THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

Mob Boss Mitch The Chin McConnell expects to get enough women voters to regain his seat as Capo di Tutti Capi in the Senate. Somehow The Chin thinks that the various Republican/Teabagger positions he has pushed are attractive to them.

As Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a 71-year-old Republican fixture in Washington, prepares to try to fend off a challenge by Alison Lundergan Grimes, a 34-year-old Democratic political newcomer, his team says he will address and even embrace the gender and generational differences between them.

Given recent struggles that Republican Senate contenders have had with women’s issues, Mr. McConnell’s advisers say they intend to confront head-on the criticism Democrats have already begun leveling against him on issues they view as particularly important to female voters.

“The long and short of it is, we’re going to be very aggressive in making sure people don’t mischaracterize what his record is, especially when it comes to women and women’s issues,” said Josh Holmes, Mr. McConnell’s chief of staff for Kentucky operations. “Not only are we not afraid of it, we’re very proud of it.”

Mr. McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, has faced a female opponent only once during his nearly 30 years in the Senate. He and his team seem eager to try to head off a campaign in 2014 that could become a referendum on how female voters feel about the Republican Party’s recent record.

Several times he has explained his vote this year against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and his office — normally averse to stories about staff — has willingly offered up for interviews the “strong women” with whom they say Mr. McConnell has always surrounded himself. His wife, Elaine Chao, served as labor secretary during President George W. Bush’s entire time in office.

He is making every effort to paper over his efforts to "keep the bitches in their place". And perhaps there will be enough women suffering from Stockholm Syndrome to help him win. We hope not and encourage support for his challenger, Alison Lundergan Grimes.