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Will Tea Partiers Sink Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky Senate Reelection Bid?
thedailybeast.com ^ | 8/4/14 | Ben Jacobs

Posted on 08/04/2014 5:06:45 AM PDT by cotton1706

The Senate minority leader, long reviled among many on the right for what they see as kowtowing to Democrats, is in a tough race for his seat—and in trouble with the Tea Party.

If Alison Lundergan Grimes pulls off an upset victory over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in November, she may have Tea Partiers to thank. But don’t expect conservative voters to rally to Grimes—they simply aren't getting behind McConnell.

Although the five-term Republican ended up winning a a tough primary challenge from businessman Matt Bevin handily, the race was one of the most vicious and ugly this cycle, with Bevin’s campaign badly damaged in a cockfighting scandal. And while some disaffected conservatives have backed McConnell in November, Bevin has still not endorsed him, and many of the Tea Party groups that supported the businessman are following suit. As a result, in a recent poll, nearly 20% of self-identified Republicans didn't support McConnell.

Scott Hofstra, spokesman for the United Kentucky Tea Party, said he isn’t backing McConnell and “taking the lesser of the two evils approach.” Many conservatives, Hofstra predicted, either will leave the box on the ballot for U.S. Senate empty or will vote for David Patterson, the libertarian candidate. The senator has alienated many Tea Partiers and has yet to reach out to bridge the gap, Hofstra said. The divide was opened further, he added, by McConnell’s open support for Thad Cochran in the Mississippi Senate runoff and McConnell’s association with pro-Cochran ads that many conservatives assailed as race-baiting. “If there were some people on the fence after what happened in Kentucky, the Mississippi incident really put them over the edge,” Hofstra said. Still, he noted that Tea Party dissatisfaction with McConnell wasn’t winning Grimes their votes. “I haven’t talked to anybody who would vote her.”

(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections; kentuckykickback; nomorerinos; rino
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To: originalbuckeye

How could you be sure he’d vote with Republicans anyway?


21 posted on 08/04/2014 5:53:53 AM PDT by wastedyears (Everything Obama does wrong is Bush's fault.)
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation

A GOPe controlled Senate with Juan McCain, Mitch McConnell, Linda Graham, Susan Collins, John Cornyn and the pro-amnesty U.S. Chamber of Commerce running the show is not going to make the changes in Washington that America needs. Dem-lite.


Obama agrees and thanks you. Electing a demo for the next 6 years is freaking brilliant.


22 posted on 08/04/2014 5:53:58 AM PDT by boycott
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To: TruthShallSetYouFree

And if Harry Reid switched party affiliation, we’d have posters advocating we vote for him to keep the seat.


23 posted on 08/04/2014 5:54:28 AM PDT by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: gingerbread

5,000,000 McCrap voters stayed home and Romney lost


24 posted on 08/04/2014 5:55:53 AM PDT by personalaccts (Is George W going to protect the border?)
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To: cotton1706

I know I’m staying home in November. Makes no diff who controls the house or senate. They all suck. Let the branches and houses collapse under their own weight and then rebuild from there.


25 posted on 08/04/2014 5:56:46 AM PDT by Wilderness Conservative
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To: boycott

Why don’t we just lobby Obama to switch party affiliation? Then we all rally around him because he’s a republican and that’s more important than ideology.


26 posted on 08/04/2014 5:56:52 AM PDT by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: cotton1706
Will Tea Partiers Sink Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky Senate Reelection Bid?

I'd love to think so, but like Mississippi, the fix is in. The only way to make effective progress with the entrenched establishment will be with TERM LIMITS.

27 posted on 08/04/2014 5:56:58 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Deliver us, oh LORD, from the EVIL that has befallen our once Great GOD fearing land!)
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To: mazda77

Akron?


28 posted on 08/04/2014 6:00:31 AM PDT by Paladin2
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A Republicrat


Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR Or Lose It

29 posted on 08/04/2014 6:00:37 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: mazda77

Toledo, not Akron


30 posted on 08/04/2014 6:01:25 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer.)
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To: cotton1706

31 posted on 08/04/2014 6:04:43 AM PDT by McBuff
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To: Bogey78O

Why don’t we just lobby Obama to switch party affiliation? Then we all rally around him because he’s a republican and that’s more important than ideology.


Giving Obama control of the senate for the next two years would be freakin brilliant. I don’t like mitch but I haven’t lost my mind.


32 posted on 08/04/2014 6:05:16 AM PDT by boycott
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To: originalbuckeye
If you want to make an omelet, you have to crack a few McCockles.
33 posted on 08/04/2014 6:07:43 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The man who damns money obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it earned it." --Ayn Rand)
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To: TruthShallSetYouFree
I am not in Kentucky, but I fell for that line twice. It won't work on me again.

In my opinion, after the way McConnell slandered Conservatives, no Conservative with any principles or self respect will vote for him.

34 posted on 08/04/2014 6:08:22 AM PDT by sport
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To: Wilderness Conservative

....” They all suck. Let the branches and houses collapse under their own weight and then rebuild from there”....

won’t happen...even if that were to occur you better have another standing by to fill the gap immediately.


35 posted on 08/04/2014 6:08:39 AM PDT by caww
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To: ScottinVA
What are we thinking that razor-thin majority would accomplish?

RINOs would go into full battle mode to destroy constitutional conservatives. Better to have a minority in the US Senate with a constitutional conservative minority leader, be rid of McConnell for the message it sends, and prod the HOR into taking back the power of the purse.

That immigration bill they just past is an excellent step. The US Senate and President are AWOL instead of enacting it. I think voters are waking up about whom the problems are.

36 posted on 08/04/2014 6:11:30 AM PDT by grania
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To: ScottinVA; All

“What are we thinking that razor-thin majority would accomplish?”

Every single Senate committee would be chaired by a Republican. They aren’t all RINOs.

If Boner wasn’t in charge of the House, would Trey Goudy be chairman of anything?

Forget Turtle man, what Senate committee do you want Ted Cruz to chair?


37 posted on 08/04/2014 6:14:35 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Unions are an Affirmative Action program for Slackers! .)
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To: Beagle8U
Every single Senate committee would be chaired by a Republican. They aren’t all RINOs.

Those selected for chairmanships would absolutely be RINOs. The GOPe would never let Ted Cruz become chairman of any committee. They despise him far more than they would ever despise their "good friend" Harry Reid.

38 posted on 08/04/2014 6:20:09 AM PDT by ScottinVA (If it doesn't include border security, it isn't "reform." It's called "amnesty.")
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To: Beagle8U

One thing should always be remembered... it wasn’t Alison Grimes threatening violence on TEA Party members.


39 posted on 08/04/2014 6:23:25 AM PDT by ScottinVA (If it doesn't include border security, it isn't "reform." It's called "amnesty.")
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To: ChildOfThe60s
You have a prediction as to who could replace him?

Here's a likely candidate:


40 posted on 08/04/2014 6:28:40 AM PDT by ScottinVA (If it doesn't include border security, it isn't "reform." It's called "amnesty.")
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