Joseph Gerth

@Joe_Gerth

Watch out Mitch McConnell and Alison Lundergan Grimes!

"Honest" Gil Fulbright is coming to town, and he's got his sights set on both of you.

Fulbright plans to launch his U.S. Senate campaign in two weeks at the annual Fancy Farm Picnic even though he won't actually appear on the ballot — and even though he's not even a real person.

"People of Kentucky, you deserve complete honesty, so here it is. I don't care about you," Fulbright, played by a character actor from New York, says in an online video. "Unless you are a donor, a lobbyist who can write a big fat check, the result that you get from voting for me is negligible."

The point that the campaign, being run by a group called represent.us, is trying to make is that there is too much money in politics and that politicians on both sides of the aisle are too beholden to big donors rather than to the constituents who elect them to office.

The group is setting up shop in Kentucky because the state's U.S. Senate race between Grimes and McConnell, the Senate's minority leader, is expected to see $100 million spent and become the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history.

Josh Silver, the represent.us director, said the idea came about because of a 2012 study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center that found viewers of the satirical "Colbert Report" were more knowledgeable about campaign finance laws than those who watch network or cable news.

"The conclusion is that people pay more attention to and learn better from satire than they do from the news," he said.

With that, Gil Fulbright was born.

The campaign touts Fulbright as the nation's first honest politician — tinged with irony because of the unabashed honesty about his own corruption.

"Listening to my constituents, legislating. These are things I don't do," he says in one introductory ad. "What I do is spend about 70 percent of my time raising funds for re-election. I'd do anything to stay in office. My name's Gil Fulbright, but hell, I'll change my name to Phil Gulbright or Bill Fulbright or Phillip Mamouf-Wifarts."

In an ad about health care reform, Fulbright says, "If I'm elected, there's probably not a whole lot I can do about it, cause you see, the health care industry, they donate over 73 million to politicians every year. So my plan is to just push their agenda so they'll keep that money coming my way."

In an ad about changing the laws that govern the Internet, he says, "If Comcast and Time Warner want to turn the tap down on you and your cat videos, that's fine with old Gil, as long as they open up the fire hose of those sweet, sweet campaign donations."

Silver said the ad campaign has already gotten more national recognition than any other campaign the group has undertaken. One fake ad was played Wednesday morning during a segment on his campaign on NBC's "Today" show.

About half the money in Kentucky's Senate race will likely be spent by third-party groups that accept unlimited contributions from wealthy businesses and individuals.

Represent.us notes that about 87 percent of the contributions helping McConnell come from out of state while Grimes' out-of-state backershave contributed 75 percent of her money.

In one online video, Sean Kleier, a video producer for the group who is originally from Louisville, says that's a problem.

"I'm from Kentucky, so this is personal for me," Kleier says in the video. "I really want to be able to fix the problems for my home state, but still, it's not just about one place. Every congressional campaign has millions of dollars flowing into it and you better believe the people putting the money in want something in return."

Spokeswomen for both McConnell and Grimes didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The group is using online crowdfunding to pay for the campaign. It's raised more than $26,000 already — enough to rent a bus and send Fulbright, played by Frank Ridley, to Kentucky to launch his campaign at Fancy Farm and to tail Grimes and McConnell to campaign stops, said Mansur Gidfar, a spokesman for represent.us.

Silver said Fulbright would be in Kentucky for part of August, September and October.

Fancy Farm is "where Gil Fulbright is going to announce to Kentuckians how he is going to sell out Kentucky," Silver said.

Once in Kentucky, Silver said, Fulbright will likely go on a distillery tour "and drink too much bourbon and say more than he should. He's going all out for it."

As the group hits other fundraising thresholds, it will buy billboards in some of Kentucky's bigger cities, hire public relations firms and air television and radio commercials.

And just like in Washington, represent.us is giving more perks to the biggest donors.

For $25 you get a mere thank you on Twitter.

But those who contribute $500 or more get to choose an issue for an ad that Fulbright will make and put on the group's website, because, as Fulbright says, "I'm Gil Fulbright. For the right price, I'll approve any message."

Silver said the group's problem isn't with Republicans or Democrats, it's with both parties. "This is not a progressive effort. This is not a conservative effort. This is an American effort to fight money and corruption in politics."

The fact that McConnell has been one of the most aggressive politicians in trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down campaign contribution limits isn't important to the group.

"We take the view that the system is so broken because the vast majority of politicians won't do a thing about fixing it," he said. "McConnell is just one who actually admits he doesn't want to do anything about it."