New McConnell ad hits Obama, Grimes on coal

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed President Obama for his "war on coal" in a new ad Friday.

The 60-second ad buy features coal industry representatives and miners that warn of the "devastation" they say Obama's climate agenda will unleash on Kentucky.

"If eastern Kentucky is unable to mine coal, it's a destruction of our way of life," Larry Pigman, a coal industry employee, states in the ad.

It's one of McConnell's harshest coal ads to date, and it also tries to tie his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, to Obama.

"Mitch is a friend of coal, and that's who we need in Washington, D.C.," says coal miner Simmie Bowling.

McConnell has made the administration's climate change regulations a key part of his campaign, stating that once Kentucky makes it past Obama's presidency, coal will have a future.

For her part, Grimes has come out against the administration's regulations on carbon pollution from existing coal plants.

"No matter how many ads Mitch McConnell runs, he can't hide from the fact that he has failed to save a single coal job in his 30 years in Washington," Grimes spokesman Jonathan Hurst said in a statement. 

Grimes raised more that $4 million during the previous reporting quarter, where McConnell raised $3.1 million.