Last week Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell went up on the air with ads highlighting his position as the leader of the caucus' Republicans. One representative frame of the two ads looks like this:

I, for one, think it's terrific that McConnell is reminding Kentuckians that he is the head of the Senate Republicans. If I were running a 527 organization opposing McConnell's reelection bid this fall, I'd be running ads reminding voters in the commonwealth of just that fact.

For one, McConnell's Republican caucus is on pace to set the all-time record for obstructionism in the Senate, filibustering more than any other Senate caucus from either party in American history. McConnell and the Republicans continue to filibuster any legislation attempting to change the course in Iraq, legislation desperately desired by the American people. What's more, they have attempted to filibuster many, many other popular pieces of legislation, including expansion of the SCHIP program, ethics reform, and an overhaul of federal energy policy. Simply put, as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has stood in the way of or tried to stand in the way of progress on dozens of measures that enjoy the support of most Americans and even probably most Kentuckians. As such, any reminder of McConnell's role as the chief obstructionist on Capitol Hill isn't necessarily going to be a great positive for the Senator.

Moreover, given the sorry state of the GOP in Kentucky these days, a move by McConnell to highlight his party registration isn't necessarily the best idea. Just last week, Kentuckians threw out their Republican Governor, who enjoyed the strong support of McConnell, by a 59 percent to 41 percent margin. SurveyUSA, which nailed the Kentucky Governor race, pegs George W. Bush's approval rating at just 41 percent in the commonwealth, with 57 percent disapproving. McConnell may want to identify with that 41 percent of Kentucky voters -- but by doing so he runs the very real risk of alienating the much larger swath of voters who didn't vote for Republican Governor Ernie Fletcher and who don't support George W. Bush.

So if Mitch McConnell wants to spend money to remind Kentuckians that he is not only a Republican but the Republican leader, I say go ahead. Such a strategy only serves to save a few dollars for those on this side of the aisle hoping to put a big scarlet "R" on McConnell's chest this cycle.