NRSC

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) enters Tuesday with his political fate on the line, and without the help of a cash-strapped national Republican Party.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has not aired advertisements in support of McConnell in his tougher-than-expected battle against Democratic businessman Bruce Lunsford, and has no plans to launch a last-minute buy on his behalf, NRSC spokesman John Randall said Monday afternoon. The NRSC has faced a large fundraising disadvantage compared to their Democratic counterparts.

Randall did not discuss the internal committee discussions that led to the decision to stay out of Kentucky, only saying that the determination was an indicator of the confidence the committee had in McConnell's re-election bid and his ability to carry himself to victory.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair John Ensign (R-Nev.) told reporters on a conference call this afternoon that Republican presidential nominee John McCain may have contributed to Republicans taking the blame for the economic crisis.

"John McCain  - during the debates and even since that time -has allowed the idea that deregulation caused the financial crisis that we are in instead of showing the fact that it was overregulation during the Clinton administration," said Ensign, who argued it was legislation like the Clinton-era Community Reinvestment Act and "new market rules" that caused recent economic turmoil.

"John McCain in not answering that well," continued Ensign. "He allowed Barack Obama to have the upper hand and allowed Democrats to get the upper hand, basically blaming Bush and the republicans for the financial crisis and saying that it's a failure of our free market system, when this is actually a failure of government."

Ensign said, as a result, the potential of a 60-seat filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate was being discussed.

"It's all because of the financial crisis that has hit the United States and because the Republicans are in the White House and about half the country thinks Republicans control the House and the Senate and we're getting blamed for this," said Ensign.

What about Kentucky? 

The Nevada Republican said "6 or 7 races would determine the make-up of the Senate," but expressed a degree of comfort with U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Louisville) chances in Kentucky against businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville).

Some of that comfort evidently comes via consideration of McConnell's sizeable war-chest. The four-term incumbent had $5.7 million in cash-on-hand remaining at the end of Sept. compared to Lunsford's $1.2 million.

"The Democrats are obviously spending heavily there," said Ensign, referring to two new television spots his counterparts in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have put on air. "The good thing is Sen. McConnell has raised a tremendous amount of money to be able to defend himself there and allowed us to focus on other races."

With 47 days remaining until the general election, the race between incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) for the U.S. Senate remains one of the most watched contests in the state.

Saturday marks a landmark day for Lunsford, when the woman his campaign terms "the adopted daughter" of Kentucky will be stumping for his bid. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will be making two stops for him, in Pikeville and Lexington.

Lunsford's campaign continues to try and rally attendees to the events, dispatching numerous campaign e-mails encouraging supporters to catch Clinton's appearance.

In addition, Ryan Alessi of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Lexington) has recorded a robocall asking central Kentucky Democrats to come out to the event.

Other national interests are continuing their push for Lunsford's efforts, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee included McConnell among the GOP Senators targeted in a press release dispatched today.

While labor organizations are launching a new push to oust U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) from office, allies of McConnell are trying to push back against the interests backing the incumbent’s Democratic opponent, Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford. One Kentucky labor leader is at the center of a new web video circulated today by the National Republican Senatorial Committee that asks: “What kind of company does Bruce Lunsford keep?”

The ad features two confrontations between NRSC video trackers and Lunsford supporters. One of those confronting the tracker is Kentucky AFL-CIO president Bill Londrigan.

In the NRSC video, Londrigan appears to shove the camera, if not the camera operator, in the video as he demands that he not be filmed during a parade.

MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) told Utah's delegation to the Republican National Convention that retaking the majority in the Senate this year was something his party would likely not be able to do.

According to a report from the Salt Lake Tribune, McConnell said the "numbers were daunting" in Senate contests.

"There's virtually no chance we can get the Senate back," McConnell reportedly noted.

Democrats currently hold a 50 to 48 advantage in the Senate, with 2 independents, though there are a number of hotly-contested races across the country. Many analysts expect some Republican seats to change hands. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently claimed that number could hit four.

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning: Getty Images PhotoST. PAUL, Minn. – As speculation continues about who will run from the Democratic side, National Republican Senatorial Committee Vice-chair and Sen. from Utah, Orrin Hatch, sounded sure that Republican incumbent Jim Bunning (R-Southgate) would seek re-election in 2010.

“He’s going to run,” Hatch told PolitickerKY.com.

Bunning won a narrow re-election fight in 2004, eeking out a 1 point win after a hard-fought campaign over now-Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D-Hazard).

The junior Sen. from Kentucky, Bunning recently announced he thought he would $10 million to secure his seat next time around.

Hatch lauded the Kentuckian today while giving interviews at the Republican National Convention.

“Bunning is a tough guy,” said Hatch. “I love Bunning.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee likes his party’s odds of retaining a seat in Kentucky’s U.S. Sen. race between Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville).

“McConnell is one of the truly great senators. I think all he’s got to do is just emphasize what he is doing for Kentucky,” NRSC Vice-chair and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told PolitickerKY.com. “There is nobody that’s going to beat him.”

McConnell showed a double-digit polling lead over Lunsford in recent weeks, along with a sizeable fundraising advantage after 2nd quarter reports were released.

The DSCC's new website targeting U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville), among others

Thursday it was television ads, mailers, websites, and press releases. A healthy majority of the types of media used in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race were in play on the gas price issue, as questions on energy continue to dominate the narrative of the campaigns of incumbent U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) and businessman Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville).

The most visible manifestation on the day is the McConnell campaign's newest television spot, a thirty second attack on Lunsford that pulls out a variety of charges and lauds McConnell's plans for increased domestic oil production.

"Here's a shock: Kentucky's pro-tax papers support Bruce Lunsford's automatic gas tax increases," the ad's narrator announces to open the spot, as two newspaper editorials critical of an earlier McConnell ad are citied on screen.

Though admittedly financially disadvantaged, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee promised yesterday that his organization would not be outspent in Kentucky by its Democratic counterpart during this fall's campaigns.

"Chuck Schumer and the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee have recently placed television buys totaling approximately $44.8 million in targeted Senate races across the country," said chairman and U.S. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) in a statement. "I will not allow our Republican candidates to be outspent by the DSCC this cycle. Therefore, it is my intention to give the NRSC's IE [independent expenditure] Unit the total budget to match the DSCC dollar for dollar in every state they run ads."

The DSCC's $44.8 million ad buys accounts for a large chunk of their recently reported $46.2 million warchest - an amount that far outweighs the $24.6 million available to Ensign's organization.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.): Getty Images PhotoNational Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman and Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) today defended Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Louisville) controversial attack ad on his opponent, Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville), arguing it shows a contrast in approaches to the energy between the two candidates.

"Lunsford believes part of the solution is raising taxes," said Ensign during a morning conference call with reporters. "The solution is finding more supplies of energy."

McConnell's ad - the first of the general election campaign - allocates some responsibility for Kentucky's gas tax system to Lunsford, given his work as a legislative liaison in 1980, when the current structure was implemented. That structure ties the Commonwealth's gas tax rate to the wholesale price of gasoline rather than setting a flat rate, with revenue going to road projects.

The ad charges the tax changes have cost Kentucky residents "hundreds of millions."