Kentucky Democrat Takes Shots at Mitch McConnell and Obama in New Ad

Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes shows off her skeet shooting skills in a new ad distancing herself from President Barack Obama.

“I’m not Barack Obama,” says Grimes, decked out with earplugs, a shooting vest and yellow tinted glasses, and holding a semi-automatic Remington rifle. “I disagree with him on guns, coal and the EPA.”

Grimes also blasts her National Rifle Association-approved opponent, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for awkwardly holding a gun earlier this year at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“And Mitch, that’s not how you hold a gun,” says Grimes. Her campaign confirmed that the firearm used in the ad is owned by the Democrat.

The ad follows a tradition popularized by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who famously shot a hole through cap-and-trade legislation in a 2010 campaign ad. Republicans have also picked up on gun imagery this year. Alaska Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan shot a television in protest of special interest advertising and Iowa’s Joni Ernst shot a target in protest of Obamacare.

McConnell is up by 5 points in the race, according to polling data compiled by Real Clear Politics.

Update at 12:05 p.m. on September 16

The McConnell campaign responds with a new ad.