Mitch McConnell Isn’t Going Away Anytime Soon

The Joe Cunningham Show airs 3-4 p.m. every weekday on NewsTalk 96.5 KPEL. The daily show notes offer you a look into the topics of the day and the links to the top stories and Joe's own writings on the state of politics in Louisiana and around the country. Follow Joe on Twitter at @JoePCunningham and Like the Joe Cunningham Show on Facebook. You can also subscribe to the Joe Cunningham Show podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or Amazon.

Hello there! I'm flying solo for my show and Offsides today and tomorrow. I hope you'll make sure to tune in.

Can Conservatives Get Rid of Mitch McConnell? Should They?

It's a question I asked over at RedState this morning after a new report from the Wall Street Journal showed McConnell critic and Senate candidate from Ohio J.D. Vance asked the Senate Minority leader for money to help him get elected. The problem for conservatives who dislike McConnell is that he isn't going anywhere.

Part of that Old Guard/Establishment advantage is the access to regular donors and the respect of party allies who know someone capable of regularly winning elections. And, like it or not, Mitch McConnell outlasted a lot of challenges.

That's the biggest issue going forward for conservatives. It really does look like McConnell is only leaving D.C. when he wants to, so you've got to figure out how to work with him or work around him. Is that something that these conservatives backed by Trump will be able to do? They've been outspoken about the desire to get McConnell out of power, but when the time comes, will they be able to pull it off?

The complaints against McConnell have spiked following his recent comments about low-quality Senate candidates. However... McConnell wasn't entirely wrong there. Mehmet Oz is behind, Vance isn't where he should be, and many Republicans (not just establishment) are worried about the likes of Kari Lake and Herschel Walker.

Democrats Don't Want Joe Biden Anywhere Around Them

The Washington Post surveyed several dozen Democrats and found that not only do they not mention President Joe Biden on the campaign trail, their websites, or their ads, but they don't even want him to come campaign with them.

He’s being attacked more often in televised ads than Obama was at this point in 2010, or Trump was in 2018. He goes largely unnamed on Democratic campaign websites and Twitter accounts. And candidates in key races in battleground states are either not asking him to come — or actively avoiding him when he does, according to a Washington Post survey of more than 60 candidates in the most competitive gubernatorial, U.S. Senate and congressional campaigns in the country.

Few candidates said they wanted Biden to campaign for them in their state or district, with many not responding to the question at all. The Post also asked if candidates wanted Vice President Harris as a surrogate campaigner for the Biden administration and got the same set of unenthusiastic responses.

What can you expect when he's still underwater in the approval polling by double digits and more than 70 percent of the country thinks we're headed on the wrong track? The White House (and Democrats as a whole) are stubbornly holding on to abortion and climate change as the issues that voters care about most. The kitchen table issues (like inflation, supply chain issues, and gas prices) are being ignored, and it's still moving voters toward the GOP.

Is Trump Going To Sit Out In 2024?

Here's something new: Maggie Haberman of the New York Times is suggesting Trump may not run for President again.

We don’t know whether Donald Trump is actually running. Everybody around him says he’s running. It is advantageous to Donald Trump to talk about running at a time when prosecutors are looking at him. You have to put that aside. But let’s say in a world that he does run, they would be sharing that lane. And depending on which DeSantis adviser you talk to, you hear ‘that’s okay, he’s going to do his own thing,’ or he’s not really sure he wants to — or his advisers are not sure — if he wants to go ahead and do what Ted Cruz did in 2016.

Haberman has had more scoops from inside the Trump inner circle, and whether you like her partisan lean or not, she hasn't had very much refuted by the facts. Sure, Trump has denounced her on multiple occasions, but there has always been the suggestion that it was Trump himself who was feeding info to her.

Headlines Of The Day

• Who’s Not Helping the 2022 GOP Senate Candidates? (National Review)
• Wisconsin school board votes to ban pride, BLM flags from classrooms (Fox News)
• Dennis Rodman Is On His Way To Russia To Try And Negotiate Britney Griner’s Release Because 2022 (Barstool)
• A Dad Took Photos of His Naked Toddler for the Doctor. Google Flagged Him as a Criminal. (New York Times)
• Trina Edwards, widow of former Gov. Edwin Edwards, engaged to John Alario (The Advocate)

Tweet Of The Day