McConnell's Campaign Won Today's Round of Political Mudslinging

Arit John

If elections were won with sass, then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slight lead over Alison Lundergan Grimes in the polls for Kentucky's senate race would be justified. After the Grimes campaign released an ad distancing her from President Obama and mocking McConnell's gun-holding skills on Monday, the McConnell campaign used her touting against her. As Talking Points Memo noted, both President Obama and Alison Lundergan "I'm not Obama" Grimes have gone skeet shooting.

In Monday's ad "Skeet Shooting," Grimes goes shooting in a field and — after mentioning the time McConnell's campaign confused Duke and the University of Kentucky in an ad — points out that she is not Barack Obama, despite McConnell trying to link her to him. "I'm not Barack Obama. I disagree with him on guns, coal, and the EPA," she says. "And Mitch, that's not how you hold a gun," she adds, referring to the picture above.

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She has a point — Grimes, as with most red state Democrats, is wary of the party line on guns and the environment. Grimes is a member of the NRA and has been critical of the Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency policies, especially related to coal. Also, that's not how you hold a gun, a joke she's used in the past.

At the same time, she's not the first Democrat to use a skeet shooting photo shoot as a way to show her support for the Second Amendment. Obama went skeet shooting last year, something the McConnell campaign brought up in a short tweet:

Based on actual arguments, Grimes made a good points: she disagrees with the president on issues that are important to Kentucky residents. As far as making fun of your opponent, on the other hand, Grimes recycled some old jokes but McConnell's team sent out a pretty good tweet.

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/09/mcconnells-campaign-won-todays-round-of-political-mudslinging/380232/

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