Jack’s In It To Win It

KY-SEN candidate Jack Conway (D)
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Earlier this afternoon I noted this boffo, over-the-top ad Jack Conway just debuted against Rand Paul, calling Paul’s religiosity into question. And it’s hit a nerve. Rand’s campaign has hit back claiming “Jack Conway stepped way over the line and released a shameful and despicable ad that questions Dr. Paul’s Christian faith.” Paul himself declared: “I am a pro-life Christian, and I have never written or spoken anything that would indicate otherwise.”

The claims contained in Conway’s ad are somewhere between cartoonish, outrageous and hard to refute. (It’s not easy to explain how you can be a devotee of Ayn Rand and a “pro-life Christian.”) But watching the ad you get the distinct sense that Jack Conway has not reconciled himself to losing this race.

And now there’s more.

An outside group, AmericansForAmerica (creative!), has hit the radio waves with an ad tying Paul’s critical stance toward mine safety with the recent horrifying but ultimately happy story in Chile.

Like Paul’s own spot, it’s a rough ad. But Paul really has consistently taken an ‘accidents happen’ approach toward mine safety and other industrial disasters. So it would be expecting a lot for an opponent in a tight race not to pivot off a major mine safety disaster (albeit one with a happy ending) to highlight those views in a mining state.

Late Update: Conway and Paul met up last night for a nasty, angry debate which turned largely on Conway’s new ad. See our report here.

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