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As we reported here on NewsBusters, during a recent Morning Joe appearance Chuck Todd twice said that Dem candidate for senator from Kentucky Alison Lundergan Grimes "disqualified herself" for refusing to say whether she voted for Barack Obama for president. On Chris Hayes' MSNBC show tonight, Todd said he was "sick to his stomach" when he saw that his comment had been used in an ad for Mitch McConnell. But interestingly, instead of blaming the McConnell campaign, Todd tagged Grimes, saying she had "invited this on herself" by her refusal to answer the simple question. View the video here.

A new ad by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) features NBC "Meet The Press" host Chuck Todd saying Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes "disqualified herself" by refusing to say in a recent interview if she voted for President Barack Obama. The stumble last week led to pushback for Grimes, who is polling neck and neck with the Senate Republican leader. The McConnell campaign said on Monday that the ad, called "Disqualified," will air on TV statewide. It can be watched below.

Did Chuck Todd just do it again? His comment a couple of weeks ago that Dem Alison Lundergan Grimes "disqualified herself" for refusing to say whether she voted for Barack Obama was quickly made into an ad by the McConnell campaign. On today's Morning Joe, Todd made a highly quotable claim about another race. Todd described the campaign for a congressional seat in a district located in Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn as "a fight between mob families." That sent Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough scrambling to disassociate themselves from the Meet the Press moderator. And at the end...

The Chatter: McConnell loans himself $1.8M, Grimes doubles down on false claim in ad and 'Pennsyltucky' woman Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is combating a new wave of Democratic spending in his race against Alison Lundergan Grimes by loaning his campaign $1.8 million, Politico reported Friday. The Washington, D.C., outlet reported that McConnell’s personal contribution tops investments by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Senate Majority PAC totaling $1.5 million less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election. A campaign official told Politico McConnell’s loan reinforces the Senate Republican leader’s view that the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s resources...

The campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes is reaching out to different demographics, including the urban areas of the state with a radio ad claiming McConnell is not only implementing policies hurtful to the communities but also trying to take away their right to vote. Politico was first to report on the ad, which they say is running in Louisville and likely other areas of the state. In the ad, which can be heard below, a man tells listeners that Grimes is a “champion” for civil rights while also bashing McConnell for many things Grimes has hit...

Less than a week after his wife rallied thousands of Democrats in Louisville, former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in western Kentucky. Clinton is scheduled to appear at get-out-the-vote events in Owensboro and Paducah Tuesday, Grimes’ campaign announced Friday. The Associated Press first reported Clinton’s stops next week. “The Clintons’ commitment to Alison’s candidacy is a testament to what a strong, independent leader she will be in the U.S. Senate,” Grimes campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said in a statement. “Kentucky is Clinton country, and we are honored to have both Hillary and...

Seventy-six percent (76%) of Kentucky voters say they have already made up their minds how they are going to vote, and McConnell leads 55% to 45% among these voters. Among the 24% who still could change their minds, the candidates are tied at 41% apiece, with 17% opting for a third-party candidate or undecided. Among the 84% of Kentucky voters who say they will definitely vote in this contest, McConnell leads 53% to 44%. Grimes has the support of 73% of Kentucky Democrats and 16% of the state’s Republicans. McConnell earns 83% backing from his fellow Republicans and 24% of...

Half of all the Democratic women in the U.S. Senate are featured in a new video voicing their support for Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. The video, released Thursday after first being shown at Grimes’ event with Hillary Clinton Wednesday evening, shows six women in the U.S. Senate saying “Shatter the glass. Break the ceiling. It’s time for Alison!” Of the twelve women in the Senate Democratic caucus, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) are shown...

Hours after an interview with The Courier-Journal’s editorial board, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes was blasted by pundits for failing to answer questions about her previous support of Democratic President Barack Obama. With three weeks until Election Day, national pundits are casting Grimes’ non-answers as an unforced fumble that could change the election narrative in the final hours. NBC News’ political director Chuck Todd told a panel on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Grimes “disqualified herself” with the “ridiculous” answer. The Washington Post called the 40 seconds of dodging the question “painful,” adding “there was no reason to do...

More than two months after her husband campaigned with U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes in eastern Kentucky, Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in Louisville for the Democratic hopeful. Grimes’ campaign announced Friday that Clinton, a former secretary of state and U.S. Senator from New York who is mulling a presidential bid in 2016, will headline an event at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville 7 p.m. Wednesday. The event is open to the public with free tickets available at Democratic headquarters throughout the state. “Alison is honored to have Hillary Rodham Clinton on the campaign trail with...

Alison Lundergan Grimes (D), who is trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) this fall, appeared before the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board on Thursday to make her pitch for their endorsement. The life-long Democrat, whose father represented Kentucky for the party in the state House and who herself has been on the ballot in the state on the Democratic ticket, was asked a simple question. Did she vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012? And she didn't answer. Repeatedly......... .... there was no reason to do this. Grimes is fairly new on the national scene, but she's...

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell may be one of the most unpopular politicians in the state, but he is probably going to win another term thanks to President Obama. The president is so unpopular - and McConnell has been so effective at tying his opponent to Obama's apron strings - that McConnell's challenger, Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, won't say whether or not she voted for President Obama. Twice, she declined to answer.

A report based on campaign memos on Senate candidate Allison Lundergan Grimes' (D-KY) position on guns shows that her pro-gun statements are canned, that she supports "strengthening background checks," and has an unstated position on "closing the gun show loophole."

Whatever liberal leanings he might have, sometimes the political animal in Chuck Todd just can't contain itself. Take today's Morning Joe, where Todd host absolutely annihilated Alison Lundergan Grimes, Dem candidate for senator from Kentucky, for her refusal to say whether she voted for Barack Obama for president. Todd ripped Grimes as "ridiculous," then twice declared that she had "disqualified herself." Ouch! Even Mika Brzezinski was embarrassed by Grimes' cringe-worthy performance, as you'll see in the screengrab. View the video here.

Jim Geragthy, acclaimed author and National Review’s chief campaign analyst, has been grousing about the lack of quality polling in key Senate races this year. His frustration is well-founded. So yesterday must have felt like Christmas in September for Jim and political junkies everywhere, as two pollsters released a deluge of surveys covering the most contested races in the country. In light of the results, I’d expect that national Republicans are kicking off the week with an extra spring in their step, as well. We were leaked an advance copy of last week’s much-anticipated Politico/GWU Battleground poll, which was packed...

Wow. “The Iron Dome has been a big reason why Israel has been able to withstand the terrorists that have tried to tunnel their way in.” — Alison Lundergan Grimes, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Kentucky. The “Iron Dome” is an anti-missile air-defense system that shoots down incoming rockets, similar to the Patriot-missile batteries that the U.S. used in the Persian Gulf War. It does not work underground.

The issues of gender equality and women’s rights are being used by Democrats in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race to illustrate the disconnect between Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and women voters as a pro-choice group begins to run ads in the state and a big name McConnell foe criticizes his stances. NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, a group which has endorsed Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes and called her a “pro-choice champion”, released an ad Tuesday to run statewide in Kentucky for a week. The group says the 30-second ad, titled “Mitch McConnell Will Never Do the Right Thing for...

The Medicare claims from a budget plan proposed in 2011 are again at the center of the Kentucky U.S. Senate race as the campaign of Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell released another ad on the topic Monday defending his record. The McConnell campaign released a new web ad Monday morning hitting Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes on her campaign’s first negative TV ad , which caused controversy because of claims made by Grimes. The ad, titled “Asked and Answered”, uses clips of news programs questioning the claims in the Grimes ad where a retired coal miner asks Senator McConnell why...

Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty. ---Derek Zoolander. The campaign of Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is running as the Democrat candidate for Senate from Kentucky, was in a rush to differentiate her from President Obama's new EPA regulations on coal. Apparently they didn't have time to check out the background of the "coal miner" whose picture they used in their initial newspaper ad run. It turned out that he was a European male model, hardly the coal mining type. The crew of Morning Joe had a good laugh featuring the model in his...

Election 2014: Kentucky Senate Kentucky Senate: McConnell (R) 48%, Grimes (D) 41% Friday, May 30, 2014 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell now holds a seven-point lead over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race following last week’s state party primaries. McConnell earns 48% support to Grimes’ 41% in the latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Kentucky Voters. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. The two were tied with 42% support each in late January in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the then-hypothetical race. McConnell, a...