Posted on 06/22/2007 4:31:43 PM PDT by freespirited
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is facing the most difficult reelection campaign of his career, or at least thats what hes telling his political supporters.
McConnell, who has yet to draw a major opponent, sent a fundraising letter characterizing his 2008 reelection bid as a battle against radical national liberal organizations and calling himself one of the top Democratic targets in the country.
The letter was posted this week to a blog dedicated to drafting another Republican, former gubernatorial nominee Larry Forgy, to run against him in a primary.
McConnell decried the efforts against him by Americans United for Change, an anti-war group that he said is funded by big labor union bosses and has already spent six figures running attack ads against me for fighting terrorism.
The most difficult reelection campaign assertion is interesting because McConnell won reelection in 1990 by less than 5 points in a tough race against former Louisville Mayor Harvey Sloane. McConnell took 55 percent in 1996 and 65 percent in 2002.
Charlie Owen, a millionaire businessman who has self-funded in the past, is among McConnells potential Democratic challengers. The others include Attorney General Greg Stumbo.
McConnell was one of the top fundraisers in the Senate during the first quarter of the cycle, pulling in about $1.7 million. He also has one of the biggest war chests, at $4.4 million.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has targeted him in recent months, but the race generally is considered a second-tier target.
Rebecca Fisher, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said, This is very common language typically used in fundraising letters.
Can't imagine why.
If he doesn’t stop the amnesty bill, he will be. He might even have a serious primary challenge.
Just say NO to Illegal Alien Amnesty!! Keep calling!! Its NOT OVER!!
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U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
White House comments: (202) 456-1111
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Hey Mitch! I speak as a former Kentuckian of almost 40 years.
This shamnesty bill is gonna be your downfall. Time to come out strongly against it.
Takes a lot of gall to come whining to the base about what a tough election he’s got coming up, while at the same time he’s selling out the country.
What pandering. What’s next, acting afraid of Code Pink?
I M M I G R A T I O N B I L L
M C C O N N E L L Y O U A R E N E A R F I N I S H E D
Y O U R W I F E ‘ S “F R I E N D S” M I S L E D Y O U
B U S H I S A L A M E D U C K
Y O U T O O ?
You're not kidding. There's a glut on gall in D.C. these days. If Washington gall were crude oil, the going rate would be less than $2.00 a barrel.
Ol’ Mitch the myopic mangler should be in a “tough” fight, one that he could win at any moment if he decided to *GASP* listen to “We the People” in his home state of Kentucky and across the country.
Not a chance of that happening!

I figure he will vote yes on cloture, then vote no on the bill so he can say he opposed it. If he pulls that, it's tantamount to a yes vote, and we should pull out the stops to find him the strongest primary opponent possible.
There is no Republican in Kentucky that could successfully take on Mitch in a primary.
Still, the corrosive debate seems to have taken a toll on McConnell. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he refused to take reporters’ questions on immigration, a rare move in the Capitol hallways for a man whose deadpan demeanor and calm, monotone voice seldom change.
From My Way News
“Privately, some Bush allies say they wish McConnell would openly back the immigration bill. Publicly, colleagues who support the bill have placed McConnell’s comments and actions in the best possible light.
“I take him at his word,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., noting that McConnell repeatedly has said the Senate bill is preferable to the status quo. “He has been helpful in making sure it comes back” for more amendments and votes, Graham said, referring to last week’s hiatus that nearly doomed the bill.
McConnell agreed that keeping the process moving, without embracing or rejecting the bill, has been his aim,”
Mcconnell has been taking a lot of heat in Ky.
Vote against the SHAMNESTY bill, start fighting back against the dims like they did against any of our legislation, filibuster when needed and start telling America the truth about the dims... in the same way they lie and deceive about our side. At least you will have the truth behind you... and oh yes... the BASE will be solidly behind you too. Money will be no problem for any CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS that vote his or her Conservatism!
If Kay Baily Hutchison votes against this Re-Conquistador bill, I’ll send her funding to help with her run for reelection. I would not even consider it before now!
LLS
It’s not too late to change his position. But Yes on closure will cook him, and he will deserve it.
It makes me sick that the Republican leadership can’t manage to push hard for any of the good bills, and then go all-out pushing this abomination.
I don’t vote in Kentucky or South Carolina, but I’ll be happy to send a contribution to any good candidates in the primaries there, if that’s what it comes down to.
A Yes vote on S.1639 will give us the chance to test your assertion.
Even so, doesn't mean he can win the general.
Term Limits - Term Limits - Term Limits
They get a little arrogant after they get re-elected once or twice.
The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators - people from different walks of life entering public service for a time then returning to their non-government profession.
Instead we have a breed of people that have become professional politicians who think of themselves as America’s Royalty.
They develop a sense of entitlement to a government job and become so out of touch with their constituency they resent it when voters expect them to do the job to which they were elected.
Oh, I agree. I’m not happy with the Senator regarding his position on this issue. And, yes, there is a chance he could be vulnerable in a general . . . but no chance in a primary.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070621/D8PTGRL80.html
Article on McConnell’s confusion. He see’s the storm he’s in even if none of the other senator’s do.
Voices from my old Kentucky home of Mayfield are chiming “Don’t allow the Amnesty Bill, Mitch.”
bttt
He ain't seen nothing yet if he votes "aye" on cloture.
“Mitch looks scared”
Nah Mitch ain’t skared, and GWB’s lips aren’t even moving while McConnel gives that speech....
Any Repub who votes for amnesty runs the risk of his base sitting home on election day. If the bill passes, we may see a huge crash on the Repub side, a washout.
I don’t think the GOP realizes what is happening out here in the hinterlands. They assume that conservatives have to vote for them... where else can they go? But in a 50-50 country, if even only a few Repub voters stay home in disgust on election day, the GOP is toast. It would be a disaster, we would be handing the Dems a filibuster-proof congress, but if your own people insist on selling you out, whats the point?
It will be a disaster, if conservatives fail to turn out in force on election day, but the disaster occurred the year before, when Repub leadership decided to jam amnesty through. Amnesty will break the Republican Party.
Cry me a river. Why do these guys think they are entitled to reelection?
Hey, Mitch! Here's a clue. Vote with your good "friend" Teddy on the Immigration Bill and you just might have retirement handed to you by the voters. Vote against it and I can promise you your chances for reelection just got a bit easier.
(If these guys are the best and brightest, this country is in deep, deep do do!)
It's NOT the anti-war(pro-terrorists) that will bring you down, it's your own conservative voters, who refuse to vote FOR someone who insists on giving us 12/20 some say as many as 34 Million, illegal "citizens" by the stroke of the Bush pen.
Sorry, you chose to be in a position of "leadership" and to us, that did NOT mean selling out each and every conservative in America for the Open Borders/Illegal Alien Activists/liberal Democrats.
We DO have the votes to shut this freight train down, if YOU HAVE THE GUTS to lead the way as a "true leader!"
If not, bye, bye,
We The People
Larry Forgy, who was nearly elected Governor in 1995, hasn’t ruled out running.
is street sense eligible to vote due to his derby win, because mr. mcconnell has lost all s.s. if he goes against the will of the american people and votes with the beltway elites.
I have sent Mitch a few messages about the imigration bill.
He is familair with our feelings. If he continues to not pay attention to us, he will feel the consequences. I have supported him in every election since 1978, if he caves on this I’ll stay home.
McConnell can’t be stupid, he just can’t be (said the sometimes ignorant optimist). Not only should he hold a news conference saying he will not back the amnesty bill, though he’s been sorely tempted, but that he will work every minute of the day to make sure his colleagues do not back it. Reelection? Hanging by a thread.
Gee Mitch, are your two supporters still with you?
But it won't hurt the Democrats? They're far, far worse.
I told my disappointment McC is seeking to turn Kentucky into a third-world state with all the illegals he is working to import.
He did not reply, of course.
I fully expect Gov. Fletcher, after he loses reelection in November (if he pulls off a win, it will be a miracle), will likely do all he can to knock off McConnell for revenge.
McConnell is not doing anything to demonstrate that he deserves a 5th term. The big question is whether Forgy could either beat him and go on to win the general. He’s practically a perennial candidate for us, and that’s not a good thing. He must also be older than McConnell (near or above 70 ?), which is also not good.
Looks like W is giving Mitch’s balls a squeeze.
Perennial candidate is an overstatement. In his two races for Governor, he lost the GOP primary in 1991 & the general election in 1995 by 51% to 49% margins. His loss for state Surpeme Court in 2000 was a larger one, but not an overwhelming loss.
He’s toast!!! Pass the word, no money; no campaign workers. Let him walk the streets begging alone.
That was a rumor started by liberal activists in the “Ditch Mitch” squad and Forgy has stated he has no intention of running.
2008 will probably be a terrible year for Republicans.
Surely the Repubs like McConnell aren't so stupid that they don't know why the Democrats are working so hard for more immigration and for granting amnesty and eventual citizenship to the 12-30 million illegals now in the US? Once they get the right to vote they will make up another 90% Democrat vote bloc at least as big as the black vote bloc. After those millions of new democrat voters hit the voting booths there won't be enough Republicans in Washington to fill a government limo.
If he had even one win under his belt, it might help (although I believe even the courts acknowledged he actually won the ‘95 Governor’s race, but too late to do anything about it).
“calling himself one of the top Democratic targets in the country.”
It isn’t only Democrats that he has to worry about.
It won’t hurt the Demos, greatgrandma, because the voters are unable to understand the ramifications. Voters say “Enough is Enough” and simply vote Democrat. They don’t understand what they are doing.
I don’t think McC and Forgy differ on much: they have the same business supporters.
Maybe Mitch should just retire to his native AL, forget KY, give those folks a break from his treachery, and let Senator Sessions be his senator.
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