Alison Lundergan Grimes has been hitting her Kentucky Senate opponent Mitch McConnell pretty hard, but she’s steering clear of offering any specifics about her own platform. In a new piece on Grimes, Politico’s Manu Raju tried to get some policy positions out of the Kentucky Democrat, but she repeatedly avoided any straight answers. On the campaign trail and during an interview, which Raju said “the campaign limited to less than nine minutes,” Grimes ducked at least six questions about where she stands on issues:
‐Raju asked her whether she supports delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate, which “prompts an answer about easing the burden on small businesses and a shot at McConnell” — with no answer about the mandate itself.
‐ “Grimes declined three times” to say if she opposed the Obama administration’s proposed rules, a key issue in Kentucky. Earlier in the article, Raju quoted Grimes blaming McConnell for the coal jobs that state had lost.
‐ “She wouldn’t explicitly say whether she opposes” a cap-and-trade system; Raju said a spokeswoman later told him Grimes does oppose a carbon trading system.
‐ Grimes “wouldn’t say” whether she supports allowing oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The most Grimes would reveal is that she would “consider” it.
‐Grimes “brushed aside” a question about whether she’d be willing to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000.
‐The candidate wouldn’t say whether she’d vote for President Obama again: She told Raju his “facts are mistaken” when he raised the issue, but “wouldn’t go further” in clarifying.
When asked about Grimes’s tendency to be tightlipped on the issues, McConnell pushed his likely opponent to be more up-front with voters. “I think most reporters think that candidates running for office ought to be able to discuss the issues and respond to questions,” he told Raju. “I’m a little surprised that the press corps has so far let her get away with saying so little.”