Is Alison Lundergan Grimes stuck on stupid?

Who the hell is running Alison Lundergan Grimes' campaign? Roseanne Barr? Kentucky Democrats used to be damn clever but lately they seem to have run out of brains. They were sure a woman could beat Mitch McConnell. Any woman but especially Ashley Judd. Judd was the ideal candidate but when she declined to run they recruited Grimes with the hope that she could be pawned off as the next best thing. Maybe if they could run her through rehab a couple she would be just as good. Grimes is not that bad of a candidate but her campaign would be more suited for a blue state such as Maryland than Kentucky. A candidate from Maryland could cozy up to Coal Makes Us Sick Harry Reid and raise money in Hollywood. She is the wrong candidate for her state and screwing up won't change that. She's another Wendy Davis without the nymphomania.
The week after the EPA launched its war on coal Grimes attended a Washington fund raiser with Dirty Harry pledging to use the occasion as her chance to call for more federal spending on clean coal technology. She never spoke the four letter word the entire evening. Politico obtained an audio of her speech which proves as much.
Then there is the Hollywood connection. Both candidates raise most of their money from out of state. It shouldn't surprise anyone that a national figure such a Senate Minority Leader would attract money from New York but Open Secrets identifies the Los Angeles-Long Beach metro area as Grimes' geographical financial base. Hollywood has poured almost $1 million into her war chest. Kentucky is not interested in electing a Senator Kardashian.
As if Reid, Obama, and Hollywood were not enough liabilities the Grimes campaign has enlisted Sandinista Senator Elizabeth Warren to campaign on her behalf. Warren knows what worries unemployed coal miners the most. It's student debt.
"Our campaign welcomes Sen. Warren's support as she champions relief for Kentuckians crushed under the burden of student loan debt," campaign manager Jonathan Hurst said. "As hardworking families across the commonwealth struggle to make ends meet, college affordability is at the top of so many Kentuckians' minds. Unlike Mitch McConnell, who votes against helping students at every turn, Alison Lundergan Grimes will stand up for every Kentuckian who dreams of obtaining a college degree."
Does this man even know what state he's in? Yes, Alison will stand up for Kentuckians who dream but not Kentuckians who work! Leave the Kentucky Bourbon in the cabinet until after the campaign.
"Sen. Warren is all-in for Alison because she knows Alison gets it," Hurst wrote. "Now we need to be all-in, too."
Yes, and Kentuckians are smart enough to know what makes the grass green. Horse shit. The Republican National Committee responded to the news by sending out a news release with the subject line: "No, this is not a joke."
Would Eliot Spitzer have wanted Sarah Palin to campaign for him? No, but the Grimes campaign is probably dumb enough to ask Spitzer to campaign for Alison.


Kentucky, like Louisiana, is a heavily Democratic state that likes to elect Republicans. Democrats hold a 57% to 37% edge in registered voters. It didn't like JFK but went all the way with LBJ then left the solid south until Jimmy Carter. It got enough of Carter in just one term and didn't go for another Democrat until Bill Clinton, who is the only Democrat to carry the state twice since FDR. He was also the last Democrat to carry the state.
Kentucky is obdurately rural and small town. All the people who do not live in Louisville or Lexington live in small towns or on farms. The third largest city, home to Rand Paul, the Everly Brothers and the Chevy Corvette, is Bowling Green, population 58,067. Even the urbanites have elbow room. Lexington, population 296,000, has an area of 285 square miles which compares favorably to Chicago's 234 square miles. If one accepts the proposition that geography hones civic values it should be no surprise that whole states has small town values. It is not star struck. It regards the glamorous Hollywood as a national embarrassment.
Reflecting their rural perception older Kentuckians frequently mention the county rather than the town as their birthplace or residence. Although a Texas transplant Rand Paul with his bird nest hairstyle and wrinkled shirt is Kentucky personified.

If it were a presidential year and a popular Democrat such a Bill Clinton were at the top of the ticket Grimes would be Kentucky's first woman senator but the Democratic Party is hell bent on driving her state into poverty. If law is not her love she could be the ideal game show host. It would be a shame to waste the elocution lessons.