McConnell makes emotional pitch on ObamaCare in new ad

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is launching another emotional advertising appeal, this time focused on ObamaCare, featuring a doctor discussing her son’s diabetes treatments.

{mosads}Dr. Sandy Schuldheisz of Somerset, Ky., tells viewers that, “as a doctor, I see how ObamaCare hurts patients’ care. As a mom, I know it hurts families.

“My son has diabetes, and our insurance was canceled under ObamaCare. Like many, we now pay more for less coverage,” she says.

She goes on to laud McConnell for “leading the fight” against ObamaCare, because “he cares about patients and families like mine.”

The tone is similar to a recent ad McConnell ran that featured a woman praising McConnell for helping her find and bring her kidnapped daughter home — a softer, more emotional pitch, meant to humanize McConnell and mitigate his main liability in the race: his deep unpopularity with voters.

But he stumbled in those efforts with a combative interview with a local sports radio host on Tuesday, which drew local and national attention, and was heard by a record audience.

Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones pressed McConnell on a range of issues, from gay marriage to climate change, prompting McConnell at times to raise his voice and the two to interrupt each other at other moments.

McConnell also suggested he’s a fan of both the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville basketball teams, despite their fierce rivalry.

After the interview ended, Jones and his producers criticized McConnell as “needlessly angry” and a “jerk,” and Jones criticized both McConnell and his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, for refusing to give straight answers on direct questions.

“Why can’t people give you answers? … Just answer!” he said.

Grimes’s campaign pounced on the interview, calling it “humiliating” and sharing an image on social media highlighting the exchange and calling McConnell “Mad Mitch.”

Recent polling has shown McConnell is beginning to open up a lead in his reelection fight, but an automated poll conducted for local Kentucky outlets out this week gave Grimes a two-point lead, indicating the race is still neck-and-neck.