It's tea party vs. GOP establishment in Kentucky

[bobbyw24]

By ROGER ALFORD
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 12, 2010; 1:01 PM


FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The tea party is looking to the Kentucky Derby state to finish off its own Triple Crown of victories.

Fresh off its successes in Florida and Utah, the movement is a driving force behind the Senate candidacy of Rand Paul, the son of liberterian presidential candidate Ron Paul. The younger Paul, a small-town eye doctor with no elective experience, is up against the GOP establishment - well-funded primary rival Trey Grayson, Kentucky's secretary of state, who has the backing of the biggest GOP name in the Bluegrass State, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

A Paul win in Tuesday's primary would be the strongest sign yet that the tea party activists are on a roll after defeating three-term Sen. Bob Bennett in Utah last Saturday and forcing once popular Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to abandon the GOP for an independent Senate bid last month.

It also would be a wake-up call, if somehow still needed, for Republican incumbents facing challenges from movement-backed candidates six months before the midterm elections.

"I have a message from the tea party to those in D.C.," says Rand Paul. "A message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We're coming to take our government back."

McConnell's clout is on the line after he pushed then-endangered Sen. Jim Bunning to retire, endorsed Grayson and cut a campaign ad for the candidate.

Paul, 47, is the epitome of a tea party candidate. He's a political outsider who favors cutting taxes, ending financial bailouts of private corporations and putting a stop to congressional earmarks.

"Everybody I talk to, they've just taken to him like a duck to water," said Harlan resident Tim Rice, who has a Paul yard sign outside his small welding shop in the eastern Kentucky coalfields. "He just comes across as honest. I don't know of a Senate candidate in the country who has the philosophy he has. He is a true constitutional conservative. He understands that what I earn is mine, and what I do with it is my choice.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051203000.html

[Matt Collins]

[DeadheadForPaul]

I like how they slip "libertarian" into any reference of Dr. Paul. He was a Republican candidate and Republican officeholder.

they wouldn't refer to George Bush as "former neo-conservative President George W. Bush"

Aholes

[rprprs]

From front to back: The winner in the KY GOP primary...the first runner-up...the "also-ran".

[Matt Collins]

I like how they slip "libertarian" into any reference of Dr. Paul. He was a Republican candidate and Republican officeholder.

they wouldn't refer to George Bush as "former neo-conservative President George W. Bush"

Aholes

Well it probably got put into recent AP Style Books which is what almost every reporter in the country uses to reference people, subjects, places, events, etc.

[bobbyw24]

Go Rand Go

[MRoCkEd]

Local KY paper:

[Bern]

Good. The more people that become aware of the likely failure of McConnell and the GOP machine, the better.