I hate to join the liberal-conservative rant against the mainstream media (or as Sarah Palin would say, the lamestream media), but there has been over-the-top trashing of the Alison Ludergan Grimes campaign by mainstream, lamestream and alternative media.
The common theme: fact-free.
Much of this condemnation came after Grimes refused to say whether she voted for Barack Obama as President.
A New Republic article declared Grimes “is running the worst Senate campaign of the year.”
A Fox News compared her to Todd Akin’s disastrous campaign in Missouri against Sen. Claire McCaskill.
An over-the-top “Meet the Press” host A Chuck Todd explained that Grimes “disqualified herself” because she refused to declare her presidential choice.
The only thing that these “experts” have demonstrated is that they are horses’ asses.
Then, after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) cut its ad buy in Kentucky, many pundits declared that it was a Democratic admission that Mitch McConnell had the race in the bag.
MSNBC said “Democrats ditch Kentucky.” Real Clear Politics declared “National Democrats seem to be pulling the plug on Grimes’ campaign.”
On the non-answer to the presidential question, I don’t know if it was a dumb or brilliant move. I would have answered the question differently, but then again, I am not running in conservative Kentucky.
I also don’t know why the DSCC cut its ad buy, only to restore some of the funding a few days later.
But there are an awful lot of political prognosticators that interpret every move as cataclysmic or a momentum-turnaround — judgments that have the advantage of not being based on anything but unmoored opinion.
After Grimes refused to tell her presidential choice, her poll numbers did not take a deep dive.
After the DSCC acted the first time, the bottom did not drop out of her campaign.
One more thing I don’t know: whether she will win or lose.
But Alison Lundergan Grimes is a dynamic 35-year old with only one statewide campaign for Secretary of State under her belt who has held dead even with the Senate Minority Leader throughout the campaign.
She has been a fundraising wonder, having raised more than $16 million during the campaign and having $4.4 million in her campaign war-chest 20 days before the election.
She has put together a highly professional team that knows what they are doing. She is articulate and passionate and has run a top-notch campaign.
And after all the dire predictions, Grimes is about where she has been for more than a year, even with McConnell.
As my sainted mother would have said, if you don’t have anything intelligent to say, keep your mouth shut.
