Who's the bigger liability, Jesse Benton or Jerry Lundergan?

It's been very entertaining the last 36 hours or so, watching the Democrats try to claim that the 2012 Iowa presidential endorsement scandal is the smoking gun that will take Mitch McConnell's campaign down.

We have news for them: That dog won't hunt.

Plus, they need to remove the board from their own eyes before they point out the splinter in someone else's eyes.

Jesse Benton was a hired hand. He's already been cut loose. Even if he ever was an issue for the McConnell campaign, he no longer is.

The Democrats' problem is that they can't remove the Jerry Lundergan taint from Alison Lundergan Grimes' campaign. In addition to being her de facto campaign manager, he's also her father. And his record of corruption is a matter of fact. After all, his conviction was reversed on a technicality, not because of any evidentiary reason.

The Lundergan Grimes camp brought Mitch McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, into the campaign, thus opening the door for McConnell's team to interject Jerry Lundergan into the mix. If they want to use Jesse Benton as an issue, it gives Team Mitch yet another opportunity to tie Lundergan to his daughter's candidacy.

The smart thing for Lundergan to do would be to distance himself from Alison's candidacy, but he's already in too deep, and the growing controversies over the bus he's providing for her campaign are making matters worse for them.

Jesse Benton hasn't even been charged with a crime. Jerry Lundergan was convicted of an offense relating to his conduct while in public office. And it's appearing that he may be running afoul of the same campaign finance laws that may become a factor with Benton.

So, Democrats -- do you really want to go there regarding Benton?