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Mitch McConnell once said his goal was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Nowadays, he boasts about how often he negotiates with Obamas vice president as evidence of his influence in Washington.

I was with Joe Biden again, McConnell, the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky, said at a recent candidate forum, recounting his role helping resolve a fiscal crisis in 2012. The only deals that have been made on a bipartisan basis, I brokered, he said. Every one of them.

The man poised to run the Senate if Republicans win control in November is making an argument that runs counter to his partys anti-government mood: Im the ultimate insider.

He may have no choice. McConnells Democratic opponent says hes the cause of the gridlock in the capital. So he has to convince voters that his three decades of Senate experience make him the solution, not the problem.

As a Senate Republican leader, its very difficult to run away from Washington, said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean, a onetime aide to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. He can make arguments as to what hes done to stop bad things from happening.

Its not an easy sell. McConnell, 72, trailed Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, 35, by two points in a Bluegrass poll released this week, though he has led in most other surveys.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, greets a supporter while campaigning during a two day bus tour of eastern Kentucky, in Gray, Kentucky, on August 7, 2014. Close

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, greets a... Read More

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U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, greets a supporter while campaigning during a two day bus tour of eastern Kentucky, in Gray, Kentucky, on August 7, 2014.

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McConnell Touts Experience Amid Anti-Incumbent Mood