June 18 roundup: McConnell offers tax break for child care in home offices; Grimes blasts his record on jobs

After several loads of coal, the focus of the race shifted to jobs:

• McConnell introduced a bill that he said “would fix a flaw in the tax code so that men or women who work from home aren’t prevented from claiming a deduction for a home office if that office includes a baby crib so they can care for their child while working.” He said the bill “would not only help parents save on child care costs, it would help increase their earning potential by incentivizing them to create new income streams from home.” Grimes replied, “While we're glad he changed his mind at the last minute on the need for affordable child care, Kentuckians know that he opposed the Family and Medical Leave Act and voted to slash childcare services in Kentucky. His last ditch legislation doesn't go far enough.” She noted that she has called for tax breaks to businesses that provide on-site child care or help employees find child care.
• McConnell outlined several Republican proposals to help working families, in a speech on the Senate floor. Grimes said McConnell only pretends to care about workers' wages. 
• Grimes visited Accuride's Henderson manufacturing plant Tuesday afternoon," talked about her jobs plan and took several blows at her opponent," reports Kayla Moody of WTVW in Evansville. "Although Grimes’ Western Kentucky visit focused on jobs, she acknowledged the ongoing turmoil in Iraq, making her stance on American involvement clear," against sending troops to Iraq. McConnell "urged the Obama administration to act quickly to assist the besieged Iraqi government, but ... stopped short of saying what U.S. assistance to Baghdad should look like," The Courier-Journal reports.
• The Beattyville Enterprise reports that Grimes is considering its proposal for a debate in the Lee County seat, but McConnell has not replied to the invitation. Grimes campaigned in Beattyville to put more attention on McConnell's comment that it was not his job to bring jobs to the county. He says he was misunderstood. "He did say he has been fighting ... Obama over policies that he said lose jobs for the state, the Enterprise reports.
• President Obama is raising money for a political action committee that has run ads attacking McConnell, WFPL reports. "Kentucky Republicans are hoping to connect Obama's appearance at the fundraiser to ... Grimes, who has tried mightily to keep the president at arm's length. . . . The Grimes campaign isn't taking GOP attempts to link her to the super PAC lightly, noting they have called on McConnell to disavow all outside groups."
• Gov. Steve Beshear slammed McConnell and other critics of federal health reform for "attempting to be for a state program that is no different from Obamacare," Jim Carroll reports for The Courier-Journal. Beshear alluded to McConnell's statement at a May 23 news conference that his criticism was unconnected to the future of Kynect, the state health-insurance exchange funded by the law.
• The Mountain Eagle of Whitesburg published a 784-word roundup about the candidates' battle on coal issues, and was among newspapers using one of the four campaign-supplied color photos of Grimes in the MRM Mining underground mine at McDowell last week.
• McConnell will make "a legislative announcement" at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce offices in Fort Mitchell Friday "and his office has requested the presence of Covington city leaders," KyForward reports, but the purpose of the visit is unknown.