Largely ignoring his challenger and the souring economy, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is banking on his seniority and position as Senate Republican leader to be the most persuasive argument to voters on Nov. 4.
McConnell, in the final two weeks of toughest reelection campaign, will deliver that message in person in part of his statewide bus tour that kicks off Monday in Green County and the southern Kentucky region.
Meanwhile, his Democratic challenger, Bruce Lunsford, has rolled out a number of themes in commercials — such as "Don't get McConned" and the "How are you doing?" -- aimed at painting McConnell as being absorbed into Washington scene while failing to do the people's business.
Lunsford's overarching pitch to voters is that he's not McConnell.
"Even if you haven't met me and you haven't spent any time with me, remember this first thing: I'm running against Mitch McConnell," Lunsford said to open his remarks to 250 Democrats in a Madison County fairgrounds livestock pavilion last week.
Lunsford, too, will be making his closing arguments directly to voters over the next two weeks. His task is to convince anxious voters who feel hammered by rising costs of living and an unstable economy that he's a legitimate alternative to McConnell.
"Let me tell you the difference between Mitch McConnell and me: I'm not a debater, I'm a doer," he said in Richmond. "I think I can easily say on this stage that in the state of Kentucky, no individual has produced more jobs ... than I have. Nobody."
Read the complete story at kentucky.com