Democrats Turn Surreal

For those old enough to remember, Johnny Carson once had a dialogue with his audience about the weather.  After he opened by remarking about how really hot the weather was that day, the audience responded in unison, "how hot was it?" then Johnny replied with the punch line, "it was so hot today that I just saw a pigeon was walking in the shadow of Orson Welles."

For the Orson Welles (albeit a skinny one) casting his shadow over a pigeon in the 2014 Kentucky Senate Race -- that is, the punch line known as Barack Obama -- the dialogue begins with how really unpopular the President is today.  How unpopular is he?  He is so unpopular today that I just saw a liberal newspaper columnist trying to boost Allison Lundergan Grimes' campaign by claiming that -- get this -- Mitch McConnell is more like Obama than is Grimes!  Yes, that's right.  Apparently, the Democrats' latest strategy to get voters to forget that Obama needs Grimes is to make the absurd argument that he really needs McConnell.  How else is there to describe Sam Youngman's article, "On Battling Islamic State, Mitch McConnell is Barack Obama's 'Kentucky Candidate'"?  Do they really think Kentuckians are dumb enough to believe that?
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Cosmo Endorses Allison Lundergan Grimes

Cosmopolitan Magazine has announced that it is endorsing Allison Lundergan Grimes.  The rationale given was that Grimes is pro-choice, whereas Mitch McConnell has said that he will introduce legislation to ban late-term abortions. As Cosmo put it, Grimes has

earned endorsements from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and she's recommended by EMILY's List.

Cosmo is trying to boost the Dems' War on Women's Ladyparts narrative in an effort to turn out young single women.  Grimes' already had their vote.

Married women, in contrast, will not be impressed with the Cosmo endorsement.  To the contrary, many Kentucky women find the magazine off-putting.  It is a slutty, silly magazine that objectifies women.  Really gross. The endorsement just underscores how unserious Grimes is as a candidate, and how unsuited she is to represent Kentucky.

It will be interesting to see how Grimes handles the endorsement and even more interesting to know to what extent the Grimes campaign actually courted Cosmo to get the endorsement.

McConnell Gets Warm Reception at U of L Opener

Senate Republican Mitch McConnell was in the stands to watch the University of Louisville defeat University of Miami in the first game of the football season Labor Day evening.  McConnell rarely misses a home game. He is always decked out in his Cards gear and watches every minute. As he is with his politics, McConnell,  is steadfast. He is no fair weather fan.

Generally, the other fans at the football game pay no mind to McConnell, or perhaps give him his space. He is just another guy in the stands chanting "Cards First Down!"

The Miami game, however, was different.  People treated McConnell differently.  As he walked from the tailgate area to the stadium, people kept asking to have their picture taken with him. McConnell's presence generated a buzz, an excitement in the crowd. He was warmly greeted.  There were no hecklers, perhaps because the Allison Lundergan Grimes had no presence whatsoever.

One large group of maybe six or eight couples politely asked for a photo. Apparently this group did not receive the DNC memo that Republicans are waging a War On Women.

 While the half dozen or more wives surrounded McConnell, their husbands all snapped photos.  I am sure these are floating around Facebook and Instagram. This particular encounter was illustrative of McConnell's advantage with married women.

As McConnell drew closer to the stadium, another woman approached McConnell. She was approximately 30 years of age and with her husband.  She told McConnell that she is a small business owner and thanked him for all he had done to fight Obamacare.  They talked for some time. He listened intently as she explained the devastating impact that health care premiums are having on her business. I couldn't hear most of the conversation, but her support for McConnell, her gratitude for his service and his respect for him spoke volumes.

This is why McConnell is essentially tied with Grimes for women's votes. Grimes's lead with young women is not enough to overcome the Marriage Gap advantage that Republicans have with married women. Democrats do well among young, single women, and pander to this group with promises of free birth control and fear-mongering about Republicans coming to imprison their Lady Parts.

 Married women, with a few more years of life experience, see through this nonsense. That's why they are backing the grown-up in the race, McConnell.

Alison Grimes, Daddy's Little Girl

Alison Lundergan Grimes doesn't have just a bus problem:  she has Daddy Issues.  It was only a question of time before the Jerry Lundergan would become the focus of his daughter's campaign.  He is irresistible both to Grimes supporters and those who oppose her.

On the one hand, Lundergan is well-connected with prominent Democrats, most notably the Clintons.  As former Chair of the Kentucky Democratic Party and a former member of the state House, he is an experienced pol in his own right, and widely believed to be making all the strategic calls for his daughter's campaign. Given the political landscape nationally this year, the fact that Grimes has access to buckets of cash through Daddy and friends made her an attractive candidate.

However, there is a perception that like the Clintons, Lundergan  is a grifter who skates awfully close to the line.  Grimes's supporters write irate comments whenever it is pointed out that Lundergan was convicted of a felony. He is technically not a "felon," Grimes's supporters  argue, because his conviction  for a state ethics violation was overturned on appeal.  Though true, that is an unsavory point for Grimes's supporters to have to debate.

Here's the reason that the bus issue is resonating and won't go away:  it is vintage Lundergan.  We knew this scandal was coming in one form or another. Grimes's Daddy essentially bought for her and then rented her a bus on the cheap. That's a generous impulse from a doting dad, but given his previous run-ins with the law, one would have thought that Lundergan would have been more careful.  Clearly, he has learned nothing.

Grimes, moreover, compromised her integrity and has seriously undermined her campaign to save a few bucks -- which makes no sense whatsoever given that her campaign is rolling in dough.  Thanks to Daddy and Slick Willie calling in favors, Grime is hauling suitcases full of money from Hollywood and New York. Even Woody Allen contributed to Grimes.

So why not rent a bus from a transportation company unrelated to her father, so as to avoid the accusation that she is violating federal election law?  It was a risk she did not need to take.

And yet she used Daddy's companies, not just to rent her bus but for many other aspects of her campaign, as well.. The unescapable conclusions is that Grimes's political instincts are not good.  Further, Grimes appears to be detached from the running of her own campaign. Grimes is a lawyer, and the daughter of someone who was convicted for an ethics violations.  This should have been one  part of the campaign where she should have taken a keen interest. But she did not. If this is the kind of attention to detail she pays to her own affairs, Kentuckians cannot count on her to navigate her way through the U.S. Senate.

Grimes does not have the gravitas to survive in the U.S. Senate.

Mitch Momentum

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Fancy Farm Photos

Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Fancy That

The Fancy Farm picture on the first page of today's Courier-Journal says it all:  the Republicans are young, energetic and on their feet; the Democrats are middle aged, tired and sitting on their party mascots, to put it politely.  It brought to mind the latest SUSA poll:  Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is winning both the youth and senior vote, while Alison Grimes' coalition is at the crisis point, composed mostly of middle agers.

Clearly McConnell has momentum.  That was evident from the level of enthusiasm of his supporters yesterday.  They were far more relaxed and confident than last year, when general unease divided the right field at Fancy Farm.  One never knew when or where an isolated Matt Bevin supporter would ring a cowbell next.  This year, though Bevin did attend the Graves County Republican breakfast (which he curiously boycotted last year), he made no podium remarks comparable to his last year's, "look how smart I am to make a literary allusion," quoting of John Donne's poem about the tolling bell. Indeed, he had no microphone at Fancy Farm at all this year.  Bevin sat on a bench near the back of the school cafeteria where the breakfast was held. Good for him, though, for at least showing up this year -- and for biting his tongue when one of the speakers made reference to McConnell's landslide victory in the primary.

And good for Senator Rand Paul, who delivered poetry also -- a lampoonish Lundergan-Grimes limerick.  Attorney General Jack Conway continued as character foil to Paul.  Conway spent most of his speech crowing about how great Jack Conway is as Attorney General, and how great it would be to elect Jack Conway as Governor, before ending with an, oh, and you should vote for Grimes for Senate also.  Paul, in contrast, said nothing about himself during his speech -- despite that he is the Republican frontrunner for the Presidency -- and remained the bigger candidate and man than the one who thought Aqua Buddha would get him elected to the U.S. Senate.

The Paul-Conway contrast was just one example of difference between the Republican and Democratic speakers at this year's Fancy Farm.  The Republicans had their National A-Team, led by the likely next Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate and possibly the next President of the United States.  The Democrats had their farm-league club.  Where was that Major League pitcher like President Barack Obama's teleprompter when the Democrats really needed it?

The only mentions of Obama (and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid) were by the Republicans.  The Grimes supporters awkwardly responded to their party leaders' names.  Obama and Reid were like  embarrassing, distant relatives at yesterday's Democratic family gathering.  The Grimes folks mostly just tried to ignore them, though Grimes did not dispute the Republicans' repeated point that her first vote as U.S. Senator would be for Uncle Harry to be her leader.

Other Democrats oddly missing at Fancy Farm were minorities.  In his breakfast speech Paul continued to advocate for the party of Lincoln to make more of an effort to reclaim its historic support from the African American community. But, again the C-J's picture tells a story:  there are no African Americans in sight, either on the Republican or the Democratic side.  From personal observation, however, I can say there were some African Americans and other minorities among McConnell's supporters who were outside the lens of the C-J's camera.

But I can't say I saw any minorities anywhere on the Grimes side.  This recollection seemed all the more significant this morning when I read in the C-J about a Northern Kentucky Democrat tweeting that McConnell's wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, "isn't from KY, she is Asian."

Indeed, whether you were born in Kentucky seemed to be a Democratic talking point yesterday.  A self-appointed "news" videographer from the Grimes camp -- at least I figured so since he was wearing a Grimes tee shirt -- came over to the McConnell side to interview Republicans.  One of his questions was whether we knew that McConnell wasn't born in Kentucky.

You know you are winning when the other side starts making the birther argument.
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Claudia Tenney is the Real Deal

Congressional candidate Claudia Tenney is a true conservative, always has been. We have been friends since high school.  I am delighted that she is running for the Republican nomination in New York's 22nd Congressional district, where we grew up. Good for Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and the many other conservative talk show hosts and writers who have endorsed Claudia.

Claudia is a lawyer and a constitutional conservative.   Her late father was a highly respected conservative judge and a true gentlemen.  He would be proud of the campaign she has waged against incumbent Richard Hanna -- the third most liberal Republican in the House of Representatives. Having grown up in Judge Tenney's household, Claudia learned early on that rule of law requires judges to apply the law rather than legislate from the bench.  She likewise respects the plain text of the constitution, including the second amendment.  Claudia is not one for discovering new "rights" in the constitution's penumbras and emanations, and so it is no surprise that Claudia opposes abortion.

Claudia is a single mother and justly proud of her son, who graduated from Annapolis and is a Marine officer. She raised him while running a small business, practicing law and doing volunteer work with Bosnian refugees.

I think the fierceness and intensity of her campaign stems from Claudia's ability as an athlete. She is a superb equestrian, one of the best on the U.S. Hunter-Jumper circuit back when we were in high school.  In show-jumping and also skiing, she was fearless.  She took up basketball and later golf and I have no doubt she's very, very good.  Claudia likes to compete and she is an extremely hard worker -- all attributes that will serve her well in Congress.

Although Claudia has Tea Party backing, she is no wild-eyed Mourdock or Akin. Claudia's family has been active in the Republican Party in Central New York for generations. She will be able to move comfortably with Establishment Republicans to get things done for the district, but will never go wobbly. Washington won't change Claudia.  To the extent that it is still possible, however, Claudia might change Washington. 

Notwithstanding her tenacity, Claudia is kind.  She is generous.  She is a loyal friend, has a great sense of humor and is one of the most honest people I have ever met.  I wish I still lived in the district so I could vote for her tomorrow.  In the meantime, I am praying for the Republicans in NY-22 give her the nomination.  Her opponent is so liberal that the Democrats did not bother to nominate anybody.  If Claudia wins tomorrow, she will be going to Congress. 

Central New York conservatives, you need to turn out tomorrow.  The nation is watching so get it right.

Matt Bevin Does the Right Thing

At Saturday night's Lincoln Day dinner for the Kentucky Republican Party, the highlight was the surprise appearance of Matt Bevin.

Sen. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had taken to the podium. He reminisced about how not that many years back, it was hard to recruit Republicans to run for office, given the Democrats' commanding lead in voter registration.  Now, that gap has closed significantly.  As a consequence, McConnell said, candidates value the Republican nomination.  The inevitable result is more Republican primaries. Reflecting upon his recent primary, McConnell said that there was someone he needed to thank for making him a better candidate for the general election:  Matt Bevin.

At that point, McConnell gestured to the left corner of the ballroom and Matt Bevin stood up.  A surprised and delighted audience immediately gave Bevin a standing ovation.

 It was a show of unity that few expected in light of the tone of Bevin's concessions speech.  Concession speeches, however, are given in the raw moments when the reality of the loss is just beginning to sink in.  Two and half weeks later, Bevin demonstrated true graciousness.  But Bevin's presence was more than good sportsmanship.  His campaign argued for conservative policy solutions and by showing up at the state party dinner -- the bastion of  Establishment Republicans - he put the focus on the need to elect the most conservative candidate.  After the primary, that is McConnell. (Indeed, I would argue that McConnell was the most conservative candidate before the primary, but that is now beside the point).

I never believed that many of the Bevin supporters would stay home come the general election.  The Bevin supporters I know are committed conservatives, deeply patriotic Kentuckians who recognize that men and women put their lives on the line to defend our freedom. The most precious exercise of that freedom is when we vote. To stay home out of bitterness about a primary loss is unworthy of the right to vote.

Unlike the Rand Paul - Trey Grayson primary,  there was no "unity rally" after the primary this year. That was a source of disappointment and consternation to many Republicans. Then Matt Bevin showed up and demonstrated unity when we least expected it, and for that he deserves our respect and gratitude.

Senator Mike Enzi Delivers GOP Address

Great News For McConnell

A new Rasmusson poll shows that those voters who backed Bevin in the primary are coming back to McConnell for the general election.

The new poll has McConnell beating Alison Ludergan Grimes 48-41 percent among likely voters.  This is a significant shift, given that poll after poll before the primary showed the race as neck and neck.

According the the poll, McConnell now has the backing of 76 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Kentucky Democrats.  Grimes has 67 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of Republicans. Grimes is ahead of unaffiliated voters by three points.

Before the primary, one out of four Bevin supporters planned to vote for Grimes in the general if Bevin lost.  That margin was unsustainable. To the extent that the Bevin supporters truly thought that McConnell was not conservative enough, it never made any sense to think that Grimes would be more conservative than McConnell.

Grimes's appeal to the Bevin supporters could never offer anything substantive, just dislike for McConnell. Most Bevin supporters, however, were motivated in the primary by substance, not atmospherics. They sincerely thought that Bevin was the more conservative candidate.  He was not, in my view, but no matter:  it is beyond dispute that McConnell is much more conservative than Grimes.

I predict that Republican voters will further unite behind McConnell as the general election draws nearer.  Grimes claims that she is an "independent Kentucky woman."  That is beside the point. If elected, Harry Reid will be the boss of her.  Literally.  She will have no choice but to vote with his caucus

Thanks For the Mail, Alison!

I have a letter from Alison "Who's Your Daddy" Grimes. She sent it by mistake, but no matter.  The good news is that Alison has cleaned up her grammar.  She no longer boasts, "I don't scare easy."  Now she boasts "I don't scare easily."  Hooray!  Alison has mastered the distinction between an adjective and an adverb. Thata girl!

Now if only she could master the distinction between unemployment benefits and welfare.

Grimes complains that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell voted not to "Extend unemployment benefits in the wake of the Recession."  She points to votes on March 10, 2010, April 15, 2010, and July 20, 2010.

It is fascinating that Grimes describes these dates, particularly the last one, as the "wake of the Recession." Grimes has forgotten that Obama decreed 2010 as the Recovery Summer. Not that it's been much of a recovery. To the contrary -- many Americans remain underemployed, working multiple part-time jobs, and jobs for which they are overqualified.  Many other Americans have simply given up looking.  These people, more than any other, need the opportunity that only comes from a growing economy and an infusion of new jobs from new businesses.

At first blush, extending unemployment seems compassionate. But to keep extending it -- over and over, literally year after year -- is disingenuous.  At some point, unemployment ceases to be a temporary aid to pay bills while between jobs. At some point, it is no longer unemployment, but rather welfare hiding under a different name.

The distinction matters for several reasons.  Using the correct word matters.  Democrats like Obama, Harry Reid and Grimes are prone to obfuscate the debate by using the wrong word (think "fetus" for "baby").  According to Democrat lore, Bill Clinton abolished "welfare as we know it."  It is his big claim to fame (well, maybe his second).

 Heaven knows we Kentuckians will be subjected to lots of Clinton visits to help Grimes, daughter of their buddy Jerry Lundergan.  These visits will attempt to make us wax poetic for the Clinton years and the Clinton economy.  That nostalgia hinges on Clinton having "abolished" welfare.  The problem for Grimes is that to the extent that Clinton "abolished" welfare, Obama brought it roaring back.

Whether characterized as welfare or as unemployment benefits extended ad infinitum, the extension never addressed the root of the problem of why so many Americans remain unemployed for so long.  The main reason:  Obamacare.

While the Democrats tried to buy Americans off, McConnell was attempting to address Obamacare, the obstacle to a true recovery. Recall that when Democrats shoved Obamacare down America's throat that Christmas Eve, McConnell held together a Republican caucus that spans the spectrum from Olympia Snow to Ted Cruz; not a single Republican voted for Obamacare.  Consequently, Democrats -- including Grimes's party Leaders Reid, Obama and Pelosi -- own it.  And they own the consequences, including the stagnant job growth.

Sen. Rand Paul explained that at some point, extending unemployment benefits actually does a disservice to the recipients, because it causes them to become a part of a permanent class of unemployed; the unemployment benefits become a disincentive to employment.

In complaining about McConnell's votes, Grimes never tells us, is there ever a point at which she would vote against extending unemployment benefits? Ever? Can there never be a cut-off? If not, she is every bit as rigid, obstructionist and ideological as she accuses McConnell of being.

Grimes never addresses the fact that America borrows 40 cents of every dollar of unemployment benefits from the Chinese. That is no longer just fiscally irresponsible, but a threat to our national security.  At the very least, an extension of unemployment benefits should be matched with a cut in spending.  McConnell understands that. Grimes, apparently, does not. McConnell's vote was a sober, adult, courageous response to a bad situation caused by an inept and profligate administration, one that very much wants to see Grimes win.

Bevin Underwhelmed and Underperformed

Josh Holmes, Senior Advisor to the McConnell Senate Committee '14 (and a brilliant tactician) has compared  ten years of  results of U.S. Senate races in which the incumbent was "primaried."  These races reveal that primary challengers to an incumbent senator who spend more than $1 million average 47.57 percent of the vote.

Matt Bevin's campaign has spent in excess of $3.3 million, and yet, going into Primary Election Day, he trailed McConnell by 20 points.  Even if Bevin gets a late rush of support, there is no universe in which it is possible for him to win 47 percent of the vote, despite the fact that he has spent more than three times the magic million dollar number.

 Bevin spent more than any primary challenger of an incumbent senator in the last two cycles, thanks to Senate Conservative Fund, Freedomworks, Tea Party Patriots and the Madison Project.  All those dollars spent by outside groups ended up helping the paid consultants and operatives, but did little to advance Bevin as a serious candidate. (Contributors to those organizations, you've been duped.)

Moreover, Bevin got a huge boost in name idea by the amount of media coverage of him, approximately 3.5 times more than the winner of last week's Senate primary in Nebraska, home to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.  The coverage overstated Bevin's ability, not only as a candidate, but as an existential threat to McConnell.  Recall that Joe Gerth said that McConnell "would rather have a strangulated hernia than face Matt Bevin."  Well, sure, McConnell undoubtedly would have preferred to avoid a primary. Even still, Bevin, was more of a distraction and an annoyance, hardly comparable to a "strangulated hernia."

I will resist the temptation to compare the media predictions and assessments of Bevin at the outset with the reality of how he actually performed.  There is no point.  He is by many accounts a good father and neighbor. He says that he is a conservative, and if so, he will get behind the most conservative candidate who will be on the ballot come November, the future Senate Majority Leader:  Mitch McConnell.

Senator McConnell Campaigns At Bowman Field

Mitch and Elaine
start the day off right . . .

. . . and greet supporters.
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Grimes Spies Drone On

"Here's looking at you."  

Spotted at Mitch McConnell's rally at Bowman Field today
Please note: The postings of "G. Morris", written by John K. Bush and which end in 2016, stated his views as of the dates of posting and should not be understood as current assertions of his views. The postings, which have not been altered since they came to an end, remain on this blog to preserve the historical record. In 2017, Mr. Bush took a position that precludes further public political comments or endorsements. He will no longer be contributing to this blog.

Last Push For the Primary

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao met a group of supporters at Bowman Field this morning before boarding a plane to fly around the Commonwealth for one last day of campaigning before tomorrow's primary election.

Three opposition trackers filmed the send-off as McConnell  worked the crowd and waved good bye.   

Both McConnell and Chao seemed relaxed and ready to hit the stump.  The atmosphere was cheerful about the certainty of McConnell's impending win over Matt Bevin. 

Bevin has been an annoyance and a minor distraction to the McConnell campaign.  Nonetheless, the silver lining of the primary is that it gave the McConnell campaign a dry run for November -- an opportunity to refine get out the vote and ballot security initiatives.  In that regard, the McConnell campaign appears to be taking initiative that the national party and Romney campaign failed to achieve in 2012.  These efforts will not only help McConnell in November, but will also increase the odds of Republicans flipping the state House.

The most remarkable thing about the primary is that McConnell has been subjected to $4 million in negative advertising and direct mail, and yet he is better positioned now; he has maintained a 20 point lead in the primary against Bevin and improved by three points against Lundergan Grimes.  Most interestingly, the gender gap has closed by eight percent.  And with good reason:  Kentucky women -- especially mothers -- don't want to hear the Democrat fairy tale about a non-existent "war on women."  Kentucky women don't want Sandra Fluke and Nancy Pelosi talking to us about our "lady parts."

Kentucky mothers want to elect the U.S. Senator who gives us the best chance for allowing the private sector to flourish, to provide the kind of jobs to which our children aspire -- not a permanent class stuck at the minimum wage, who can only get a raise when the government so orders business.  Kentucky mothers know that Mitch McConnell is the best bet for our children being able to get good jobs, buy a home and support a family, not live in our basements and stay on our insurance plans until age 26,

Matt Bevin's Crappy Luck Continues

It's symbolic of his whole campaign:  Matt Bevin got rear-ended by a McConnell supporter while campaigning.

It was raining hard, and Bevin inexplicably stopped his SUV on an entrance ramp while he and a friend or aid decided where to go next, when a teenaged girl rear-ended him.  As they were surveying the damage to their cars, Bevin commented on a pro-Republican bumper sticker on the girl's car. He asked who she was supporting in the U.S. Senate race and the girl replied that she was supporting McConnell.

Sen. Lamar Alexander Gives GOP Address

Alison Lundergan Grimes is Wrong on Minimum Wage

Alison Lundergan Grimes's argument for increasing the minimum wage reflects the doe-eyed naivete that has characterized her campaign:  the policy she advocates would actually hurt those she purports to help.

It's as if Grimes thinks that the government can outlaw poverty by ordering businesses to give workers a raise. Why stop with just the minimum wage?  Let's give everyone in Kentucky a raise!

In Grimes's op-ed in the Courier-Journal, she makes the spectacular assertion that raising the minimum wage would create jobs, when in fact, it  would do the opposite.

Grimes's inability to grasp basic economic concepts such as the laws of supply and demand underscores that she is not ready to lead. The cost of labor is no different than the cost of raw materials.  When the cost goes up, an employer has three choices:  (1) cut the number of employees -- either by firing existing employees or declining to hire new ones; (2) cut workers' hours; or (3) pass along the increased labor costs to consumers by raising the prices for goods or services.

Grimes points out that more and more Kentuckians are working minimum wage jobs.  But that is just a function of the "Obama recovery."  The last thing that Kentucky businesses need is more government regulation making it more difficult and more expensive to survive. To the contrary, for Kentucky to attract new businesses, we need to cut taxes and regulation -- which is why Kentucky needs to flip the House.

Though she pitches her argument to Kentuckians, Grimes is advocating the national minimum wage increase that Obama has been seeking. Plainly,  Grimes and Obama are of the view that Washington knows best and one size will fit all, thereby preventing Kentucky from using our lower cost of living and lower labor costs to lure businesses here from higher labor states like New Jersey (which is reaping the disastrous effects of increasing its minimum wage).

Grimes's makes the argument that "[p]rivate-sector leaders, including Gap. Inc. and Costco, have independently raised wages for their workers, including Kentuckians right here in the commonwealth."  (Note to Grimes:  we all understand that Kentuckians, by definition, are "right here in the commonwealth." Stop treating voters like we're stupid.)  But as to her point about Gap and Costco, that  illustrates that employers can raise the minimum wage without government compulsion.  If an employer like Gap or Costco wants the best workers, it will pay more to get them.  That's how supply and demand works.

Grimes then goes own to assert that 'recent polling shows that a majority of small business owners support increasing the minimum wage."  Again, Grimes's point undercuts her argument; if a majority of business owners want to increase wages, they are free to do so.  There is no law or regulation preventing them from doing so.  And if Grimes's assertion was true, it would already have happened, and other businesses would respond in kind by similarly offering higher wages.  The reality in the age of Obamacare, however, is that businesses are struggling to keep open under its onerous costs; the last thing they need is the government mandating that the cost of production and services go up even more.

Grimes ignores that minimum wage jobs are an entree into the workforce.  They offer employment experience for young people and women who may be returning to the work force after having taken time off to raise children.  A minimum wage job offers much more than just the wage -- it is an opportunity to get a fresh line on the resume showing recent employment history, a chance to earn a reference so that one can eventually move on to a higher paying job.  An employer will be less likely to take a chance on a worker if the government forces it to pay a wage for which that worker may not be able to deliver value.

Perhaps most disturbing about Grimes's and Obama's characterization of the minimum wage is the unspoken assumption that workers will stay stuck in minimum wage jobs, permanently.  To be sure, Obama and Harry Reid have created an economy where entrepreneurs are loathe to take a risk, start a business, hire new employees. Wages are stagnant and employment is such that huge chunks of the potential workforce have simply given up looking for a job. Yet Grimes wants to go to Washington to help Obama and Reid do more of the same.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell understands that the best way help minimum wage workers is through economic growth and innovation that only comes when we cut the shackles of government regulation and taxes.  The best way to help a minimum wage worker is not by mandating a raise -- which might get that worker fired -- but by creating an economic environment whereby the minimum wage job is a first job, not a sentence for life.

KY Republicans Need to Continue Outreach to Minorities and Youth

Thomas Solwell's column today, on How Republicans Can Win Black Votes, reminded me of a bit of progress I observed recently.

The Jefferson County Republican Party tried something different this year.  Instead of a traditional Lincoln Day dinner,  a few weeks ago it hosted a "Party for the Party," complete with a band and a nominal entrance fee. The idea was to make the event fun and relaxed.  The genius of this approach is that it drew people who would not have paid to eat rubber chicken at a Lincoln Day dinner with a bunch of old white guys who all knew each other. This kind of outreach is key to the very survival of the Republican party.

So I was encouraged at the Party for the Party by the presence of Blacks and young people (teens and early 20's).  To be sure, there were not huge numbers of either group, but the presence of any is real progress, and we cannot let political correctness stop us from acknowledging this. 

One Black woman we spoke with observed that she is sick and tired of Democrats taking for granted that African-American voters will always vote for the Democrat. She therefore appreciated the real efforts that Sen. Rand Paul has made to court the Black vote.

Paul received considerable media coverage for speeches he has given to historically-Black colleges such as Simmons College and Howard University.  In addition to those speeches, however, Paul has quietly been meeting with African-American leaders on a continual basis.  That is how Paul came to recognize the importance of restoration of voting rights for felons who have served their time. He sat down and listened, and thereby learned that it matters deeply to members of the Black community.  Then he went to Frankfort and testified for and successfully lobbied for the necessary legislation to change Kentucky's constitution. In all likelihood, restoration of felony voting will help Democrats more than Republicans, at least in the foreseeable future.  Paul understood this and pressed on anyhow, because he thought it was the right thing to do.

As Sowell notes in his column, school choice is an issue where conservative principles can transform the lives of children -- disproportionately minority children -- stuck in failing schools that the teachers' unions oppose closing. This, too, is an issue that Paul has been vocal about, calling it the "civil rights issue of our day."

School choice (vouchers) and charter schools have a chance of becoming reality in Kentucky in the near future. Republicans stand poised to gain a majority in this state House come November, for the first time in nearly a century.  The House is the last obstacle to preventing school choice, given that it only takes a simple majority to override a veto by the governor here. And maybe we will get a Republican governor in 2015; Hal Heiner has been a strong proponent of school choice for years.

As for the young people at the Jefferson County Party for the Party, Paul gets some credit for speaking to issues that they care about:  that our profligate government is saddling them with debt and also invading their privacy.  Paul's recent speech at Cal Berkely shows that he is willing to go into unfriendly territory to grow the party. (Credit must also be given to the Nate Haney and his staff at the Jefferson County Republican Party for aggressively reaching out high school students as a new source of volunteers.)

Republicans have issues that can appeal to minorities and to Millenials. The Mainstream Media are not going to make our argument for us however.  Paul's outreach and the Jeff. Co. Party for the Party remind us that we must be willing to take the message to new venues, to new voters, to be innovative and welcoming.