Get the devil some mittens, a hat and an ice scraper. Hell has frozen over.

In the space of a few days, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and a pol who never seems to make a bad move, dropped the ball so badly he looked like Bengal T.J. Houshmandzadeh fumbling a punt.

First there was the klunker of handpicking his campaign manager and former chief of staff, Hunter Bates, to run for the Fourth Congressional District seat in 2004.

Supporters of Geoff Davis, who darn near beat Democratic U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas on Nov. 5, were ticked off that their boy was being dissed by the Senator.

The hard right-wingers were steamed - aren't they always? - because they weren't consulted.

Mr. Davis is a hero to the archconservatives.

McConnell

The country-club types were befuddled because they were gearing up for a more mainstream candidate than Mr. Davis - maybe a Steve Pendery or a Jon Draud - to run for the seat Mr. Lucas has said he will vacate after his next term.

And Northern Kentucky GOP activists and officials were miffed because they didn't understand that if the seat was going to be open, why wasn't the Senator pushing for a Boone, Kenton or Campbell County Republican instead of somebody from his own camp who had just moved into the far western end of the district a few months ago?

"Hunter Bates came to our (Kenton County) executive committee meeting, stood up and talked and nobody knew who in the heck he was," said Fort Mitchell Republican Michael Plummer.

"Hardly anybody's ever even met the guy."

Not only did Mr. McConnell anger just about every GOP constituency in Northern Kentucky by rolling out Mr. Bates as a candidate, he seems to have failed in what must have been his objective - clearing the deck of other GOP contenders.

A Republican Party strategist said that since Mr. McConnell threw his considerable clout behind Mr. Bates just two days after the election, at least six prospective GOP congressional candidates have visited or called him.

"If Mitch McConnell was trying to scare people off," the strategist said, "he didn't."

Then there is his involvement in the party switch that wasn't, the wooing of Mr. Lucas from Democrat to Republican.

Mr. McConnell didn't make the first move toward Mr. Lucas.

That came from Lexington Congressman Ernie Fletcher, a Republican who was chatting with Mr. Lucas on the House floor on Nov. 14.

Mr. Lucas was lamenting the Democrats' choice of California liberal Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader. With the Democrats suffering from a severe Election Day defeat, Mr. Lucas was questioning the strategy of the party's leadership going left when much of the country is going right or at least center.

Sensing an opening, the Republicans quickly had Mr. Lucas in the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican. He pitched the GOP to Mr. Lucas, who promised to think about the offer while on vacation.

After returning home last weekend, Mr. Lucas got a phone call from Mr. McConnell, who promised help in the GOP primary if Mr. Lucas switched.

What happened to Hunter? Good question, but Mr. McConnell isn't answering or talking right now, at least not about this.

Could it be Mr. McConnell saw a chance to:

Bring a proven winner into the GOP fold?

Satisfy Northern Kentucky's GOP establishment, much of which would back Mr. Lucas if he switched?

Go after Mr. Davis, who never thrilled the Senator all that much in the first place?

We may never know. Mr. Lucas ended up being a party-switching pooper, deciding to remain a Democrat while leaving open the possibility of seeking a fourth term.

As for Sen. McConnell, he'll recover. The guy was just elected to a fourth Senate term with record numbers and is now the No. 2-ranking Republican in the Senate. He's still a brilliant political tactician who isn't afraid to take on tough issues.

We just always figured it would be a cold day in hell before he stumbled.

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com