Mitch McConnell in 2014 KY Senate debate

On Energy & Oil: I blocked the passage of Obama's cap-and-trade

Grimes blamed McConnell for lost coal jobs, but he fired back that he was actually able to block the passage of cap-and-trade legislation when Democrats had a super majority of 60 votes in the Senate and it was a top presidential priority. He suggested that Obama is using executive orders because of his deft maneuvering in the Senate.

The challenge for McConnell is making sure that the swing voters left in this race do not see him as part of the problem in Washington.McConnell says he's not a scientist and doesn't know for sure if global warming is a problem. Grimes said, "I recognize, unlike Sen. McConnell, the realities of climate change, but I do believe we have to take a balanced approach."

On Health Care: ObamaCare's Kynect is a state decision, but yeah, it's ok

McConnell also disputed the idea that Beshear's program has covered 500,000 more people, arguing that many of them are now paying more for lower-quality coverage. Democrats pounced, with Beshear saying in a post-debate statement: "Tonight, Mitch McConnell looked into the camera and misled Kentucky about his plan to take Kynect from more than 500,000 Kentuckians who have gained health care in the last year."

On Drugs: Strongly opposed to legalization of marijuana

On marijuana, Grimes criticized Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell for not realizing the "economic benefits" the state of Colorado has enjoyed after legalizing recreational use of marijuana, adding that she's "in favor of having the discussion, especially to reclassify the use of marijuana."

"We haven't had a senator who's even wanted to have those discussions though," Grimes said.

A spokesman for McConnell's Senate office, said in a statement later Thursday that "Senator McConnell is strongly opposed to legalization of marijuana as Kentucky families deserve no less."

A February poll of registered Kentucky voters found that 52% favored "allowing the use of medical marijuana in Kentucky," with 37% opposed & 12% not sure.

On Civil Rights: I co-sponsored VAWA but final version went too far

The charge that McConnell opposed the Violence Against Women Act and equal pay legislation is central to Grimes' pitch to female voters. McConnell's team has pushed back, arguing that he was originally a co-sponsor of the bill and only voted against it twice because he felt one changed version of the bill went too far, and because once it was attached to a ban on assault weapons.

On Foreign Policy: 1985: Led anti-apartheid bill through Senate

But the same passion is entirely missing in a 2009 McConnell biography: McConnell's South Africa stance is described as one calculated to "demonstrate his political independence" from the lame-duck Ronald Reagan.

On Homeland Security: AdWatch: Brought in new VA hospital; & higher pay for troops

The ads focus on McConnell's record on veterans' issues. The first wave of ads will ask Kentuckians to sign a petition "to oppose President Obama's plan to cut the military."

"This advertising is designed to educate citizens about President Obama's plans to slash military spending and leave our nation in a weaker position, and to urge Sen. Mitch McConnell-- who has a strong record of standing up for Kentucky's service men and women--to oppose those military budget cuts," a spokesperson said.

The ad says McConnell fought to bring a new VA hospital to Louisville, and for body armor and higher pay for troops

On Welfare & Poverty: Opposed Farm Bill due to too-generous food stamp program

"It just largely became a food-stamp bill with production agriculture kind of stuck on as an afterthought," McConnell told reporters. He also voiced support for work requirements for many recipients, saying it could spur more economic productivity. "Why would anybody object, if they can be given employment, to being productive?" McConnell said. "At the same time, you may be eligible for some food-stamp assistance. We need to move in the direction of having a vibrant, productive, expanding economy. And you don't do that by making it excessively easy to be non-productive."

On Energy & Oil: AdWatch: Fights EPA regulation on coal production

"A fighter who never lets Kentucky down," the Chamber says of McConnell in the ad that is airing now through Dec. 12 at a cost of $181,500, according to the latest report from the FEC.

On Government Reform: Federal shutdown was just a 2-week paid vacation: bad policy

McCONNELL: You know, one of my favorite old Kentucky sayings is there's no education in the second kick of a mule. The first kick of the mule occurred back in 1995 when the Republican House shut down the government. Shutting down the government, in my view, is not conservative policy. I don't think a two-week paid vacation for federal employees is conservative policy. A number of us were saying back in July that this strategy could not and would not work, and of course it didn't. So there will not be another government shutdown. You can count on that.

Q: Well, how badly do you think the country was hurt by all of this?

McCONNELL: It certainly didn't do the country any good to have both a government shutdown and a pending fiscal crisis right on top of it. I think it was important to do the right thing for the country [by ending the shutdown]. And we did it.

On Health Care: ObamaCare is a train wreck; do what we can to repeal it

McCONNELL: Well, I certainly agree with Senator Cruz that ObamaCare is indeed a train wreck. People--even if they could access the website--can't get quotes. Even those who may be fortunate enough to sign up are going to find that the premiums are higher and the choices are fewer. One thing that all Republicans agreed on back in 2009 is that we thought ObamaCare was a terrible mistake for the country. We still think that, and we're going to do everything we can in the future to try to repeal it. But that requires a Republican Senate and a different president. We have a math problem in the Senate in getting rid of ObamaCare: 55 Democrats and 45 Republicans. I'd like to have 51.

On Budget & Economy: Proud of role in high-profile deal to end federal shutdown

McConnell said that his high-profile part in the deal that ended the shutdown and extended the debt ceiling had taken the air out of Grimes' message. "It steps on the whole narrative of her campaign, and so she's desperately trying to criticize something I was praised for by Harry Reid, among others," McConnell said.

The Grimes campaign fired back by noting a number of past remarks McConnell has made proudly proclaiming himself a "guardian of gridlock." A Grimes spokesperson said, "It is an embarrassment that McConnell waited until the 11th hour to stop the manufactured crisis that he and members of Congress created. It is not heroic for McConnell to do his job and reopen the government. Kentuckians now have to pay for McConnell's Washington dysfunction."

On Immigration: Border security first: the key to getting a final outcome

McCONNELL: Well, I hope we can. As you know, I'm the proud husband of an immigrant. A young girl came here at age eight, not speaking a word of English. In fact, her parents didn't have enough money for a plane ticket. They came over on a freighter with the freight. And my wife, Elaine Chao, became secretary of labor, and was in President Bush's cabinet. Look, I'm a big fan of what legal immigration has done for our country. The Senate bill, in my view, is deficient on the issue of border security.

Q: How do you deal with 11-12 million illegal immigrants in the country now without a pathway to citizenship?

McCONNELL: Well, you know, I think the stickiest issue actually is border security. The question is can we actually get the border secure and not have this happen again? That's the stickiest issue. We need to seriously beef up the border security part. I think that's the key to getting a final outcome.

On Tax Reform: Comprehensive tax reform can work if it's revenue-neutral

McCONNELL: What I would like to see is the same kind of premise that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill, a Republican and a Democrat, had back in the '80s. And the premise was this: We're going to do tax reform but it will be revenue neutral to the government. In other words, the government doesn't gain revenue for itself. It's for flattening out the tax rate, making our country more competitive. If we can agree, in advance, that the exercise will be conducted within those parameters, that it's not a tax increase for the federal government, then I think it would be a very good thing for our country to do comprehensive tax reform, lower the rates, and make America more competitive in the global economy.

On Budget & Economy: Supports sequester cuts: 2.4% out of $3.6 trillion budget

McCONNELL: The question is: Are we going to keep the commitment we made to the American people a year and a half ago, a bipartisan agreement signed by the president, that we would reduce spending without raising taxes by this amount of money in this fiscal year? This modest reduction of 2.4% in spending over the next six months is a little more than the average American experienced just two months ago, when the payroll tax holiday expired.

Q: You call this a modest cut, but it will cost about 750,000 jobs.

McCONNELL: By any objective standard, cutting 2.4% out of $3.6 trillion is certainly something we can do.

Q: Over a short period of time?

McCONNELL: The sequester was actually the president's idea. He knows that we were not going to raise taxes to achieve this spending reduction this year. The American people need to know that we have a spending addiction in Washington. We've added $6 trillion to the national debt in just four years.