AP PHOTO/ED REINKE
KENTUCKY’S
KING
into congressional power in 2010
and banned the earmarks that
helped keep his Senate seat secure. In the 2012 electoral cycle,
the Bluegrass Committee spent
$77,000 on 58 candidates for
state office in Kentucky, up nearly
60 percent from the $49,000
it gave to a total of 33 Kentucky
state candidates in the 2010 cycle.
Yet even in Kentucky, there are
signs that McConnell’s clout has
eroded. McConnell spent several
years grooming Grayson to be the
next U.S. senator from the Bluegrass State. He had been instru-
HUFFINGTON
08.11.13
mental in guiding Grayson’s reelection as Kentucky secretary of
state in 2007. He counseled Grayson and challenged him to meet
fundraising goals. Two years later,
when McConnell had tired of Bunning and pushed his already vulnerable, former friend into retirement, Grayson got the nod.
Grayson, who was only in his
30s, says McConnell assisted in
all aspects of the campaign, introducing him to potential donors
and grassroots activists, and helping him develop a message. The
two talked regularly on the phone.
Grayson describes McConnell’s
assistance as “just so thorough.”
He should have had an easy path
Republican
U.S. Senate
candidate
Trey Grayson
addresses
a news
conference in
Louisville, Ky.,
in 2010.