Anti-Washington Tide Threatens GOP Stalwart

The rising Democratic tide is threatening to wash over a Republican pillar: Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, is fighting for his political life in the deep-red state, reports the Washington Post. McConnell barely leads, and national Democrats are working hard to tip the race. A McConnell defeat would remove a canny opponent and bring Democrats closer to the powerful 60-vote point.

McConnell is using a Democratic supermajority as a foil, calling his fight against Bruce Lunsford “the key battle being waged by the liberals who want to have total domination in the House and Senate.” The Republican is also working to remind voters of his clout. “Kentucky would suffer a dramatic reversal of fortune instantly to trade me in for a rookie,” he says. (More Election 2008 stories.)