'Ditch Mitch' isn't just a bumper sticker any more

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT Local 1360

"Ditch Mitch" isn't just a Kentucky-made (and union-made) bumper sticker any more. 

I'm getting fund-raising emails from "Ditch Mitch," a Washington, D.C, outfit that bills itself "as a grassroots organization...solely dedicated to taking on Mitch McConnell, holding him accountable, and supporting his future Democratic opponent in 2020."

I've chipped in a few dollars. I've also sent the Ditch Mitchers emails, hoping they might result in a story for our website. I've yet to hear back.

Nobody I've talked to in Kentucky knows anything about Ditch Mitch. But you'd think Kentucky would be the most fecund of fertile mission fields for an outfit with a handle like Ditch Mitch. After all, only we can vote him out.  

Anyway, the latest Ditch Mitch email reported "HUGE news: A new poll conducted by Public Policy Polling shows that Mitch McConnell is leading by just THREE points against a [presumably generic] Democratic challenger in Kentucky’s Senate race.

"This is the biggest and most concrete evidence yet that we can defeat Mitch McConnell when he’s up for reelection next year and finally restore some sanity to the Senate."

Hope springs eternal. Even, so I'm keeping my hopes of ditching Mitch in 2020 on a tight tether as the jonquils bloom in our yard and the vernal equinox approaches.

I remember that early October, 2014, Bluegrass poll that had Kentucky State AFL-CIO-endorsed Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes up by two percentage points over McConnell. 

A month later, our thrill of anticipated victory gave way to the agony of actual defeat. On Nov. 4, McConnell beat her by 15.5 points and carried 110 of 120 Bluegrass State counties (mine not among them).  

Ditch Mitch claims it has "over 11,000 donors, and together, we are becoming a force to reckon with." This senior citizen is rooting for them all the way. 

"There are countless reasons Mitch needs to go," the email says. "Trying to gut Social Security and Medicare to pay for yet another tax cut for the wealthy. Constantly siding with the NRA, Big Oil, Wall Street, and Big Pharma. Politicizing our independent judiciary and enabling Donald Trump’s worst policies. And don’t even get us started on Merrick Garland and Brett Kavanaugh."

Here are some more reasons to ditch Mitch: 

-- Since he's been in Washington, he's voted the union position on issues just 11 percent of the time, according to the  AFL-CIO's online Legislative Scorecard.

-- He scored the same and got an "F" on the latest NAACP Legislative Report Card; 60 is passing. 

-- He notched an "F" on the most current National Education Association Legislative Report Card. 

The email didn't name any Democrats who might go after McConnell. So far, two names have surfaced.

Politico says Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is recruiting Amy McGrath, the retired Marine fighter pilot who lost to Congressman Andy Barr last November. McConnell is reportedly compiling opposition research against her and Matt Jones, the liberal-leaning sports radio host who's long pondered a run at the senator.

I wonder if Grimes is spoiling for a rematch.  

Meanwhile, McConnell might be in some hot water on his side. His politics bend as about as far right as American politics go. But some Bluegrass State Republicans--the kind who'd crawl over broken glass to vote in primaries--gripe that the Senate majority leader isn't Trumpy enough.

Never mind that McConnell is the president's top Senate sycophant and that Kentucky's senior senator is all in with the president's pandering to racism, sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, anti-LGBT prejudice and religious bigotry. Forget that McConnell is no slouch at dog-whistle politics himself. 

Gov. Matt Bevin tried to turn McConnell's right flank--even hobnobbing with the with the wackadoodle John Birch Society--in the 2014 GOP primary. He lost. Obviously, the Republicans united on Team Mitch against the moderate Grimes.

They may do likewise next year, even if McConnell attracts, and bests, a primary foe. 

Ditch Mitch friends, this Kentuckian who belongs to the AFT, KEA/NEA and is helping start an NAACP chapter in his home town is on your side. So why not drop me a personal email and let's get acquainted, at least in cyberspace?