“DITCH MITCH”

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Ilya Sheyman, MoveOn.org Political Action moveon-help@list.moveon.org
Sat, Feb 2, 2013 11:32 am

Mitch McConnell is the biggest obstructionist in the U.S. government—a human roadblock stopping any progress in Washington.

McConnell's the reason the terrible idea to cut folks' Social Security won't go away. And when, just last week, his backroom deals killed reform to make the Senate more productive, he bragged about it. McConnell's a prime example of what can happen when a politician puts his donors and his party before the well-being of his constituents and his country.

But get this: Mitch McConnell, the most powerful Republican in the Senate, is vulnerable right now. For the first time in 28 years, he could actually lose his next election. He's the most unpopular senator in the country.1 And in a recent poll, only 17% of Kentucky voters said they plan to vote for him next year!2 If we buckle down right now and commit to this race, we can put McConnell out of office in just two short years.

That's why, before this election is fully engaged and the airwaves are flooded with Super PAC cash, we're launching a Ditch Mitch campaign to go after McConnell early. We need to lock in McConnell's unpopularity among Kentucky voters starting now and signal to other progressives that this race is winnable. It's the same strategy Obama used to beat Romney.

Then, when McConnell finishes his primary race, weakened and demoralized, he'll be looking at 70,000 MoveOn members in Kentucky ready to take him on—backed by the strength of 7 million more across the country.

If we can raise $300,000 in the next 24 hours, we can roll out our early offensive to take McConnell's Senate seat.

Can you chip in $5 to help voters Ditch Mitch?

To make this a reality, we need to begin building an infrastructure and campaign team now, because McConnell's starting with $7 million in the bank, and he's already spent the past week attacking MoveOn to fire up his base.3

But MoveOn members are up to the fight, because we know that getting rid of McConnell means an immediate opportunity for more progressive wins, and the biggest setback Senate Republicans have faced in a decade.

Here's a glimpse of what we've got in store:

We'll help individual MoveOn members across Kentucky launch and run a network of independent, super-local, creative mini-campaigns that can do serious damage to McConnell's reputation in their communities.
We'll crowdsource ad ideas from our 7 million members and bring back the same team who produced some of the best political ads of 2012.
Every time he's in Kentucky, we'll be following McConnell at speaking events and fundraisers.
The entire time McConnell is fighting off his primary challenger, we'll be using methods we honed in this past election to systematically speak with every Democrat and progressive in Kentucky—and there are 500,000 more Democrats than Republicans.

There's a lot more we can do to end McConnell's Senate run. But it has to start right here, with $300,000 to kick-start this two-year campaign. Can you contribute today?

Can you chip in $5 to help voters Ditch Mitch?

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilya, Steven, Stefanie, Wes, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Poll: The most unpopular senator," Politico, December 11, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=286782&id=61840-23742399-D6s5Jmx&t=7

2. "Mitch McConnell support weak in poll," Politico, January 28, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=286780&id=61840-23742399-D6s5Jmx&t=8

3. "Mitch McConnell starts with big war chest," Politico, January 31, 2013
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=286787&id=61840-23742399-D6s5Jmx&t=9

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