New Alison Lundergan Grimes Ad Hits Mitch McConnell on 'Not My Job' Comment
Alison Lundergan Grimes is out with a new television ad hitting her opponent, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on comments he made about his role in job creation in April.
ABC News got a sneak peak of Grimes' second television ad featuring Kentuckians asking questions to McConnell. The ad-titled "Question from David"-begins with Grimes sitting next to David Stanley from Putney, Kentucky outside of a gas station.
"I'm Alison Lundergan Grimes and David Stanley lost his coal mining job in Letcher County, and he has this question for Senator McConnell," Grimes says.
"Mr. McConnell, in the last two years, we've lost almost half of our coal jobs in Eastern Kentucky. Why'd you say it's not your job to bring jobs to Kentucky?," Stanley said, before taking a long pause.
There is no answer, but Grimes then says, "I couldn't believe he said that either."
"I approved this message because, Senator, that'll be my number one job," she says, while looking directly into the camera.
The ad refers to McConnell being asked by the Beattyville Enterprise in April what he would do to bring jobs to the county.
"Economic development is a Frankfort issue," McConnell said then, according to the paper. "That is not my job. It is the primary responsibility of the state Commerce Cabinet."
Grimes has been consistently hitting McConnell over the comments, but his campaign says he was taken out of context.
The Grimes' campaign did not say how money is behind the ad, but describe it as a significant, six-figure, statewide buy that begins airing today.
Grimes got in hot water when her last ad featuring a Kentuckian asking McConnell a question- released earlier this month-was deemed misleading by independent fact checkers.
Update: The Kentucky GOP issued a response with spokeswoman Kelsey Cooper writing in a statement that Grimes is "attempting to shift the blame for the devastation of the coal industry in Kentucky away from Obama's war on coal," calling it "not only laughable but downright offensive and a clear showing of her steadfast allegiance to the Obama agenda and her status as Obama's Kentucky candidate."
The pro-McConnell super pac, the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, is also out with their own television ad today going after the previous Grimes ad mentioned above.
"A false attack on Mitch McConnell's record on Medicare," the narrator says in the spot. "Like Obama, Grimes doesn't tell the truth, and that hurts Kentucky."
This ad will run statewide on Kentucky broadcast stations and cable systems and they will spend $720-thousand between today and July 31st on the new spot titled "Turns."