This morning, I attended a fundraiser for my gal Carly Fiorina in the heart of Barbara Boxer country, held in the same hotel where, we were told, Jimmy Carter and Michelle Obama were also staying. The keynote speaker at the event was none other than Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP Leader.
I had a chance to talk briefly with that good man from the Bluegrass State and learned that Okalahoma’s Tom Coburn is one of the Kentuckian’s closest friends in the Senate. That cheered me greatly because Coburn has been perhaps the most principled fiscal conservative in the chamber. Good to know the Republican Leader keeps such good company. Should he have the chance to set the agenda next January as Senate Majority Leader, this friendship signals that he’ll be listening to a diligent watchdog of the U.S. Treasury.
Indeed, McConnell seems well-attuned to the shifting political tides. While he backed Trey Grayson against Tea Party favorite Rand Paul in his state’s Republican primary, when asked today about the Tea Party, he said the “movement has been entirely positive.” Later, he said he’d like to give the president the opportunity to veto legislation repealing Obamacare.
If I have a moment later today, I may fill you in on a few more details of his remarks, but the really remarkable thing was that he was making them here in deep “blue” Los Angeles in “blue” California the week before the election. As Senate GOP Leader, he has a very busy schedule. And yet he chooses to be in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate in over two decades and which delivered 7% of its votes two years ago to the Republican presidential nominee.
One more thing. I wasn’t the only gay person at the event. I happened to sit next to wonderfully engaging lesbian who blogs at these two sites.
Please help Mitch McConnell restore some fiscal sanity to Washington, by sending a few more bucks to my gal Carly.