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LEXINGTON, Kentucky When most people think of Addison Mitch McConnell and his impact on politics, they think of the U.S. Capitol and the halls of power along the Potomac River.
Often cast as the consummate D.C. insider, McConnell is an equally consummate Kentuckian who regularly tailgates before Louisville football games and hangs out with longtime friends at Cunningham’s Creekside, located along a tributary of the Ohio River. He is also an avid baseball fan, even if his major league team is the Washington Nationals.
His rise in power began in 1985, when he was sworn in as the only Republican challenger to defeat an incumbent Senate Democrat in 1984. Its latest chapter involves his perch as the Republican leader of a Senate conference built up from its modern nadir by the rise of the Tea Party movement.