MEMO: Ahead Of Tonight’s Debate

TO: Interested Parties
FR: Jonathan Hurst, Campaign Manager
RE: Ahead Of Tonight’s Debate
DATE: October 13, 2014

Tonight, Alison Lundergan Grimes and Mitch McConnell meet at KET Studios in Lexington. Alison looks forward to the opportunity to hold Mitch McConnell accountable for his failed 30-year Washington record. It is not surprising that McConnell has repeatedly refused any joint appearances or debates with Alison throughout this race.

Again tonight, Kentucky will see two very different philosophies: Alison, who stands up for the working families of Kentucky, and Mitch McConnell, who stands up for millionaires, billionaires and Washington insiders.

Tonight’s debate will further demonstrate why the most recent polling has shown Alison in a strong position to win this race. She has an excellent command of the issues, she’s passionate about helping people, and she cares about Kentucky. This opportunity provides Kentuckians an unvarnished look at the candidates’ records and, more importantly, their visions for the future of the Commonwealth.

TONIGHT’S PREDICTABLE MCCONNELL DECEPTIONS:

The central figure in McConnell’s campaign isn’t Mitch, nor is it Alison – it’s President Barack Obama.
There are two main problems with this strategy. One, the President is not on the ballot. Kentuckians are electing someone for a six-year term, two-thirds of which will be served with a new president.

Secondly, as evidenced in the latest Bluegrass Poll, the McConnell drumbeat of trying to tie Alison to President Obama is not a particularly persuasive campaign argument. Of McConnell’s disingenuous campaign ploy, The Courier-Journal recently wrote, “The [Bluegrass] poll suggests McConnell has had trouble convincing Kentuckians of one of his central arguments — that Grimes would be a rubber stamp for Obama’s policies.”

Alison has forcefully made the case that she will be an independent voice in the Senate and will continue her track record of working across the aisle. Kentuckians understand and respect the fact that she will not be a rank and file partisan.

Nonetheless, tonight, expect Mitch McConnell to incessantly try to drive the debate into this dead-end.

McConnell will talk about how he would like to run the Senate, hoping to convince Kentuckians that he will suddenly abandon the confrontational gridlock that has defined his career.
He will pretend that sending a 30-year incumbent back to Washington, DC is the best hope for change. However, McConnell’s rhetoric tonight will be overshadowed by his recent admissions that he will run the Senate by leveraging a shutdown at every opportunity and will refuse to entertain initiatives that help Kentuckians, including making college more affordable and raising the minimum wage. It will be newsworthy tonight to see how McConnell tries to untangle himself from these contradictions.

McConnell will fail to make the case that his “influence” is too good to trade in.
He will reflect back on a long career of delivering pork and brokering deadline deals. What McConnell won’t say, however, is the fact that the era of earmarks and pork barrel spending is over.

He has and will try to convince Kentuckians that he is the only one in Washington able to broker deals. What McConnell won’t say, however, is the fact that his habitual obstructionism has created the crises that demand eleventh hour action, and how many of these rushed deals have harmed Kentuckians.

At the same time, Kentuckians will see Alison’s strong commitment to working with anyone, regardless of party, to put Kentucky first.

McConnell will talk a lot about the coal industry and how its decline can be blamed on anyone but him – despite the staggering job loss on his watch.
What McConnell won’t discuss is that on his watch, over 25,000 coal jobs have been lost; there are fewer coal jobs than at any point since 1927; and Kentucky has shuttered 1,400 coal mines. Those are the facts of McConnell’s record on coal.

It should go without saying, but no one with that record has the credibility to challenge their opponent on coal. And yet, of course McConnell will try to shift blame onto Alison. This is a dishonest ploy, and Mitch McConnell knows that. Alison’s steadfast commitment to the coal industry has earned her the endorsement of the United Mine Workers of America. Her plans to help realize new technology – both to produce cleaner coal and to protect miners – are essential for the future of Kentucky coal. Tonight she will lay out those plans, while McConnell will continue to play the Washington blame game.

TONIGHT’S PREDICTABLE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:

• Will McConnell work to end trade and tax policies that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas?
• Does McConnell have any viable solutions to rebuild Kentucky infrastructure, including the vital Brent Spence Bridge?
• Why did he vote against reducing the VA backlog while the crisis peaked?
• Will McConnell continue to leverage government shutdowns on every spending bill?
• What ideas does McConnell have to address the gender pay gap?
• Does McConnell still want to raise the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare?
• Has he changed his mind on gambling seniors’ benefits in volatile financial markets?
• Does McConnell have a specific plan for over 600,000 previously uninsured Kentuckians to get health insurance?
• Will McConnell block votes on “gosh darn” proposals Kentuckians overwhelmingly support like raising the minimum wage and providing student debt relief?
• If so, does that mean he has been telling Kentuckians one thing and his billionaire campaign backers another?