Carly Fiorina was there. Hugh Hewitt was there. Mitch McConnell was there. Bobby Jindal was there. The only people missing were interested voters.

The Lexington Herald-Leader described it as a "quiet conservative rally." Boy howdy, I guess so. Not even the Big Heavy Conservative Hitters could turn out for it, not to mention his paid supporters, which were nowhere to be seen.

The former candidate's remarks came at the beginning of a two-hour event that was more seminar than pep rally as McConnell tries to unite Republicans behind his effort to hold off Grimes and win a sixth term that potentially could him becoming majority leader of the U.S. Senate.

Though there were plenty of empty seats in the convention center, the crowd seemed appreciative of the remarks by Bevin, McConnell, conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, former California U.S. Senate candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Hewitt, whose radio show is adored nationally by conservatives, said after McCon nell spoke that "it will be a much better America on Wednesday if he's the leader of the Senate."

The common thread running through each of the speeches was a scathing rebuke of President Barack Obama and Grimes.

That first sentence description hits it right on the money. Check the slides on the screens. No rah-rahs here, just some drab PowerPoints and a lot of Obama-bashing.

Speaking of the Lexington Herald-Leader, they endorsed Grimes and eviscerated McConnell on Wednesday, too:

The problem is how McConnell uses his power. He has repeatedly hurt the country to advance his political strategy.

McConnell has sabotaged jobs and transportation bills, even as Kentucky's unemployment exceeds the nation's and an Interstate 75 bridge crumbles over the Ohio River. He blocked tax credits for companies that move jobs back to this country while preserving breaks for those that move jobs overseas. He opposed extending unemployment benefits, while bemoaning the "jobless" recovery. He brags about resolving crises that he helped create.

The Senate may never recover from the bitter paralysis McConnell has inflicted through record filibusters that allow his minority to rule by obstruction.

Even before Barack Obama was sworn in, McConnell told his fellow Republicans that their strategy was to deny the new president any big wins. The country was in two wars and at deep risk of sliding into a depression, but making an adversary look bad was McConnell's main mission.

His signature cause — flooding elections with ever more money — corrupts. He poses as a champion of the right to criticize the government, but it's really his rich buddies' right to buy the government that he champions.

If McConnell had a better record, he would not have to argue for six more years by obsessively linking Grimes to Obama, who will be gone in two years no matter what.

McConnell, 72, insists that Grimes would be a partisan puppet, unable to think for herself or steer an independent course. Grimes, 35, a state official for three years, is as qualified as McConnell was when he pulled an upset in 1984. Win this and she's a rising star, commanding respect and attention. She's already formed alliances with Senate women and would be part of a women's caucus that is the most effective bipartisan force in Congress today.

That's exactly the kind of endorsement that should ring throughout the state. Truth has a way of cutting through the billionaire bullshit, if you let it.