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A TALE OF TWO MCCONNELLS — Take a look at recent comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to see how both parties will focus their messaging as we close out the battle for the Senate.

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The themes Senate Republicans will highlight shone through in an op-ed McConnell wrote on Wednesday for The Washington Post[2], saying he’s proud of the vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, “whose commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law is exactly what the American people deserve on their Supreme Court.”

The Supreme Court has popped up in recent Republican ads across the country. The NRSC has gone up with ads hitting vulnerable Democrats on the vote, which followed a brutal confirmation fight. “Even when the time came to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Joe voted no,” Vice President Mike Pence said in a direct-to-camera ad[3] hitting Sen. Joe Donnelly in Indiana. “Jon Tester voted against Montana” on the Supreme Court, a second Senate ad[4] declares. In the past week, other ads in Missouri[5], Tennessee[6] and more have mentioned the Supreme Court fight.

And that carries on past the Supreme Court to the judiciary at large. POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Elana Schor[7]: “For Republicans, there’s nothing that matters more. They aren’t pitching a big visionary agenda to persuade voters to return them

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