McConnell ad hits Grimes on ‘devastating’ dodge in Ky. Senate

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) released a tough new ad Monday that bashes Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) for refusing to admit whether she voted for President Obama. 

{mosads}The ad lets journalists do the talking and includes a super cut of news segments and newspaper articles reporting on Grimes’s meeting with the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board, where she declined to answer the question. The clips from news anchors call Grimes’s move a  “dodge” and “the non-answer heard around the country.”

It ends with some harsh words from NBC’s Chuck Todd, who questioned whether Grimes would be able to take tough votes or answer tough questions if elected to the Senate.

“I think she disqualified herself,” Todd said in a clip from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” at the end of the ad.

The McConnell campaign chided Grimes for the comments immediately after the editorial board meeting. After she was asked three times whether she voted for Obama, Grimes said that she respects “the sanctity of the ballot box” and called herself a “Clinton Democrat through and through.”

Grimes often touts a strong relationship with the Clinton family; former President Clinton traveled to Kentucky to campaign with her earlier this year and Hillary Clinton will be in town on Wednesday. 

McConnell’s team released the ad hours before Monday night’s debate between the two candidates. The long-time Senator holds a slight lead in most polls, but a poll sponsored by a number of state media outlets released last Monday showed Grimes ahead by 2 percentage points.

Also on Monday, the Grimes campaign released its new ad touting an endorsement from former Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.). The 30-second spot accuses McConnell of obstructing progress in the Senate and of sending jobs overseas.