Incumbent in Need of Recall Retains Seat, part 2

November 5th, 2008 By: marc moore | Tags:

Despite his record of pork-barrel politics, Kentuckians have apparently re-elected Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to a 5th term.  In fact, unlike many other incumbents, McConnell trotted out his “bring-home-the-bacon” credentials during the campaign as if they were a net-positive:

The Senate Republican leader, facing an unexpectedly tough re-election race, tells diners that his stature and seniority bring dollars-and-cents benefits to the area: $2 million for a job training center, $720,000 to a historic preservation group, $1 million for sewer lines. The flow of federal cash to Kentucky will slow to a trickle, McConnell says, unless voters pick him for a fifth six-year term.

“Your senator, the guy you’re looking at, delivered $500 million for the commonwealth,” McConnell says.

Charming.  Far from being a fiscal conservative McConnell’s record on spending represents a lot of what has been wrong with the Bush administration’s budget policies.  I suppose we should all be grateful that the Democrats did not achieve the super-majority in the Senate they’d dreamed of, and yet, 24 years of Mitch McConnell would have been enough.

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  1. Interested
    November 5th, 2008 at 09:06
    Reply | Quote | #1

    the one Senate race I am watching now is Minnesota’s. 90% reporting, GOP holds a bare 3K lead over DEM Franken.

  2. Michael Merritt
    November 5th, 2008 at 10:00
    Reply | Quote | #2

    It keeps changing. That one’s going to be close…

  3. Interested
    November 5th, 2008 at 10:17
    Reply | Quote | #3

    Now for the first time Franken has a lead

  4. Interested
    November 5th, 2008 at 10:35
    Reply | Quote | #4

    this one is going to go into an automatic recount I bet.

  5. Interested
    November 5th, 2008 at 11:41
    Reply | Quote | #5

    99% with 378 vote diff – favoring Franken at the moment.

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