THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

The New York Times has a bio piece on Alison Lundergan Grimes who is running for the Senate from Kentucky. Her opponent is that famous symbol of Republican/Teabagger obstructionism, "Mitch The Chin" McConnell. Despite being compared often to a turtle, Mitch The Chin is a seasoned political boss with no respect for opponents, rules or the truth. Ms. Grimes has her work cut out for her.

Alison Lundergan Grimes leaned across a table at an upscale bar near her home in this city’s historic district, sipped Maker’s Mark bourbon — a Kentucky staple — mixed with Diet Coke, and let out a belly laugh. “We’re in this campaign to kick butt!” she said.

It was a rare unguarded moment for the usually on-message Ms. Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of state and the Democrats’ best hope for unseating one of the most powerful Republicans in Washington: Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader.

At 35, Ms. Grimes is a former sorority president, ballet dancer and daughter of an old-style Democratic pol. She has a booming voice, a litigator’s gaze and a lust for a fight that she says was born of a lesson she learned as a kickboxing instructor: “Don’t be afraid to strike back.”

Now she is striking first in her bid to become her state’s first female senator. With the 72-year-old Mr. McConnell deeply unpopular at home — a symbol of voters’ collective disdain for Washington — and fighting a primary challenge from the right, the race is already among the most closely watched congressional contests of 2014.

On Tuesday, Ms. Grimes will get a boost from former President Bill Clinton, who will headline a fund-raiser for her in Louisville, his first appearance for any 2014 candidate. If Mr. McConnell survives his primary challenge — polls show him with a strong lead over Matt Bevin, a Louisville businessman — and Ms. Grimes beats him, she will be lauded as a giant slayer.

It will not be easy. Mr. McConnell practically built the Republican Party in Kentucky and has spent decades reminding voters of federal dollars he has brought home.

Critics call Ms. Grimes unprepared — “Not ready for a race of this magnitude,” said Damon Thayer, the Republican State Senate floor leader. They predict she will crumble against a veteran who joined the Senate when she was in first grade. But polls indicate a tight race, and Kentucky Democrats are united for the first time in decades.

For now, Ms. Grimes benefits from not being Mr. McConnell. She is pitching herself to the conservative Kentucky electorate as a pro-coal, pro-labor Democrat and portrays the leader as a symbol of an out-of-touch Washington. “If the doctors told Senator McConnell he had a kidney stone,” she likes to say, “he would refuse to pass it.”

If you want to help Kentucky recover from years of Republican oppression, AlisonforKentucky.com is the place to go.