Tagged: Alison Lundergan Grimes

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes is still wrestling with the idea of seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in next year's election.

Grimes says she is giving "due diligence" to the race.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear met with Grimes today to try to gauge her interest in the race, as he has been doing with other potential Democratic challengers he declined to identify. Grimes said they "had a good discussion."

A secret audio recording of Senator Mitch McConnell's re-election campaign reveals the Kentucky Republican's aides intended to target actress Ashley Judd's mental health and religious beliefs among other issues.

The news magazine Mother Jones obtained audio of a private meeting between McConnell and aides where much of the conversation focused on potential Democratic opponents.

In a 2011 memoir, "All That is Bitter and Sweet"  Judd recounted she had checked into rehab for depression as an adult and once considered suicide as a child.

The leaked tapes reveal Judd's bouts with depression were considered fair game by the McConnell campaign.

"This sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced," an unknown McConnell aide says on the recording. "I mean it’s been documented. Jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she’s suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the '90s."

Listen:

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Booze has been traded for votes in the Appalachian region in years past, but at least one election official is raising prescription pills as a new worry.

Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's chief election official, voiced that concern at a Capitol press conference on Tuesday where she appeared with federal and state investigators to put unscrupulous politicians on notice that they'll be closely watched on Nov. 6.