LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell emphasized his political power Monday at the Kentucky Farm Bureau candidate forum, making the argument that voting for former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath would be handing over power to big-city Democrats.
"Electing my opponent to the Senate, presumably with a Democratic majority, makes the Senate dramatically less interested in anything between the two coasts," McConnell said. "I can't think of a clearer rationale for supporting me than that."
McGrath declined an invite to the Farm Bureau forum, claiming a scheduling conflict. She has agreed to participate in two debates _ one on WDRB in Louisville and one on Kentucky Educational Television.
With his opponent absent, McConnell had free reign to make his case about why he was better for Kentucky's agricultural community than McGrath, an argument heavily rooted in the power he has accumulated over his six terms in Washington.
Terry Sebastian, McGrath's spokesman, said McConnell hasn't used his political power to help Kentuckians.
"During the more than 36 years that Mitch McConnell has been in Washington, he has only cared about power," Sebastian said. "Not power to help Kentucky, but power for its own sake and to enrich himself."
Slipping in and out of the stump speech he has given throughout Kentucky, McConnell talked about his history on the Senate Agriculture Committee and his role in getting Kentucky money through the tobacco settlement bill. He talked about his more recent role in legalizing industrial hemp, which had been painted as a lifeline to Kentucky's agriculture community.
"We know that this is going to be a rough start, some people have gone under, some people are just hanging on," McConnell said. "But I'm still optimistic that once the rough start is over, it could be an important thing for Kentucky agriculture."
McConnell is considered the favorite to win in November in a state that leans heavily Republican in federal elections, but his high-profile status as majority leader of the Senate has led to money pouring into the race to unseat him.
"You've seen how much money my opponent has," McConnell said. "I'm the reason. I'm the lightning rod ... every lefty in America would like to see me lose."
At the core of McGrath's campaign is the argument that McConnell has been in Washington, D.C., too long and has been a major factor in the highly polarized political environment that has frustrated both Democrats and Republicans alike.
McConnell acknowledged how long he's been in Washington (the 78-year-old was elected in 1984, when Prince was topping the Billboard Top 100), but was quick to point out that McGrath is backing former Vice President Joe Biden, who's been in Washington even longer (the 77-year-old was elected in 1972, when Roberta Flack was topping the Billboard Top 100).
He also said seniority is an asset, not a weakness in the Senate. McGrath's first vote would be to make U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader of the Senate, McConnell said, effectively handing political power from Kentucky over to New York. One of McConnell's frequent lines when he appears in public is that he is the only party leader in the House and Senate that is not from California or New York.
He talked about how when a senator arrives in Washington as a freshman, they get assigned a seat based on seniority. He said he was 99th in seniority and felt like none of the people ahead of him were going to die, retire or be defeated and that he made it a goal to get to the "best chair" in the Senate, where the majority leader sits.
"I tell you that story only to illustrate the difference that would happen for Kentucky to trade me in for someone who would be dead last in the last chair," McConnell said.
