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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is going back on-air for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in her battle against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell. Buoyed by recent polling, the DSCC told Politico that they were investing $650,000 in air time after “reviewing recent internal and public polling,” according to Manu Raju. The latest Bluegrass Poll published Monday shows McConnell up one percentage point on Grimes, but the race remains within the margin of error. The decision to go back on air in the state comes after the group went dark in the state after not airtime in the state...

Western Kentucky University's 2014 Big Red Poll released on Monday shows that incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) leads Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes by 3 points, 45% to 42%, among likely voters in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race. The poll, coming two weeks before election day, indicates the race is still close, despite numerous recent gaffes by Grimes and news that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has stopped funding television advertising in support of her candidacy. 5% of likely voters supported Libertarian David Patterson, and 8% were undecided. The most surprising result of the poll is that, despite a bitter...

OWENSBORO — Former President Bill Clinton made his third lap around the track in Kentucky’s neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race, imploring a throng of supporters Tuesday to help push Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes first across the finish line in two weeks. Minutes after Grimes called herself a “Kentucky filly,” the 42nd U.S. president offered his own equine analogy. Every election cycle, Clinton said, “I feel like an old racehorse.” “They got me in a nice barn, and when it’s election season, they come in, they give me an extra bale of hay,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd of...

(CNN) -- In her race to defeat Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Alison Lundergan Grimes has barnstormed Kentucky, talking up her support for raising the minimum wage and criticizing the GOP's so-called war on women. But the restaurant owned by Grimes' family doesn't always practice what she preaches, and Kentucky Republicans have been happy to point that out. .... But minimum wage isn't the only issue dogging Grimes' family business. Hugh Jass Burgers -- say it out loud to get the joke -- has menu items like "Charlotte's Rack, sure to be voted biggest rack" named after Grimes' mom and...

Seventy-six percent (76%) of Kentucky voters say they have already made up their minds how they are going to vote, and McConnell leads 55% to 45% among these voters. Among the 24% who still could change their minds, the candidates are tied at 41% apiece, with 17% opting for a third-party candidate or undecided. Among the 84% of Kentucky voters who say they will definitely vote in this contest, McConnell leads 53% to 44%. Grimes has the support of 73% of Kentucky Democrats and 16% of the state’s Republicans. McConnell earns 83% backing from his fellow Republicans and 24% of...

The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes is reaching out to different demographics, including the urban areas of the state with a radio ad claiming McConnell is not only implementing policies hurtful to the communities but also trying to take away their right to vote. Politico was first to report on the ad, which they say is running in Louisville and likely other areas of the state. In the ad, which can be heard below, a man tells listeners that Grimes is a “champion” for civil rights while also bashing McConnell for many things Grimes has hit...

Less than a week after his wife rallied thousands of Democrats in Louisville, former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in western Kentucky. Clinton is scheduled to appear at get-out-the-vote events in Owensboro and Paducah Tuesday, Grimes’ campaign announced Friday. The Associated Press first reported Clinton’s stops next week. “The Clintons’ commitment to Alison’s candidacy is a testament to what a strong, independent leader she will be in the U.S. Senate,” Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said in a statement. “Kentucky is Clinton country, and we are honored to have both Hillary and...

Half of all the Democratic women in the U.S. Senate are featured in a new video voicing their support for Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. The video, released Thursday after first being shown at Grimes’ event with Hillary Clinton Wednesday evening, shows six women in the U.S. Senate saying “Shatter the glass. Break the ceiling. It’s time for Alison!” Of the twelve women in the Senate Democratic caucus, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) are shown...

Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell touched on myriad issues while adding a few campaign talking points Thursday during a luncheon of the Young Professionals Association of Louisville. McConnell, who is seeking a sixth term against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, joked about the location of his desk during his first term as a U.S. senator and lamented that he first thought, “None of these people are going to die, retire or be defeated.” “But alas, I have a pretty good seat now,” he said. McConnell explained how his possible ascension to Senate majority leader would impact President Barack Obama’s initiatives on...

MURRAY — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that concerns about the global spread of Ebola are great enough that the United States should halt flights from countries affected by the disease. “I’m not an expert on this, but it strikes me that it would be a good idea to discontinue flights from that part of the world,” he told Pure Politics on Wednesday before he attended a meeting with leaders at the Briggs & Stratton plant in downtown Murray. McConnell also said he agrees with President Barack Obama’s decision to send 3,000 troops to Africa to help fight the...

This is not an overt, us-versus-them situation in either the Kentucky Senate contest or the Texas governor’s race. But the press has these Democratic candidates on the defensive, and they in turn are doubling down on big blunders. Candidates who stumble, as Grimes and Davis have in the last week, face a stark choice. They can admit their mistake, make some expression of regret and move on—or they can keep digging the hole deeper. The problem with refusing to move on is that the media keep hammering away at the original mistake and the pundits pile on, turning a one-...

Hillary Clinton to Kentucky: 'I'm back for one reason. That's because Ky. deserves a change in Washington' LOUISVILLE — Making her case as a “Clinton Democrat” who would spend more time in office under the next president “no matter whom he or she might be,” U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes rallied the Democratic base in downtown Louisville alongside former U.S. Sen. and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A standing-room-only crowd of more than 4,500 people turned out to hear Grimes and Clinton speak at the Kentucky International Convention Center on Wednesday night. The duo delivered speeches promoting pocketbook...

As we reported here on NewsBusters, during a recent Morning Joe appearance Chuck Todd twice said that Dem candidate for senator from Kentucky Alison Lundergan Grimes "disqualified herself" for refusing to say whether she voted for Barack Obama for president. On Chris Hayes' MSNBC show tonight, Todd said he was "sick to his stomach" when he saw that his comment had been used in an ad for Mitch McConnell. But interestingly, instead of blaming the McConnell campaign, Todd tagged Grimes, saying she had "invited this on herself" by her refusal to answer the simple question. View the video here.

The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org is demanding that Democratic Kentucky Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes take down an ad that uses the term “illegal aliens.” “This latest TV ad from Alison Lundergan Grimes is deeply upsetting. Grimes seems to be forgetting that we are a nation of immigrants that has continually strived to honor all the hard-working people who aspire to the American Dream,” Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org’s executive director, said in a statement. “It’s deeply troubling that Grimes would stoop this low in order to try to defeat [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell, and she needs to take this offensive...

Senate Democrats announced Tuesday they won’t spend any more money on television in Kentucky, throwing in the towel on their fight to oust Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. Most polls have shown the race slipping away from nominee Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) for weeks in a contest long considered a top pickup opportunity for Democrats. But with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s (DSCC) decision, the party is shifting almost solely to defense in hopes of protecting its fragile six-seat majority.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has gone dark in Kentucky, where the party is targeting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. After a significant investment in support of Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the DSCC had not reserved time for the final three weeks of the race and, as of today, is no longer on the air. “The DSCC has now spent more than 2 million in Kentucky and continues to make targeted investments in the ground game while monitoring the race for future investments, but is currently not on the air in the state,” a DSCC official told...

Mary Katharine already covered the first part of this exchange and noted the second, but it’s worth revisiting for Mitch McConnell’s brief rebuttal. The Republican incumbent scoffs at Alison Grimes’ invocation of a sacred right to avoid answering an obvious question, and demonstrates it by announcing he “proudly” voted against Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections: Mitch McConnell Proudly Voted For Mitt Romney There’s also no sacred right to not announce how we vote. I voted for Mitt Romney, proudly. I voted for John McCain. And by the way, 116 out of 120 Kentucky counties agreed with my...

Is it a race after all?After trailing by as many as seven points in every major poll since June, Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes now holds a slim lead over Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, according to a Bluegrass Poll survey released last week.Grimes, KentuckyÂ’s secretary of state, leads the five-term incumbent 46 percent to 44 percent among likely voters, according to the poll, conducted by SurveyUSA for LouisvilleÂ’s Courier-Journal and three other state media outlets. Libertarian candidate David Patterson had 3 percent support in the poll, while 7 percent said they were undecided.The poll follows an internal survey conducted a...

More than two months after her husband campaigned with U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in eastern Kentucky, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in Louisville for the Democratic hopeful. Grimes’ campaign announced Friday that Clinton, a former secretary of state and U.S. Senator from New York who is mulling a presidential bid in 2016, will headline an event at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville 7 p.m. Wednesday. The event is open to the public with free tickets available at Democratic headquarters throughout the state. “Alison is honored to have Hillary Rodham Clinton on the campaign trail with...

Hours after an interview with The Courier-Journal’s editorial board, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes was blasted by pundits for failing to answer questions about her previous support of Democratic President Barack Obama. With three weeks until Election Day, national pundits are casting Grimes’ non-answers as an unforced fumble that could change the election narrative in the final hours. NBC News’ political director Chuck Todd told a panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Grimes “disqualified herself” with the “ridiculous” answer. The Washington Post called the 40 seconds of dodging the question “painful,” adding “there was no reason to do...