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LOUISVILLE U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul predicted Friday that any hurt feelings left over from McConnell's bitter primary against GOP challenger Matt Bevin will recede when conservative voters learn more about Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.

"Really, the real question for Mrs. Grimes is how is she going to win in the state of Kentucky when she's a friend of President Obama and (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and she will vote for them?" Paul said. "Unless she can tell the voters she's willing to vote against Harry Reid, I don't know how we can consider her."

The senators spoke at a joint news conference that was the first for the two men since Tuesday's primary, when more than a third of Republican voters pulled the lever for Bevin.

Paul said he thinks "the people who identify with the Tea Party will come out when they realize what a disaster it would be for Kentucky to have Mrs. Grimes."

Last week's Bluegrass Poll found that 25 percent of Bevin supporters said they would support Grimes if McConnell won the primary, and Grimes sought to cement that support Friday with an open letter to Bevin's supporters.

In the letter, addressed to "Kentucky Republicans and Independents," Grimes wrote that McConnell "and his Washington lobbyist friends said a lot of negative untrue things about Matt Bevin and his family."

When asked for a list of the "untrue" things McConnell said about Bevin, Grimes spokeswoman Charly Norton said she was "going to let the letter speak for itself."

"If you believe that it is past time to give Mitch McConnell and his D.C. lobbyist cronies the boot, I welcome you to join our effort to elect an independent, commonsense problem-solver who will fight for Kentucky values," Grimes wrote in the letter.

When asked about Grimes' letter, McConnell and Paul both laughed as the senior senator said he hopes "she'll spend all of her time trying to get Republicans to vote for her."

Later Friday, Bevin issued an open letter to Grimes, questioning where she stands "on issues like Obamacare, amnesty, and abortion."

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McConnell, Paul and Grimes court Bevin's backers after contentious primary

Republicans kick off the state GOP convention in Kaneohe
GOP candidates for state and national office fired up hundreds of enthusiastic supporters in preparation for upcoming elections.

By: KITV

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Republicans kick off the state GOP convention in Kaneohe - Video

WASHINGTON - Republicans who hope to wrest control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats see medical care delays for veterans as a potent line of attack and are devising ways to keep the issue in the news in the months leading up to the November congressional elections.

They are planning a long summer of investigations and hearings on problems at the Veterans Affairs agency to highlight what they say is a pattern of mismanagement in President Barack Obama's administration.

Republicans have tread lightly so far to avoid appearing callous in exploiting an issue involving allegations that veterans died while waiting for VA care. But lawmakers, aides and campaign strategists in the party say they are now ready to go on the offensive, attacking Obama for his slow response to the scandal.

They say the VA care delays and alleged cover-ups are another blunder for Obama, equal to the botched roll out of his healthcare reform law last year, the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya and the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service.

"This is part of a larger theme that we've been saying for a year now, that voters don't trust the government," said Brook Hougesen, spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Just as Obamacare called into question Democrats' accountability, this does the same."

The scandal is national in scope and focuses on a group that is revered by lawmakers and voters regardless of party. The 21 million U.S. veterans make up a sizeable political constituency on their own and nearly 9 million use VA health care.

The VA Inspector General now is investigating 26 locations across the United States, which aides and strategists say will provide a drum beat of news from local media that will fuel voter outrage in battleground states.

Paul Sracic, who heads the political science department at Youngstown State University in Ohio, said the scandal is dangerous for Democrats because it allows Republicans to link outrage over the VA health care problems to voter discontent over the "Obamacare" reforms.

"If Republicans were writing a script for the summer they couldn't have made up a better story," said Sracic. "The last thing Democrats want is to be still talking about this after Labor Day."

Democrats say they are focused on a strong response to fixing the VA problems. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said Congress should consider a broad restructuring of the way Veterans Affairs provides medical care.

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US Republicans map campaign attack plan on veterans scandal

Progressives vs. The Democratic Party (w/ William Greider)
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By: The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow

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Progressives vs. The Democratic Party (w/ William Greider) - Video

If Hillary Clinton remains the uncontested voice of her party, what next for progressives who say they know too well where Wall Street-friendly economics and a hawkish foreign policy will take the nation? (Photo: Shutterstock)Bernie is "seriously considering" it.

Warren says, "I'm not running."

A few Democratic governors are reportedly dabbling.

But with progressives nationwide yearning for a bold populist movement, is there any chance their hopes will be met in the upcoming midterm elections or on the 2016 presidential battlefield?

At the 'New Populism Conference' hosted by the Campaign for America's Future on Thursday, a number of progressive thinkers and activistsnot to mention Senators Warren and Sanders themselvesspoke to the idea of the "new populism" they say is desperately needed to release the nation from the stranglehold of corporate interests and a politics dominated by big money.

"So we must to have an independent movement which says, 'It doesn't matter who's in power! There are some things that are just right and we demand that they be done!'" Rev. William Barber

Striking a resolute and outside message at the conference was Rev. William Barberhead of the North Carolina NAACP and leader of the Moral Monday protests in his statewho rejected the idea that hope should come from Washington, DC or the establishment of either major party.

During his remarks at the conference poduim, Barber pointed to the lessons of the Civil Rights movement more than a generation ago and thundered: "They built a movement in spite of the odds," and cited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said: "There comes a time when you have to stop being a thermometer and instead change the temperature of the situation in which you exist!"

Barber said a truly populist and progressive movement must face off against both parties. "I'm sorry to tell you, if no one did," said Barber, "but sometimes Democrats don't do what they should even when they have the power. And Republicans do what they shouldn't do when they have the power."

The real solution, Barber declared, is "to have an independent movement which says, 'It doesn't matter who's in power! There are some things that are just right and we demand that they be done!'"

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Can a New Populist Movement Fight Off American Oligarchy?