A week after declaring it all but dead, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee says it has discovered signs of life in Alison Lundergan Grimes’ campaign to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky Senate race. On Wednesday, the DSCC confirmed that it plans to start spending money on advertisements in the Bluegrass state once more, only a week after its announcement of a pullout had reporters, including this one, writing the campaign’s obituary.
The decision, first reported by Politico and confirmed by an official at the DSCC, will pump and additional $650,000 in ad spending into the race. Speaking on background, a DSCC official said that the committee believes, from recent polling data, that the race is tightening and that independent voters are increasingly favoring Grimes.
Related: Two New Blows Could Doom Grimes’ Bid to Unseat McConnell
The DSCC official would not say how quickly it would be able to get new ads on the air.
The move is only the latest in a series of last minute jukes by the DSCC, including the October 9 announcement that it would pump an unexpected $1 million in to the South Dakota Senate race, and its decision last week to spend an additional $1 million in Georgia.
McConnell’s campaign said it was unimpressed by the Democrats’ move.
“At this point Barack Obama's allies are so consumed with hate for Mitch McConnell and would rather set their money on fire in Kentucky than protect their embattled incumbents around the country,” said McConnell senior adviser Josh Holmes in a statement. “I think we'll look back at this and say it marked the day when Mitch McConnell began leading a new Majority in the Senate.”
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