Mitch McConnell Walks the Razor's Edge

[sheshe2]

by BooMan
Mon May 19th, 2014 at 02:38:13 PM EST

Al Cross has some smart analysis of the situation in Kentucky where Mitch McConnell is headed to a (perhaps narrower than anticipated) victory in Tuesday's primary. However, one thing that I think Cross misses is the tension between McConnell's need to run up the score on Bevin and his need not to alienate Bevin's voters to the degree that a significant percentage of them don't turn out to vote for him in November.

In the latest Bluegrass Poll, McConnell is in a statistical dead-heat with Alison Lundergan Grimes, trailing 42%-43%. He is going to need a lot of Bevin voters if he is going to survive. Yet, he doesn't want a weaker than expected performance in the primary because that will leave blood in the water that will attract Democratic donors and volunteers. Also, as Cross points out, a weak performance won't help McConnell in his battle against the Senate Conservatives Fund.

So, McConnell is in a bit of a no-win situation, but at least it looks like he will survive past Tuesday.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2014/5/19/143813/815?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boomantribune%2FSvpw+%28Booman+Tribune%29

[mgcgulfcoast]

1. this is a pick up for us

[A Little Weird]

2. McConnell has more money

But Bevin supporters seem to have more enthusiasm. It might get interesting if they decide to stay home in November.

PS - Fellow Kentuckians, don't forget to vote tomorrow!

https://cdcbp.ky.gov/VICWeb/index.jsp - if you need to find out where to vote or look at a sample ballot.

[sheshe2]

3. Good luck tomorrow in Kentucky, ALW.

Do you know any stats if the race was Bevin and Grimes? I can look them up if you don't.

[A Little Weird]

4. No

I haven't seen any polling on that; I don't think very many people think it's a possibility.