Kentucky Political Staple - Barbs and Barbecue - NYTimes.com FANCY FARM, Ky. - The menu outside the Knights of Columbus hall boasted 9 tons of barbecue pork and mutton, 225 pounds of purple-hull peas and 1,400 pounds of potato salad. But it was the feast of political insults that drew hundreds to a shed nearby, where Senator Mitch McConnell and challengers on his left and right participated in a venerable Kentucky tradition - the annual Fancy Farm picnic, where candidates hurl mocking one-liners while trying to keep their composure in the face of yelling, sign-pumping hecklers. This year's event, on Saturday, was especially raucous because Mr. McConnell's bid for a sixth term in 2014 has drawn viable opponents on either flank, as well as national attention. Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is likely to be his Democratic opponent, accused Mr. McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, of being wed to obstruction. "If the doctors told Senator McConnell that he had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it," she said, while the 71-year-old incumbent looked on coolly. Mr. McConnell attacked Ms. Grimes, 34, by insulting her father, a former state Democratic Party chairman. "I want to say how nice it is to see Jerry Lundergan back in the game," he said. Like the loyal Democrat he is, he's taking orders from the Obama campaign on how to run his daughter's campaign. Mr. McConnell had hoped to avoid a Tea Party challenger in the Republican primary, but he got one last month when a Louisville businessman, Matthew Bevin, entered the race. Mr. Bevin went after Mr. McConnell on the most basic level, his virility. "Be a man," he taunted, criticizing the senator for not joining Congressional conservatives who promise to hold up a deal on the debt ceiling unless the health care law is defunded. The aroma of the barbecue pits wafted over the slugfest. It is part of a fund-raiser, including bingo and funnel cakes, for a local Roman Catholic parish, St. Jerome, in the western Kentucky hamlet of Fancy Farm. "This is a church picnic, so we have some ground rules," the M.C. told the audience. No profanity, sexism or racism. Otherwise there were few holds barred by the speakers or the crowd, which unlike most political rallies was equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. With their constant jeering and sign-waving, the crowds make the event a test for political newcomers. Ms. Grimes's supporters held "Despicable Mitch" signs. The McConnell troops twirled a Janus-like sign with the face of Ms. Grimes on one side and President Obama on the other. Mr. Bevin's much smaller contingent rang bells. "Ask not for whom the bells toll, Senator," Mr. Bevin said. They toll for you. Ms. Grimes, whose political experience is limited to a year and a half as Kentucky's secretary of state, did not stumble in the face of a "We want Mitch!" chant that drowned out much of her six-minute speech. She referred to a now infamous recording of Mr. McConnell privately comparing the campaign to a game of Whac-a-Mole, telling aides, "When anybody sticks their head up, do them out." "I will tell you," Ms. Grimes shouted, "I don't scare easy!" It has become her signature line and was echoed on supporters" placards. Although Mr. McConnell has power and prestige in Washington, polls show a tight race. The whiff of a possible upset has drawn money and attention from the national Democratic establishment, as well as the news media. His bid for a sixth term is likely to be the most high-profile contest of 2014. "Every liberal in America is out to beat us next year," Mr. McConnell said, appealing to a conservative state where Mr. Obama won only 4 of 120 counties last November. "As long as I'm in the Senate," he said, "Kentucky will have a voice instead of San Francisco and Martha's Vineyard." (As a totem of East Coast elitism, Martha's Vineyard played a recurring cameo in Fancy Farm, which is named for the fertile acreage of corn and soybeans. Another Republican speaker poked a Democratic rival for vacationing in Martha's Vineyard, demurring that he took his wife "to a weekend at Dollywood.") Mr. McConnell may look mild-mannered in his owlish eyeglasses, but he has a sharp attacking style and astute political instincts that have preserved his Senate seat for about 30 years and his role in leadership. He spent most of his speech attacking the president on coal, health care and taxes, focusing on a strategy of linking Ms. Grimes to Mr. Obama. Ms. Grimes is trying the less tested strategy of rallying Democrats by going after the Tea Party in a state that sent Rand Paul to the Senate in 2010. "I know many of you had hoped to see Rand Paul here today," she said, addressing the right side of the crowd but really speaking to the left side. But he's spending his weekend with his loved ones, the Tea Party members in Iowa. Mr. McConnell has ardently embraced Kentucky's junior senator, to the point of hiring his former campaign manager. Mr. Paul has said he will support Mr. McConnell. But it was not enough to stop Mr. Bevin from jumping in and rallying a noisy corps of Tea Party advocates. Analysts consider a Bevin victory in the primary next May a very long shot. But his presence complicates Mr. McConnell's ability to pick off wavering Democrats by moving to the center. Mr. McConnell made the case that the state is better served because of his Senate seniority. He listed achievements, including keeping areas around dams on the Cumberland River open to fishermen, which the Army Corps of Engineers had wanted to close for safety reasons. "You can't get any of those things done from the back bench," the minority leader said. He departed the picnic before Mr. Bevin spoke. There was also an exodus from the shed of his supporters in their red "Team Mitch" T-shirts. Mr. Bevin, 46, is a political unknown who runs a family bell factory based in Connecticut. He moved to Louisville in the 1990s. He proved a confident speech maker, injecting issues that have powered Tea Party upsets against Republican incumbents elsewhere. Mr. McConnell, he said, voted to rescue Wall Street banks and compromised on a tax increase this year to avoid a fiscal crisis. For a Fancy Farm novice, Mr. Bevin also showed that he knew his way around an insult, which will be needed: the McConnell campaign has begun aggressive attack ads against him. "Mitch McConnell has, amazingly, disappeared," he said. I find that shocking. Maybe we should call him back," he said, leading a cheer of "Where's Mitch?"