McConnell Unveils New Ad Attacking Dems for Bugging Incident

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to use the illegal taping of his Louisville campaign headquarters to his advantage by featuring it in a new campaign ad.

The Kentucky Republican is releasing an ad Thursday that ties President Obama to the dirty politics behind the secret recording of McConnell discussing tactics with his staff about how to ruin a potential Democratic challenge to his re-election from actress Ashley Judd, Politico reports.

“Mitch McConnell is Obama’s No. 1 target because Mitch protects Kentucky from Obama’s bad ideas,” the ad says. “Liberals will do anything to beat McConnell.”

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McConnell’s campaign has turned the secret taping into a criminal investigation causing national Democrats to flee from the tape and handicapping their ability to use it against him.

The Progress Kentucky super PAC has been accused of secretly taping a McConnell campaign staff meeting in February, and then providing it to Mother Jones magazine.

The ad also addresses a political commercial released last Friday by Americans United for Change that attacks McConnell’s opposition to gun background checks.

“And now liberals compare Mitch to al-Qaeda terrorists and North Korea’s dictator,” the ad says. “How dirty will Obama’s allies get?”

The McConnell campaign told Politico it spent “well into the six figures” for this particular ad buy on both regular broadcast and cable networks.

Polls indicate that the five-term senator is vulnerable, but they also show that Obama is still deeply unpopular in Kentucky.