President Obama has given Republicans more ammunition against vulnerable Democrats this election cycle by saying that his policies are on the ballot this year. For a red state Democrat, like Alison Lundergan Grimes, such words could create even more problems as we head towards Election Day. Yet, her inability to distance herself from the president could be an even bigger obstacle.

Last night, the Mitt Romney, who won the state by over 60% of the vote in 2012, was a guest at a private fundraiser for Sen. Mitch McConnell at Donamire Farm in Lexington. Alison Lundergan Grimes wasn’t pleased (via Lexington Herald-Leader) [emphasis mine]:

Asked at an event in Lexington earlier in the day if she regretted being a delegate for Obama in 2012, Grimes said her record as a Clinton Democrat “speaks for itself.” And she did not welcome Obama’s 2012 opponent to Lexington.

“I find it ironic that Mitch McConnell, who thinks 76 cents on every dollar is acceptable for a woman, would welcome a man here to Kentucky who thinks 47 percent of the population doesn’t matter,” Grimes said, a reference to Romney’s “47 percent” comment in 2012 that turned into a firestorm for his campaign.

Speaking with reporters after the fundraiser, Romney praised McConnell and said his re-election would be good for the country and good for America because it could lead to McConnell becoming the majority leader if Republicans take control of the Senate.

“When there is a Republican Senate and Mitch McConnell is the leader, you’re going to see pieces of legislation the American people want to see passed,” Romney said.

Okay, Grimes won’t really answer if she regretted being a 2012 Obama delegate, but did she vote for him?

Yeah, she deployed countermeasures on that one.

But before Grimes can explain her 2012 support of Obama, or try animate women voters in Kentucky, who break evenly between the two candidates; she may have to settle things with organized labor. They are not impressed with her campaign (via NRO):

National Review Online obtained an audio recording of the September 24th meeting between union activists and Phinis Hundley, speaking for the Grimes campaign. The audio captures the back and forth between the two camps and the frustration that some activists feel with the Grimes campaign.

“It’s not been really easy to get communication back and forth from the campaign, so, what’s our best line of communication?” a female union activist asks.

…

Hundley, at the meeting on Grimes’s behalf, expresses astonishment. “You mean to tell me that Democratic people are volunteering and not hearing anything back from the campaign?” he says.

Others on the call echo the initial complaint. It’s difficult to distinguish individuals in the chorus of voices, but at least some activists are “not impressed” with members of the Grimes team who are “not very good” at following up with supporters and potential volunteers.

One man wonders whether the Grimes campaign has altogether abandoned organized labor, typically a crucial voting block for the Democratic party. “Is it possible that they have another group of people that they’re spending their time with?” he asks. “Is the campaign busy with another group of people? I’m just curious if there’s another plan beyond labor, at this point.”

Senator Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) did not make this mistake last cycle, one activist notes. “We’ve never been treated the way we’ve been treated from the Grimes campaign, and that is a very big complaint I’ve heard from a lot of people, and that needs to be noticed by the campaign,” the woman says. (Union workers from Ohio and Kentucky, which border each other, often work on races in both states.)