Thursday, August 14, 2014

Roundup: Grimes gets some heat at state fair; McConnell makes 5 stops in western coalfield

At the breakfast starting the Kentucky State Fair, politicians serve food and make news:
  • Alison Lundergan Grimes is taking some heat on social media today as she attends the state fair. WHAS-TV reporter Brooke Hasch quoted her as saying she was there "with the people," while Sen. Mitch McConnell was in Washington. Actually, Congress is in recess and McConnell is in Bowling Green today, as Hasch later noted
  • At the Commodity Breakfast kicking off the fair, Grimes was "the face everyone was looking for," but wouldn't do live interviews, reports WDRB-TV, which tweeted that it was going to get one and asked after it learned otherwise, "Grimes walks away from with interview Rachel Collier seconds before going live. Why?" She did record an interview with the station, discussing McConnell's votes against the most recent version of the Violence Against Women Act, saying "I guess he was before it before he was against it," and defending her support for raising the minimum wage.
  • Following the theme of his latest commercial, McConnell made five stops in the West Kentucky Coalfield yesterday, three with Sen. Rand Paul, including "a Greenville trucking business that hauls coal to power plants," Joy Campbell reports for the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. "It was a near perfect backdrop for McConnell to try to convince jobs-hungry Muhlenberg countians that he needs a sixth term to help defend the coal industry against the Obama administration. McConnell has only carried the strongly Democratic county once, "But this is a different kind of year, and the people here care about the Obama administration's 'war on coal,' he said." Campbell notes that Grimes "touts her endorsement by the United Mine Workers of America and says she supports not just the coal industry, but specifically coal miners, their jobs and their safety."

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