I’m preaching to the choir here, I know, but let me gently theorize that not only did she dutifully vote for The One in 2012, she’ll duitfully vote for amnesty or cap-and-trade or whatever other hard-left project the White House proposes if Harry Reid really needs her to. That’s the shining lesson of the ObamaCare vote, four years removed. When the chips are down, all the “maverick” red-state Democrats like Pryor and Hagan and Landrieu and Begich line up to carry Obama’s water. And if they’d do it on a vote that momentous, you’d better believe they’d do it for lesser utopian projects. The world we live in, though, is steered by people who think Condoleezza Rice is Obama’s VP, not people who follow key Senate votes closely enough to know that red-state Democrats will always choose the national interests of their party over the preferences of their conservative constituents. So this question, about whether she voted for Obama, becomes useful shorthand for Kentucky’s low-information voters in deciphering her true sympathies. Even if they dislike McConnell, do they want to give a Senate vote to someone who can’t flatly say “no” when asked if she cast a ballot for O — four times? Like Guy says:

Reason why Grimes won't say "yes" is she doesn't want 'yes' soundbyte clipped into an ad. Instead, her whole answer could be an ad. #KYSen

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 9, 2014

What’s more damning, admitting that she voted for O, which everyone assumes anyway, or painfully dodging the question repeatedly? How about this for an answer: “Yes, I did vote for him, but I’ve been deeply disappointed in his performance these past two years. He’s taken the country too far in a liberal direction, which is why we need more conservative Democrats in the Senate. We can influence the president in a way that Republicans can’t.” That’d be a bald-faced lie but serviceable spin. Instead she resorts to this. Amateurs.

You’d need a flawless performance by an unusually talented pol to knock off the would-be majority leader in a political climate this hostile. Needless to say, that isn’t what you’re seeing here. Grimes will lose this race — but not by much. McConnell’s lead is steady, the occasional outlier poll notwithstanding, but it’s precarious at just three or four points. Here’s one of the more depressing graphics I’ve seen from a pollster in awhile, just to put in perspective for you how pitiful the GOP’s performance has been this year:

Not a single candidate, including strong ones like Cory Gardner, is within single digits of Obama’s job disapproval in his or her respective state. O and the GOP are essentially in a battle to see which of them can alienate the country more comprehensively. Republicans are doing their best to win, but Obama’s had such a miserable year and the spotlight on him as president is so intense that it looks like he’s going to drag the GOP almost singlehandedly to a Senate majority. That knowledge, in fact, is probably why Grimes can’t croak out so much as a timid “yes” when asked if she voted for him. Who wants to be within a country mile of the numbers you see above?

Two clips here, one of Grimes’s quadruple dodge and the other of James O’Keefe’s latest hidden-camera interview with her supporters. You’ll be surprised to find they don’t think she’s nearly as conservative as she pretends to be. Next they’ll be telling us she would have voted for ObamaCare if given the chance.