Lexington Herald Leader Logo

Candidates prepare final salvos | Lexington Herald Leader

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • All News
    • Business
    • Communities
    • Counties
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Lexington
    • Local
    • Most Wanted
    • Nation/World
    • News Photos
    • News Videos
    • Politics
    • Searchable Databases
    • State
    • Watchdog
    • Columns
    • Tom Eblen
    • All Sports
    • UK Sports
    • College Sports
    • Next Cats Recruiting
    • High School
    • Horses
    • Kentucky Speedway
    • Lexington Legends
    • Reds
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • NASCAR
    • NFL
    • Sports Photos
    • Sports Videos
    • Columns
    • John Clay's Columns
    • Mark Story
    • Next Cats Recruiting
    • All UK Sports
    • Next Cats Recruiting
    • Baseball
    • Basketball - Men
    • Basketball - Women
    • Recruiting
    • Ex-Cats
    • Football
    • UK Photos
    • UK Videos
    • More UK Sports
    • Columns
    • John Clay's Blog
    • Mark Story
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • All Entertainment
    • Books
    • Celebrities
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Events Calendar
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Restaurants
    • Stage & Dance
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Entertainment Photos
    • Entertainment Videos
    • News Blogs
    • Kentucky Weather
    • Photo Archive
    • Sports Blogs
    • John Clay's Blog
    • High School
    • UK Football
    • UK Men's Basketball
    • UK Women's Basketball
    • Lexington Legends
    • Entertainment Blogs
    • Walter Tunis on Music
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Joel Pett
    • Letters to the Editor
    • National Columnists
    • Op-Ed
    • Submit a Letter
    • All Living
    • Celebrations
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Fru-Gal: Deb Morris
    • Health & Medicine
    • Home & Garden
    • Paul Prather
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Readers' Choice
    • Kentucky Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Submit an Obituary
    • Customer Service
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • E-edition
    • Page Reprints
    • Photo Reprints
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Site Information
    • Advertise With Us
    • Archives
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Google+
    • Today's Circulars
    • Classifieds
    • Jobs
    • Cars
    • Homes
    • Homeseller
    • Legal Notices
  • Place an Ad
  • Mobile & Apps

Kentucky

Candidates prepare final salvos

By Ryan Alessi - ralessi@herald-leader.com

    ORDER REPRINT →

October 20, 2008 12:00 AM

Largely ignoring his challenger and the souring economy, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is banking on his seniority and position as Senate Republican leader to be the most persuasive argument to voters on Nov. 4.

McConnell, in the final two weeks of his toughest reelection campaign, will deliver that message in person in part of his statewide bus tour that kicks off Monday in Green County and the southern Kentucky region.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Lexington Herald-Leader

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Meanwhile, his Democratic challenger, Bruce Lunsford, has rolled out a number of themes in commercials (such as "Don't get McConned" and the "How are you doing?") aimed at painting McConnell as being absorbed in the Washington scene while failing to do the people's business.

Lunsford's overarching pitch to voters is that he's not McConnell.

"Even if you haven't met me and you haven't spent any time with me, remember this first thing: I'm running against Mitch McConnell," Lunsford said to open his remarks to 250 Democrats in a Madison County fairgrounds livestock pavilion last week.

Lunsford, too, will be making his closing arguments directly to voters over the next two weeks. His task is to convince anxious voters who feel hammered by rising costs of living and an unstable economy that he's a legitimate alternative to McConnell.

"Let me tell you the difference between Mitch McConnell and me: I'm not a debater, I'm a doer," he said in Richmond. "I think I can easily say on this stage that in the state of Kentucky, no individual has produced more jobs ... than I have. Nobody."

Lunsford, a Louisville businessman who has pumped $5.5 million of his own money into his campaign, is most known for creating the nursing home company Vencor. Lately, he has had to respond to McConnell's commercials criticizing Valor Healthcare, a company on whose board Lunsford sits, for its care of veterans.

But other than a couple vague references to "my opponent with plenty of money" McConnell spends little time talking about Lunsford. And speaking to reporters in Paintsville, he downplayed any suggestion that the television portion of his campaign has been unfairly negative.

"He likes to talk about what I've been doing for the last 24 years. I think Kentuckians are entitled to know what he's been doing for the last 24 years so they can make a comparison," McConnell said. "A way of looking at it is I've been working for the people of Kentucky, he's been working for himself."

Big man on campus

McConnell often spends part of his speeches explaining his leadership position, which he describes as being the head of a bunch of "class president-types all with pretty sharp elbows and pretty big egos."

He is only the second Kentuckian to be a party leader in the U.S. Senate. The only other was Alben Barkley who was Democratic leader from 1937 to 1947.

"We aren't a big state," McConnell told more than 60 people at the Johnson County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. "For Kentucky to have influence in Washington, we've got to rise to the top."

As he frequently does, McConnell took credit for directing $500 million in federal funds to Kentucky cities, universities and state programs.

Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers of Somerset, said that, as a result, McConnell "is approaching the level of Henry Clay in importance to our state."

Rogers, who was first elected to Congress four years before McConnell in 1980, underscored the importance of experience by recalling how McConnell had little sway until after his first six-year term.

"For the first several years, being a low member of the totem pole, frankly, he wasn't that much help," Rogers said.

McConnell also said his position helps block legislation that he considers wrong for Kentucky.

During his remarks to the Kentucky Coal Association in Lexington on Friday, McConnell cited last year's energy bill and this summer's legislation aimed at curbing global warming. He said the net effect of the first draft of those bills would have driven up Kentucky's relatively cheap energy costs.

"He's been a very strong supporter of the Kentucky coal industry, so it's vital to our industry that he stays," said Kentucky Coal Association president Bill Caylor. "All of these bills that come up, his role, hopefully would be to soften the impact on the oil, natural gas and coal fossil fuels."

Applying pressure

Lunsford has countered McConnell's leadership argument by saying he has contributed to the economic turmoil that has shaken up Wall Street, Washington and the country's political landscape over the last month.

"If he wants to take credit for leadership over the last six years, I'd be happy to give it to him because he's taken us right over the cliff," Lunsford said before the Richmond rally Thursday.

Two days later, at a Mount Sterling Democratic breakfast, Lunsford said regardless of how much money McConnell has brought the state, he supported the war in Iraq and the $700 billion financial bailout that will cost $2,100 and $2,300 per person, respectively.

Although Lunsford has trailed in most polls so far, even McConnell agrees that the race has tightened in recent weeks, which has gotten the attention of national Democrats.

Over the weekend, former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland campaigned with Lunsford.

"Mitch McConnell has made the fatal mistake of representing consistently the Republican White House (and) Washington in Kentucky. It's time we send a native Kentuckian to Washington to represent Kentuckians in Washington," Cleland said at the Frankfort VFW Saturday.

It remains to be seen how strong of an anti-incumbent mood Kentucky voters are in. Both Lunsford and McConnell will be fighting over the same group of conservative Democrats, especially in rural areas. Many are voters who have routinely supported McConnell in the past but who have been hardest hit by high gas and food prices.

"I've not made my mind up in that race," said Stewart Morton, a Mount Sterling Democrat and farmer who has seen his fertilizer costs triple and cattle feed prices jump, too. "I'll probably vote for him over McConnell. I've listened to McConnell over the years, and at this time, I think we need someone different."

  Comments  

Videos

Drone video shows Cumberland Falls flooding

Coal town’s energy project lands $200,000 donation

View More Video

Trending Stories

Festival with ‘A-list music’ coming to Keeneland via producers of Forecastle, Bonnaroo

February 20, 2019 10:59 AM

Principal of Kentucky high school charged after not reporting abuse of students, police say

February 20, 2019 12:32 PM

Lake Cumberland at level not seen in 20 years because of heavy rain. The dam is fine.

February 20, 2019 03:06 PM

‘Not a safe environment for any child.’ Bed bugs, safety concerns at School for the Deaf.

February 20, 2019 01:00 PM

Friendly exchange precedes fierce exchange as Kentucky survives at Missouri

February 20, 2019 12:44 AM

Read Next

9 things Kentucky teachers should know about the educator-proposed pension plan

Politics & Government

9 things Kentucky teachers should know about the educator-proposed pension plan

By Daniel Desrochers

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 21, 2019 12:44 PM

Kentucky lawmakers proposed a drastically different pension plan Wednesday. Here’s what teachers need to know.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Lexington Herald-Leader

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE KENTUCKY

More than $12 million is coming to these Kentucky addiction, workforce programs

Kentucky

More than $12 million is coming to these Kentucky addiction, workforce programs

February 21, 2019 03:24 PM
Kentucky government doesn’t need more secrecy. It needs less corporate welfare.

Tom Eblen

Kentucky government doesn’t need more secrecy. It needs less corporate welfare.

February 21, 2019 03:14 PM
Ball Homes proposes 336 apartments near Hamburg in Lexington

Fayette County

Ball Homes proposes 336 apartments near Hamburg in Lexington

February 21, 2019 09:29 AM
These educators were elected by outraged teachers. Now they have a pension bill.

Politics & Government

These educators were elected by outraged teachers. Now they have a pension bill.

February 21, 2019 08:58 AM
‘Top Chef’ Kentucky’s Graham Elliot is in town and you’ll never guess where he ate.

Restaurant News & Reviews

‘Top Chef’ Kentucky’s Graham Elliot is in town and you’ll never guess where he ate.

February 21, 2019 12:14 PM
Who’s responsible for all this country crossover stuff? Here’s a contender.

Music News & Reviews

Who’s responsible for all this country crossover stuff? Here’s a contender.

February 21, 2019 10:48 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Lexington Herald Leader App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Archives
Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Place a Classified Ad
  • Local Deals
  • Digital Solutions
  • Media Kit
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story