Democrat Alison Grimes is running a tough campaign to take Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s seat in Kentucky, but it seems she feels she needs to run away from Obama to do it.

In a new ad, Grimes complains that there is too much gridlock in Washington and the country needs a senator who “works with both Democrats and Republicans.” She goes on to claim, “No matter who the president is, I won’t answer to them.”

Current polls show incumbent Senator McConnell and challenger Grimes in a neck-and-neck race, so it seems she is trying to woo center-right Kentuckians by claiming that she won’t be controlled by a Democrat president.

Kentucky is usually thought of as a “red” state, having sent only two Democrats to the U.S. Senate since 1957. But during the same period, the Bluegrass State has elected only one Republican governor. Grimes, it appears, thinks that she can’t win if she is seen as a tool of Obama, Harry Reid, and the extreme liberal wing of her party, but she also knows that Democrats can win in Kentucky if they aren’t seen as left-wingers.

Still, Grimes has received financial backing from far left-winger and anti-gun Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. She has also received big donations from big Obama donor Hollywood’s Jeffrey Katzenberg. Worse, Grimes has associated herself with the most extreme of the liberal left by fundraising with such groups as the Democracy Alliance.

However, even with all her history of associating with far left-wingers, the candidate is seriously trying to convince voters that a left-wing president like Barack Obama won’t control her.

Finally, Grimes also comes from a political dynasty with a checkered history, having a father–who was once the head of the Kentucky Democratic Party–who was convicted of corruption and ethics violations.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.