Mitch McConnell's Campaign Weekly Update.

August 12, 2008
To: Friends and Allies of Team Mitch
Fr: Justin Brasell & Scott Jennings, Campaign Advisors
Re: Weekly Campaign Update
________________________________________
Another week, another round of ads in the campaign
Some things never change: Bruce Lunsford keeps hurling hypocritical, baseless accusations at Senator McConnell while our campaign continues to talk about a solution to high gas prices.
• Senator McConnell’s new ad, pointing out the differences between the candidates on expanded oil drilling, can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbxIX3UHoM
• And our response ad rebutting the false and outrageous charges in Lunsford’s ad can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yLOSIkQppk

While Bruce Lunsford went up on the air last week attacking Senator McConnell yet again with outlandish accusations, another player entered the ring: the AFL-CIO. We knew they were coming. After all, they know Sen. McConnell is the firewall in the U.S. Senate against their legislation that would take away the secret ballot in labor union elections (would you want a big labor boss looking over your shoulder while you voted?).
The AFL-CIO started running a radio ad this week regurgitating the same tired rhetoric we’ve seen them use in campaigns past. They’ve hauled out the class warfare playbook, saying that if you got a tax cut from Republicans you must be “wealthy.”
Here are the facts: Sen. McConnell has supported tax cuts for people who pay taxes, and he believes lower taxes stimulate the economy and help create jobs. In fact the tax cuts that Senator McConnell supported made is so any Kentuckian paying federal income tax now owes less money, and took thousands Kentuckians off of the federal income tax rolls completely.
Bruce Lunsford and Barack Obama have already stated their intentions to roll back tax cuts passed in the last 7 years. Their plan is to raise taxes on every household making over $42,000 a year (apparently the threshold of what they consider wealthy).
If you hear people talking about tax cuts or these radio ads, don’t be afraid to remind them of the clear choice in this political campaign: Mitch McConnell is a solid vote and voice for lower taxes; Bruce Lunsford has a proven record of raising taxes (including gasoline taxes) and will follow the Obama line on rolling back tax cuts.
Kentucky Farm Bureau Debate
Senator McConnell and Bruce Lunsford met last week for the first debate of the campaign in front of the leadership of the Kentucky Farm Bureau. Senator McConnell made his argument for reelection: he has the clout to get more done for Kentucky, especially our farming community. It would be foolish to trade in someone in Sen. McConnell’s position for a rookie who, just a few years younger than McConnell, will never achieve the level of seniority McConnell has used to deliver for the Commonwealth. Watch the debate here.
Throughout the forum, McConnell returned over and over to three themes -- energy, clout and what he said was Lunsford's allegiance to the AFL-CIO. He said the labor organization is diametrically opposed to the interests of the farm bureau.
McConnell said that Republicans have the best solutions for high gas prices and that as Senate minority leader he can get more done than a freshman Democrat.
And he said that the labor unions supporting Lunsford would control him in Washington.
"I'm not there to do the bidding of organized labor like my opponent," McConnell said. "If they deliver for him, believe me, he'll deliver for them."
He also said that Lunsford's farm upbringing "isn't relevant" to how he would perform in the Senate and questioned Lunsford's resolve to lower capital gains taxes, which are not indexed for inflation.
He said Democratic leaders in the Senate would never allow a budget bill with such a tax cut, and "the chances of a freshman legislator voting against a budget resolution is nil."
Courier-Journal, August 21, 2008
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080821/NEWS0106/808210468
By the way, did you catch liberal Herald-Leader columnist Larry Dale Keeling’s thoughts on Lunsford’s stump speaking? From August 24’s edition…
When he’s winging it, Lunsford also can go overboard trying to establish his ”folksy“ street cred with anecdotes about his childhood on a farm and his father’s work as a ”pinhooker.“ In the first place, you have to be a certified old fogy like me to have even the most remote idea what a pinhooker is without typing it into Google.
Second, no matter how humble his beginnings, ”folksy“ is a hard act for a Thoroughbred-owning, movie-producing businessman who has blown upwards of $15 million of his considerable personal wealth on three, as yet unsuccessful, runs at public office.
Besides, as Senate Minority Leader McConnell noted when the two debated before the Kentucky Farm Bureau Thursday, Lunsford’s farm upbringing is irrelevant.
In some campaigns, touting such roots as a means of connecting with the public has value. But this isn’t one of those campaigns.
Senator McConnell, Cong. Chandler Show Bipartisan Progress in Richmond
Last week, Senator McConnell and Congressman Ben Chandler showed how well they are working together to help cleanup chemical weapons at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Richmond. The Herald-Leader picks up the coverage on August 25:
The destruction of the chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot has loomed over the heads of Sen. Mitch McConnell and Congressman Ben Chandler since both men entered office.
Now well into their political careers, the Kentucky lawmakers said Thursday they are pleased with the progress of the construction of a facility that will destroy the chemical weapons.
McConnell, R-Ky., and Chandler, D-Ky., who last year successfully pushed for a 2017 deadline of the weapons disposal, addressed the public after a tour of the depot’s Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant.
“This is an issue that transcends any kind of politics,” Chandler said. “This is an issue about our people.”
During their brief addresses in Richmond City Hall, McConnell and Chandler said they thought the 2017 deadline for the disposal of the weapons can be met, despite a July report from the Department of Defense that says the deadline won’t be met unless officials consider other options.
The lawmakers said it will take more money and cooperation with the Pentagon to finish the project on time.
-http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/497763.html

More August Travel Across the Commonwealth: McConnell Stops in Murray
Senator McConnell kept up his hectic August schedule this week, visiting Murray, Kentucky, for several events. The Murray Ledger & Times has coverage of Senator McConnell’s speech:
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., addressed the high costs of gasoline during the Murray-Calloway County Economic Development Corporation's annual awards luncheon Friday.
While some herald the high costs as a way to get people out of their vehicles and utilizing public transportation, McConnell said the fact is that for most Americans “the automobile is indispensable.”
The law of supply and demand is one reason, McConnell said that gas prices have sky rocketed. With countries like India and China making modern day progress, the demand for fuel has increased.
In 2007, 87 million barrels of oil were used daily across the world; 21 billion were used in the United States with 12 being imported and nine produced.
McConnell's proposed solution is to find more and use less.

“We need to do absolutely everything,” he said. “There is a realistic way to cut oil imports in half.”
Finding one-third more U.S. oil is on McConnell's agenda.
“We are the only country in the world that locks up so much potential supply,” he told the gathering at Murray Country Club. McConnell added that there is enough oil shale in three western states to triple the oil reserves in Saudi Arabia.
The second component of McConnell's proposal was to use one-third less imports. “We are not too far away from the time all of us will be plugging in our cars and trucks at night,” he said. “Battery driven cars are not that far away.”
One of the reasons why McConnell believes battery powered cars are in the near future is because “the delivery system of plug-in cars is already there.”

Thanks for all you are doing on the campaign trail. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or ideas for carrying our campaign’s message.
Days Until Election Victory: 69

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