KyKurmudgeon

Today’s column:

This and that, the Derby hangover edition:

During his last bid for re-election, Democrats turned Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning’s propensity for odd comments and behavior into an issue that evoked questions about his health.

But none of his 2004 words or deeds pegged the weird-meter the way he did last week when he encouraged his friend and protege, Secretary of State Trey Grayson, to form an exploratory committee for the 2010 Senate election while continuing to insist that he is in that same race to stay.

Several observers in Washington and back here in Kentucky took it as a signal that the Hall of Fame pitcher recognizes the time to bring in a reliever has arrived and that he would hand the ball over to Grayson at some point, probably in the near future.

That may well be the case, because the only other explanation that comes to mind assumes a level of crafty deception he has never displayed in the past. But what the heck. Let’s roll it out there anyway, just in case an old dog has learned a new trick or two.

Bunning knows Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Republicans don’t think he can win in 2010. He knows they think Grayson gives the party its best hope for retaining his Senate seat. He knows they know Grayson won’t run against him, so they will keep looking for someone to take him on in the primary if he doesn’t show signs of handing the ball to Grayson.

Is Bunning sly enough to get Grayson warming up in the bullpen just to keep other potential candidates out of the primary for now, or perhaps even until after the filing deadline?

Who knows? We are talking about Jim Bunning. So, maybe neither explanation works. He isn’t planning to leave the game, and he isn’t trying to outfox McConnell. Maybe he’s just being Jim Bunning, who sometimes does odd things.

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Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch from Republican to Democrat last week made it even more critical for McConnell to keep Bunning’s seat in the R column.

With McConnell as their leader, Senate Republicans went through a disastrous election cycle in 2008. Sure, much of the blame belongs to former President George W. Bush and his now-rejected policies. But McConnell kept Senate R’s joined at the hip with the worst president in memory to the end.

Now, with Specter’s defection and a win by Al Franken, who still leads in that disputed Minnesota race, Democrats can achieve a filibuster-proof majority on most issues, thus greatly diminishing McConnell’s ability to influence legislation or stall judicial confirmation proceedings.

If he can’t deliver in his own state by holding on to Bunning’s seat, it will be seen as a further sign of political weakness on his part. And leaders who are perceived as weak don’t remain leaders very long.

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“This is not a national story,” McConnell said after Specter’s switch. “This is a Pennsylvania story about his inability to be renominated by the Republican Party or be elected as an independent.”
McConnell also said, “I do not accept that we are going to be a regional party.”

But it is a national story because it reflects a political reality that suggests the Republican Party is in danger of becoming a regional party.

Recent polls indicate that less than a quarter of Americans now identify themselves as Republicans, and the brand of the party of Lincoln no long plays all that well outside the South.

That can happen to a party that practices the politics of exclusion.