Aiming to make his a ‘national race’, Lunsford makes the convention rounds

DENVER – U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Lunsford (D-Louisville) spent some of his first day in the host town of the Democratic National Convention involved in some Kentucky business. Lunsford attended a party sponsored by Maker’s Mark bourbon – a brand based in Loretto – and another thrown jointly by the Kentucky, Alabama, and Ohio delegations.

Part of Lunsford’s day, however, was also dedicated to interacting with national interests. For example, Lunsford visited a function sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee – the coordinating organization that encouraged the Louisville businessman.

The candidate says his visit to the convention in Denver has a “combination” of purposes. Among them is an effort to raise the national profile for his race – a race where his opponent, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville), is leading in both fundraising and recent polls.

“We also have to make this a national race in scope because McConnell treats this as a national race and he gets money as a national race,” Lunsford told PolitickerKY.com.

Lunsford pointed to a local example for proof that national involvement can sway a race by referencing Colorado’s own 2008 Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall.

“Mark Udall is really a nice guy and a good candidate and he was probably up 15 points out here at one point, and they’ve outspent him seven to one,” said Lunsford. “I saw three commercials this morning in a half an hour on the same station, with all those 527 funds and all that extra money. They’ve tightened this race up out here as a result.”

“I think that you’ve got to know what you are fighting against with the Republicans,” Lunsford added. “They play dirty pool, they do everything they can.”

Lunsford said rallying national help for his campaign could provide a boost in the closing weeks of the race.

“I’m very comfortable that by getting people at a national level to pay attention to this race, when it tightens down in the end, we’ll be able to get some support nationwide that will really help us,” said Lunsford.

The candidate also argued that getting prominent help from across the country should be easier given that he is running against McConnell, a favored nemesis in Democratic circles for his frequent filibusters of Democratically-favored legislation in the U.S. Senate.

“This isn’t just a state race,” said Lunsford. “This is about doing some change in America with this election.”

Lunsford had earlier said he expected to get campaign help from U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), though that was prior to Biden’s ascension to the role of presumptive Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.

Now, Lunsford says he still expects Biden as well as Barack Obama to campaign in Kentucky, though obviously the focus of Biden’s efforts will now be on the presidential run.

Lunsford dropped one other prominent and popular name among Kentucky Democrats as someone he hoped would campaign for him in Kentucky, though he said he wanted the campaign to focus on his opposition and not on his surrogates.

“I would hope that Hillary Clinton would come out for us, because I think she is really a loved individual here in the state. A lot of her people are now working for us,” said Lunsford. “But we are going to let the race kind of come on its own. This is really a race about Mitch McConnell and the Republican philosophy and I don’t want to lose track.”