Following the release yesterday of polling data showing him with double digit leads over all potential challengers, Senator McConnell has announced that his campaign is airing two new ads in Louisville and Lexington (watch the new ads below).  Four new ads started last week in Bowling Green, Hopkinsville, Owensboro and Paducah.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, only the second Kentuckian in history to serve as his party’s leader in the U.S. Senate, has launched two new television commercials supporting his 2008 re-election effort.  The ads are on the air now in the Louisville and Lexington markets.  Watch both ads below.

David Jones is featured in the Louisville ad discussing Senator McConnell’s successful efforts to support city parks, including expanding the Jefferson Memorial Forest and securing $38 million for the 21st Century Parks project.  “Senator McConnell’s support of the parks in Louisville is absolutely essential …” Jones says. 

Last October Senator McConnell was honored to receive the 2007 Frederick Law Olmsted Award for Distinguished Leadership from the Board of Trustees of the Olmsted Conservancy.  The Courier-Journal dubbed Mitch McConnell a “godfather of green” for his environmental commitments and his work to secure funding for:  riverfront parks from Ashland to Paducah, the creation of Kentucky’s first National Wildlife Refuge, the Green River Conservation Enhancement Program, cleaning up nuclear waste in Paducah, and expanding the Jefferson Forest.

The new ad in Lexington features Craig Williams, Executive Director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, who discusses Senator McConnell’s efforts to require the safe destruction of dangerous chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond and his work to speed that process.  Williams says, “These are weapons of mass destruction.  They pose a significant risk merely by being here.  Without Senator McConnell’s leadership I don’t know where we would be on this issue.”

McConnell campaign representative Justin Brasell stated, “As he promised to do last year, Senator McConnell is already running the most aggressive Senate race in the nation by breaking fundraising records, airing early TV commercials, and opening up double digit leads over all potential challengers.  We are working day and night, we are very organized, and our pace will only increase as the election year progresses.”

Both Craig Williams and David Jones are featured on Senator McConnell’s Kentucky Heroes website.