DownWithTyranny!: FOCUS ON MITCH McCONNELL-- AND NO, THIS ISN'T ABOUT LARRY FLYNT'S NEXT BIG SCOOP

With the decisive defeat of corrupt and reactionary Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher, all eyes are now turned on his fellow Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell. McConnell is a big target, not the least of all because he heads the Bush Regime's unrelenting policy of obstructionism in the Senate. When people say they are dissatisfied with Congress, whether they realize it or not, what most are saying is that they are dissatisfied with Mitch McConnell who, through a bagful of parliamentary tricks and maneuvers, has been able to block every bit of legislation that would start the process of cleaning up the mess that the Bush Regime has created in the past 7 years-- from Iraq to a faltering economy. It is the task of Democrats and progressives to make sure Kentucky voters are aware of McConnell's role, as the DSCC did, very effectively, in the past month with a 30-second spot tying his obstructionism to the defeat of the popular children's health insurance program.

The hallmark of McConnell's political career has been one of working for the interests of his financial backers and campaign contributors, regardless of the damage he has caused to his own constituents. He is the king of special interests and has so thoroughly earned the ire of ordinary Kentuckians that his re-election is in real jeopardy, regardless of what "safe" the Inside the Beltway pundits rate his seat.

The new issue of Newsweek offers a mixed assessment, bowing to Insider conventional wisdom while noting the reality of McConnell's collapsing support at home. Just a few weeks ago he was all over TV talking about how he's never met a finer man than Ernie Fletcher. Not only did Kentucky voters overwhelmingly disagree, they're now wondering what kind of crooks McConnell associates with if Fletcher is the finest he's ever met.

Newsweek points out that so far McConnell has no real challenger-- but lots of money. He's the best friend of corporate interests who wish to maintain the status quo and they have given him millions of dollars to use for an aggressive propaganda campaign. He is the first Republican incumbent to have started to run TV spots.

McConnell, known for his bare-knuckled campaign style, sent a clear message to any would-be Democratic challenger at a recent meeting where Republicans plotted strategy after losing the governor's race.

"I'm a bigger target, but I'm a pretty big boy," McConnell said. "And I'll tell you this, as I've said before, they throw a pebble at me, I'm going to throw a boulder back."

Recent newspaper polls have sent mixed signals about McConnell's standing in the state.
A Lexington Herald-Leader/Action News 36 Election Poll in October showed that 46 percent of respondents disapproved of McConnell's job performance and 45 percent approved. The Courier-Journal's Bluegrass Poll in September put McConnell's approval rating at 54 percent, while 28 percent disapproved and the rest had no opinion.

Not even his sharpest critics doubt McConnell's political abilities. He is viewed as the mastermind behind the GOP's rise to power in Kentucky in recent years. Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats, four of six congressional seats and control the state Senate.

University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said McConnell remains the favorite in next year's race.

"My money's on McConnell and always is because he has so much money," Sabato said. "He's the minority leader, and he's as wily as anybody in politics. But I'll bet even he recognizes that he has to be on guard, probably more than at any time since his first re-election in 1990."

Not just Sabato's money. No one takes more legal corporate bribes than McConnell. Among the top 10 industries that have financed McConnell's rise to power, and whose interests he serves in the Senate are lawyers, HMOs and health professionals, investment firms, the pro-Israel lobby, insurance firms, real estate firms, oil and gas firms, commercial banks and mining firms. Each of these industry groups have contributed in the range of half a million to one million dollars to McConnell. A letter to the editor in today's Louisville Courier-Journal by John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO makes it clear why working men and women are not enamored of McConnell's record of accomplishment.

Sen. Mitch McConnell's op-ed in the Nov. 5 Courier-Journal missed the mark with such intensity that he must know he's up for the election of his life next November.

The senator's record on worker safety issues is appalling. Instead of spending his time writing laws that will help assure workers make it home at night, McConnell writes op-eds attacking organizations like labor unions that are fighting to protect workers on the job. If it weren't so serious, we'd roll our eyes at his self-righteousness.

McConnell should check his voting record before claiming he is representing workers. On Nov. 7 of this year, he voted against the FY 2008 Labor-HHS Funding bill, which would have enhanced funding for coal mine safety inspections, expanded mine safety research and required new mine safety measures. Two weeks before that, he supported an amendment that would have cut funding for black lung clinics by 10 percent, including two clinics in Kentucky. It is a voting record that I wouldn't parade around as an example of protecting Kentuckians.

And it's no wonder the senator is worried. Only 20 percent of Kentucky union voters said they would choose to re-elect McConnell, in an Election Night poll conducted by Peter D. Hart Associates. In this year's election, the top issues on working people's minds were good jobs, the economy and health care. You can bet that next year, the same issues will be on all voters' minds as they march to the polls to elect candidates who will fight for working people.

John Sweeney
President, AFL-CIO

The AFL-CIO's website goes more into depth about McConnell's repulsive record on mine safety in a state where it matters a great deal. But an even better website to follow McConnell's shameful career is DitchMitchKY.com, a grassroots effort by concerned citizens who are less interested in pushing any particular opponent to McConnell than they are in exposing his unsuitability for office.

Prognosticators feel the most likely challenger will be departing Attorney General Greg Stumbo, state Auditor Crit Luallen, who won a second term this month by a huge margin, Iraq war veteran Andrew Horne, or wealthy Louisville businessman Charlie Owen. McConnell will count on his gigantic war chest to beat back any challenger. Ironically, he won't be counting on the president whose agenda he has served so slavishly. His senatorial colleague, Jim Bunning squeaked to a narrow victory in 2004 largely because of George Bush's coattails. Bush is now thoroughly detested in Kentucky and his coattails would be reverse coattails. Bunning outspent his Democratic rival, newly elected lieutenant governor Dan Mongiardo $6 million to $3 million and wound up with a 51% victory (while Bush took 60%).

The most recent polling from SUSA indicates that if Kentuckians had it to do all over again Bush would not get their votes. This month Bush has only a 35% approval rating (which only goes up to 48% among people who call themselves "pro-life") and sinks to 29% among voters 34 years old and younger. A few weeks earlier SUSA had completed senate approval polling and McConnell was still below 50% (49%-- 44% among women, who seem to sense something strange about him).

Meanwhile, University of Kentucky Young Democrats are speaking for more and more ordinary citizens of Kentucky when they suggest that Bush should take McConnell with him when he leaves office: