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Senate Campaigns Attract Big Names As Election Nears

This week brought a number of high-profile campaign events to Lexington for both Sen. Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes.

For evidence of how much is riding on Kentucky’s marquee Senate race, look no further than the star power enlisted by the two candidates so far: former president Bill Clinton, former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice, and now 2012 presidential contender Mitt Romney, who attended a private fundraiser for McConnell Thursday.

And while this re-election battle is perhaps the toughest of the Republican Minority Leader’s long career, he’s already laying out his plans should he and his party retake the Senate.  

"It'll be an agenda that's related to creating jobs, not destroying jobs," he told reporters. "We'll be voting on things like approving the Keystone Pipeline. We'll be voting on things like eliminating the Medical Device Tax, which is exporting jobs."

McConnell also reiterated his position that now is the wrong time to raise the minimum wage, a position on which he and Romney have parted company in past interviews.

At a union workers rally in Lexington, Grimes told WTVQ-TV she hopes McConnell follows the former Massachusetts governor's lead.

"I'm glad that Mitt Romney agrees with me.  Now maybe Mitch McConnell can catch up, and realize the wages of one in four Kentuckians will be raised when we actually increase the minimum wage," she said.

With just a month to go before the election, most polls show McConnell leading by several points, while internal Grimes polling has the Democrat up by two.  

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
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