis (Texas) and Alex Sink (Florida), grimes will go down. Davis (now a has been) will get slaughtered in Texas and Sink has already lost her race to conservative, David Jolly!!! If ya think McConnelll is going down easy.....think again!!! He made mincemeat of Bevin....who should have run a tight race.

My approach is vote Republican or Conservative....destroy the Democrat Party politically. Every vote from our side counts. Sitting on your hands, and not voting, allows Obama to kill more veterans at will....death by government panel choice....yeh....that’s what we all want!!!(NOT)!!!

[Dave W]

Here is a homework assignment. Ask 12 randomly selected people how they define a “good man”. Go with that. You shouldn’t, but will be surprised.

[INVAR]

Why McConnell has provoked this fight is beyond me. It seems we are all being played by the left into our own self-destruction as a force for good.

Finally, someone is getting a whiff of the truth.

McConnell, Boehner et. al, are called the 'Ruling Class' for a reason.

We went Soviet folks. The "opposition party" is just for show. The Ruling Class works together to establish a Fascist Police State where government is god and we little people must be controlled and regulated because we do not know what is best for us.

If Americans really knew how meaningless their votes are in deciding the direction of the country at this point - they might actually DO SOMETHING about it.

When expedience trumps principles, then submission to tyranny is all that remains for a people who will not risk what it takes to maintain liberty.

[Dave W]

No, but there are tons of cowards. All I am doing is encouraging you to not be delusional. It is not giving up when one fairly observes what the outcome is going to be. Now if this thread was one year ago, then you could call me a coward, but when the polls are close to closing, to pretend that is an actual race, is misguided.

Could Mitch lose in November? Yes, he may. Will he lose today? Not a chance.

[INVAR]

Sitting on your hands, and not voting, allows Obama to kill more veterans at will....death by government panel choice....yeh....that’s what we all want!!!(NOT)!!!

Not falling for that B.S. line again. We were force-fed and threatened with that garbage ad nauseum in the last election from the Romney supporters.

I will continue to campaign for Conservatives in KY for the Senate seat.

I would rather it go to Grimes than to McConnell, who declared war on Conservatives very publicly.

We do not forget. Not anymore. No more of this 'lesser of two evils' crap.

McConnell kills more vets with his silence and back room deals to cap the knees of anyone attempting to look into the Obama scandals and call out the compromises they make behind our backs.

McConnell made an enemy of Conservatives. He wanted this war. So war it is. I will do everything in my power to make sure McConnell is retired and sent packing this November.

[Dave W]

Of course, because Kentucky has more registered Democrats than Republicans, so there are more democrat voters. This should not be surprising. There are about 1.7 million democrat voters versus 1.1 million republican voters, a fairly significant advantage - about a 55% to 38% advantage for the democrats. The democrats always have more primary votes.

Kentucky, historically, has been a very democrat state (which, again, shouldn't be a surprise.)

So one shouldn't assume how this will translate into the November outcome, based on absolute vote totals in today's primary.

[Dave W]

OK, of 45 counties that are reporting, Mitch is leading or has won in 43 counties. I think it’s time to move on. Bevin had potential, but a sitting minority leader of the US Senate is not and never was going to lose the primary.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Ur choice....friend!!!

[JRandomFreeper]

Todays outcome, plus the polls, plus the fact that Mitch has burned his bridges with conservatives by declaring war on them and spending millions to defeat conservatism gives me a pretty clear indication that the liberal voting for Reid's agenda won't be Mitch anymore after November.

And Mitch is a liberal that has been voting for Reid's liberal agenda.

/johnny

[Dave W]

Johnny,

It wouldn't bother me in the least if Mitch lost in the general, as long as the repubs retake the senate. Something needs to shake up the leadership. Incumbency is so strong, that it is tough to beat. There should be term limits - I think that would help. It would cut down on the corruption that settles in and that seems to come so naturally to many politicians.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Sir: See....Demographics means a lot. Some folks cannot think strategically!!! The numbers show that Kentucky is basically a “Red” state where Obama has very low approval ratings. The large Republican/Conservative turnout in November. plus the independents jumping to the Pubbies....will deliver a “Red” state, November, 2014!!!

Like I said...i cannot stand Mitch McConnell...he sank Ted Cruz & Mike Lee when both men were dead right about failed Obamacare. but....having said that....i cannot even stand to hear “traitor” Obama open up his “Pajama Boy” mouth. The very sight of him disgusts me!!! I can never forgive his “Benghazi” abandonment of our four public servants...left to die in terror and pain...and, now the VA gig of killing our military veterans by Obama panel choice!!! IMHO....Obama and the entire Democrat Party must be defeated politically...right now!!! McConnell...we can easily take down later.

[BurningOak]

It is a tragedy that Judas McConnell can even dare run, let alone get reelected... This person is the exact reason why conservatives despair in the GOP. There needs to be better organizational and financial infrastructure to support conservative candidates.

[JRandomFreeper]

Doesn't matter if the pubs take back the senate.

In the real world, when the pubs have had a majority, they have governed like liberals because they have liberal leadership.

So your argument that a majority in the senate means something is historically invalid.

They spend like drunken sailors and grow the size of government.

Your party sucks.

/johnny

[INVAR]

You are so wrong it isn’t even funny.

KY is a YELLOW DOG DEMOCRAT STATE, it went “RedPublican” only due the social issues that went way Left for a lot of church-folks out here.

The only reason the GOP made any headway in this state is the fact the Democrats went full Marxist and the old Guard Democrats felt more at home in the GOP than the NeoMarxist party.

McConnell needs to be defeated in November no matter how it is done. Subterfuge and treason from within and by your won “leadership” is far more deadly to a movement than the enemy you clearly know.

I’d rather see Grimes in that seat than McConnell. She at least has not publicly declared war on Conservatives.

[martiangohome]

McConnell will do fine in the general. In the end, McConnell’s money and his position in the leadership will make the day.

If McConnell loses, it will be a symptom of an overall problem throughout all Senate races. If conservatives sit out, it’s at their own peril.

[tanknetter]

Kentucky, historically, has been a very democrat state (which, again, shouldn't be a surprise.)

Yeah, but we're talking Yellow Dog/Blue Dog variety Dems. They generally vote for Conservative Dems in the state races, but send Republicans to Washington.

IOW they vote Party at the state level, policy/ideology at the national. They do this knowing that the national Dem Party is very much against them on things like guns, coal, etc.

Which is why Grimes is spending so much effort and energy trying to get to McConnell's right on those issues. They're hoping that appeal on local issues will translate into votes against McConnell. McConnell's play is going to be that Grimes is the candidate of the Liberal DC Dem Establishment and despite whatever conservative promises she makes on specific issues, sending her to Washington is only going to enable and empower Dems to do things very much against Kentuckians' interest.