Hillary Rodham Clinton, Continuing to make her case that she is a Clinton Democrat, Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes appeared Wednesday night in Louisville with Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former presidential candidate and secretary of state.
Together, the two rallied a crowd of 4,500 at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
"Alison is the right leader at the right time with the right plan to deliver for Kentucky's hard-working families," said Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton who nearly won the Democratic nomination for president six years ago.
In a 32-minute speech, Clinton ripped U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, with whom she served with in the Senate, for his positions on various issues ranging from pay equity to student loan debt to raising the minimum wage.
She ended each passage with the same refrain, "You know what you have to do, send Alison to Washington."At one point, a man sitting in the far away bleachers could be heard yelling, "We love you Hillary."
Clinton was a prize "get" for Grimes as she tries to capitalize on the popularity of the Clinton name in Kentucky, even as McConnell tries to connect her to President Barack Obama, who is deeply unpopular in Kentucky. Grimes has said she voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary but has avoided saying whether she voted for President Obama in the 2008 and 2012 general elections.
Bill Clinton has already been to the state twice to rally the Democratic troops and raise money for Grimes, and her campaign hopes to get him back again.
Hillary Clinton recalled trips to Kentucky, including dipping a bottle of Maker's Mark in wax in Loretto in 2008 as well as, as a friend of Grimes' father, Jerry Lundergan, visiting their old homestead in Maysville.
Grimes noted that she has known Clinton since she was 14 years old. What she didn't say is that she handed the Clintons flowers when they stepped out of their limousine at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993.
"She will never forget how she was raised and the people who helped her along the way," Clinton said of Grimes.
Before the rally — the biggest of the race so far for Grimes — Clinton headlined a $1,000 to $2,600 per head fundraiser at the 21c Hotel about five blocks away.
The event didn't have the feel of a flagging campaign as the media has suggested in recent weeks. Grimes has come under fire for refusing to say who she voted for for president in the 2008 and 2012 general elections, and on Wednesday the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee stopped buying ad time in the state.
he DSCC pushed back on Wednesday morning with DSCC executive director Guy Cecil tweeting that he had just signed a $300,000 check to help the get-out-the-vote effort in Kentucky."That's an interesting view of 'pulling out of the race,' " he wrote.
Grimes appeared to take a jab at the DSCC, noting at one point during her speech that the race wouldn't be decided by political operatives in Washington.
"Washington abandoned us a long time ago," she said.
Grimes mentioned Obama, but only to say that he wasn't on the ballot.
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, who spoke earlier in the program, gave a rousing defense of the president, at one point blaming McConnell for losses in the coal industry over his 30-year career — saying that it wasn't the fault of Obama.
A long line of enthusiastic supporters began filing into the convention hall when the doors opened at 5:30. The room was set up to accommodate the large crowd and looked like a mini-political convention with narrow, horizontal signs signifying each of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Grimes noted that she raised a record $4.9 million in the latest fundraising quarter. But she still trails McConnell, who has raised more than $28 million. Grimes has raised just over $16 million.
"Big ideas and big hearts beat big money every single time," Clinton told the boisterous crowd.
She asked the crowd if they had seen Monday's debate on Kentucky Educational Television, the only debate of the election, and said, "You could not have a clearer contrast between solutions for Kentucky's families and Washington double-talk."
Clinton also touted Grimes' job plan, which calls for improving education and providing job opportunities for military veterans.
But in many ways, the speech seemed like it could serve as a starting point for another presidential campaign by Clinton. It was peppered with her beliefs and even talked about returning to a time like when her husband was in office when Republicans and Democrats worked together.
She recalled Bill Clinton talking about "building a bridge to the 21st Century" but said today's Republicans seem intent on tearing it down.
