Grimes hits McConnell on jobs in new ad

Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes is hitting Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on job creation in a new ad, as a group backing the senator accuses Grimes of lying in another ad hitting the airwaves Tuesday.

{mosads}Grimes’ ad is the second in an ongoing campaign that features real Kentuckians asking questions of McConnell. In the spot, unemployed coal miner David Stanley, of Putney, Ky., asks McConnell about comments he reportedly made to a local outlet that “economic development…is not my job.”

“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?” he asks.

After a beat of silence, while they wait for an answer, Grimes says to Stanley, “I couldn’t believe he said that either.”

“I approved this message because, Senator, that’ll be my number one job,” she adds.

It’s airing statewide on a six-figure buy.

Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, a pro-McConnell group, is going up with its own ad that accuses Grimes of launching a “false attack” on McConnell’s record on Medicare with her last television spot, which accuses McConnell of voting to raise Medicare costs for seniors with his vote for Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) 2012 budget proposal..

The ad says it’s “the same big lie Obama told,” and that “she’s done this before,” pointing to local news reports on her previous ads.

“Grimes doesn’t tell the truth, and that hurts Kentucky,” the ad concludes. It will run on a $720,000 buy through the end of the month.

It’s a new line of attack from McConnell’s allies, after they’ve spent the early months of the campaign characterizing her as a rubber-stamp for Obama or unprepared to represent Kentucky in the Senate.

And it comes as polling continues to show a tight, single-digit race and McConnell deeply unpopular with Kentuckians. Democrats are hopeful they can take down McConnell this fall, but Grimes is still facing an uphill battle in the Republican-leaning state.