Could bad blood hurt Ky. GOP efforts?

Does it matter if two guys don't get along? It could in the Kentucky governor's race and the two guys are the Republican running for governor and the most powerful Republican in the nation.

The rapport between Louisville businessman and presumed governor nominee Matt Bevin and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, has been frosty ever since last year's primary, in which McConnell beat Bevin.

Then this year, political action committees previously associated with McConnell and this year supporting Hal Heiner unleashed attack ads against Bevin, raising issues about taxes and bailouts that Bevin said were blatantly false.

Bevin leads Agriculture Commissioner James Comer by 83 votes after last week's Republican primary for governor. Comer has asked for a review of the state's voting machines and absentee ballots, a process that begins Thursday morning. If the recanvass uncovers any discrepancies, Comer may choose to petition the Franklin County Circuit Court for a recount, which he would have to pay for.

The uncertainty has not stopped Bevin from acting like the nominee. Bevin has been telling reporters he expects McConnell will support him, adding that he supported McConnell in his 2014 re-election.

McConnell would not refer to Bevin as the nominee on Tuesday, saying he would support the Republican nominee "as soon as we know who that is."

Bevin previously declined several times to publicly endorse McConnell in 2014, although he did attend events and urged Republicans to vote in the general election.

In an appearance last week, Bevin said he had supported Republicans statewide with time, appearances and financial endorsements in a statement that made it appear he had also supported McConnell directly.

"I literally know of no other elected official in this state who went to more events between May and November in support of candidates and support of Mitch McConnell and other down ticket races than I did," said Bevin. "I knocked on doors, I made phone calls, I wrote checks myself, and I physically attended fundraiser after fundraiser."

Many have interpreted that as Bevin claiming that he donated to the McConnell campaign, which election records show did not happen. But Wednesday, officials with Bevin's campaign said that the quote was "misinterpreted" and that Bevin was trying to transition off the McConnell topic and talk in general terms.

"Essentially what Matt was trying to say is that no one has worked harder for the Republican party as a whole, and that got lost in translation," Bevin spokesman Ben Hartman said.

In a statement texted to The Enquirer, Bevin said that "I am looking forward, not backward, and I invite all those looking to be part of the solution to Kentucky's challenges to join me."

"The ranks of the problem solvers is growing daily and I am excited to see the coalescing of experienced and dedicated people who want a better future for the generations to come," Bevin wrote. "While focusing on our own race, I will still continue to support those candidates who I believe can take our state forward and need my verbal and financial help to make that happen."

Further highlighting the possible rift, McConnell and Bevin were supposed to appear together at a dinner in Elizabethtown Tuesday night. The invitations sent by Bevin's campaign referred to Bevin as the Republican nominee for governor.

But Bevin canceled that appearance where McConnell, the Senate majority leader, spoke. And McConnell has said he will not attend the state Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner on Saturday when Bevin will be the featured speaker.

McConnell told reporters in Elizabethtown he can't make Saturday's dinner because he has to be in Washington to prepare for a rare Sunday session to try and avert the expiration of the Patriot Act, which fellow Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul vigorously opposes.

"I don't think (people) should read that into it," McConnell said of his absence on Saturday. "If I were not the majority leader of the Senate, you know, I could probably wait until Sunday to go back. But I'm responsible for the schedule, I'm responsible for the Sunday session and so nothing should be read into that in terms of my interest in the governor's race or any other race this fall."

Hartman, Bevin's campaign manager, said Bevin missed McConnell's speech Tuesday because of a "scheduling conflict."

Just last year, McConnell's re-election campaign asked Kentucky's Republican voters in a television ad: "how can you believe (Bevin) on anything?"

Bevin used his young daughter in a TV ad to say McConnell was spreading lies during the state's Republican primary, which McConnell won handily.

Some Republicans insist Bevin and McConnell's relationship is just fine. Last week, four Republican state representatives from Hardin County who supported Comer in the primary sent a letter to county Republicans urging them to put aside their differences and support the Republican candidate.

"Having spoken with both of them, there is no animosity. That's not spin, that's the truth," said state Rep. Tim Moore, who co-wrote the letter. Of Bevin and McConnell appearing together, Moore said: "it's inevitable."

"Will it be a sign to everybody in the state that the party is united? Sure it will," he said. "I look forward to it."