Karl Rove disses Rand Paul

Hot on the heals of Trey Grayson accusing Rand Paul of being the establishment candidate,

Karl Rove writes the following op-ed referencing the Kentucky Race.

Republicans have also recruited good candidates for their open seats. New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte is competitive, as are Ohio's Rob Portman and Missouri's Roy Blunt. Republicans in Florida have to get through a primary fight, but either Gov. Charlie Crist or former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio will likely hold the seat. (I've donated to Messrs. Blunt and Rubio.) Only Kentucky's open seat vacated by Jim Bunning causes the GOP squeamishness.

Of course, what he really means is it causes the power brokers in the upper echelons of the Republican Party hierarchy squeamishness. The reason for this is because Rand Paul wants to 'depower' Washington (Or Downsize DC.) and return that power to the individual where it belongs. If I were a power brokers, in either party, I'd be squeamish too.

What I find hilarious is, how do you be the establishment candidate -- when "MR Establishment" himself comes out targeting you? I think this is just more proof that Trey Grayson is simply a useful cog in the Republican Party machine. And the establishment, because of that, would prefer Grayson to a principled, honest individualist like Rand Paul who thinks for himself and isn't afraid to shake things up.

The Rand Paul campaign posted a blog in response to this in "Why so squeamish?":

Don’t know for sure what Rove is talking about, but if it is Rand Paul’s strong support for reform through term limits, reducing the size and scope of government, and his solid, consistent opposition to Republicans caving in on bailouts and stimulus spending that is causing some Washington D.C. tummy aches, then that’s good.

Rand is leading in the polls in Kentucky because Kentuckians can’t stomach the nonsense from our professional politicians anymore.

I think that's about right. Rank and file Republicans who care about principles are sick of being lied to by the McCains and other big government liberals who have hijacked the party. They want to take the party back. And Rand Paul has the credibility to do just that.





Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Is it over for Trey Grayson if Rand Paul wins the Q4 Money race?

Blue Grass Bulletin has an interesting write-up about the "Grayson/Paul bout"

"If Paul out raises Grayson again ... it will take a knockout punch to beat him"

Round five will be the fourth quarter finance reports. If Paul out raises Grayson again, he will be ahead in the count with only five rounds to go. Certainly he needs to continue to take the fight to Grayson, who is still seen as the champ, but if Paul wins the next two rounds, it will take a knock out punch to beat him.

While Grayson may very well be playing a bit of rope-a-dope and letting Paul punch himself out, Paul is showing little sign of tiring. Grayson packs a helluva hard right hook, a lesson learned from his undefeated trainer Mitch McConnell. But there is always the risk that Paul will go the distance and win in a close decision.

Grayson better answer the next bell on his feet and ready to fight. It doesn't even look like Paul is breathing hard, yet.

I highly recommend reading the full article. Here's another quote showing Rand Paul making the right moves.

The fourth round was all about credibility. At first it looked like Grayson had rocked Paul with a few well landed blows to his mid-section finding discrepancies between the words he spoke about Gitmo and the words he published on his web site. Then came the head shot from the NRSC which questioned Paul's veracity when he reported that they had committed to him to not endorse in the race. But Paul seemed to recover well and before long rocked Grayson with a skillful combination of punches.


First, he deftly brushed aside the criticism and effectively shook off the effects of the hit. Then Paul began showing up again and again on national news programs and seemed to reach deep inside to gather the energy of the TEA party movement, getting the crowd behind him. And then Paul executed a crushing right when he was the ONLY one of the two to get out front for state senate candidate Jimmy Higdon who defeated his better funded democratic opponent despite all of the predictions of a loss.

Read the rest

------sidebar------
(On this last point, Trey Grayson is now laughingly trying to take credit for Jimmy Higdon's success. However, only Paul showed up to Jimmy's event to help fund raise, and only Paul sent out e-mails to his entire Kentucky network to solicit donations for Higdon. What did Grayson do?)
------sidebar------

But Bluegrass bulletin isn't the only one noticing this though. Kentucky GOP strategist Scott Jennings is quoted by WHAS11

“I truly believe the tale of the tape on this race will be on Jan. [31] when the [fourth-quarter] fundraising reports come out,” said Scott Jennings, a Kentucky political operative who previously worked for McConnell’s re-election campaign. “If the Paul people have not been able capitalize on him leading in a survey, then I think that might be indicative that he might have peaked. But if [Federal Election Commission] reports come out and Paul has again led all the Senate candidates in fundraising, then I think a lot of these fumbles sort of go away.”

So we've got a blogger and a GOP Strategist saying that if Rand Paul wins the forth quarter money race, it's sort of all over for Grayson. Certainly, Rand Paul still needs to work hard. (He is, and he will. But if Rand Paul goes into next year with significantly more money then Grayson, he's going to be very difficult to beat.

That's why it's imperative that Rand Paul's moneybomb on Dec 16th goes well. Please pledge. And donate at http://www.randpaul2010.com/donate/

We might actually get an honest Senator who believes in small government, balanced budgets, private property, and individual liberty! Who would have thought it was possible.






Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul in Rookie's Sports Bar in Henderson (photos)

Rand Paul was in Henderson, Kentucky. . .

today to meet and speak with the locals at Rookie's Sports Bar. Like always Gage has pictures of Rand's event.

Uncouth Ruminations has a first hand account of Rand Paul's meet and greet.

Largely an informal event, the senate candidate feared and loathed by the establishment was all smiles as he got to meet with a diverse cast of his supporters. Young and old, black and white, people came out to hear the doctor from Bowling Green talk about balanced budgets, lowering taxes, term limits, and the value of the dollar. As another attendee remarked to me, we didn't hear a single worn-out Republican catchphrase. Rather, the candidate pointed out that President Obama is easy to target and that the real challenge is to get the Republican Party back in shape. It doesn't matter if we harass the president for being reckless with the nation's finances when Republicans do no better themselves.

In a sight inconceivable two years ago when Rand Paul’s father

was running for president, the would-be senator is actually a viable candidate and has reason to be upbeat. The last poll conducted in November had Rand within the margin of error against the one-time presumptive candidate, Trey Grayson. The primary is still six months away and despite the rantings of cranky party chairmen, Rand Paul is not too kooky for a lot of folks in Kentucky.

The candidate, before and after his speech, took time to engage with nearly every attendee. In an act that didn't go unnoticed, the candidate was not "fashionably late" or any other euphemism to justify why his time is more important than that of his supporters, but was actually at the venue before the scheduled time. In that same vein, when the candidate departed, it was not flanked by highly-paid suits, but by carrying the boxes of his campaign materials himself.

Read the rest

I'm going to say this again. Rand Paul is working HARD! He had 3 events last Saturday, and still found time to speak with Downsize DC, gave a speech in Bullitt County yesterday, and now he's meeting the locals in Henderson, Kentucky.

I don't think there can be any doubt about who's working harder in this race.

Update:
News Converage: Rand Paul in Henderson, KY






Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul Speaks in Bullitt County, Kentucky (Video)

Enjoy!

Rand Paul in Bullitt County Part 1

Rand Paul in Bullitt County Part 2

Rand Paul in Bullitt County Part 3

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul tours Northern Kentucky!

Well, not exactly. However, Saturday Rand Paul had 3 (Count um, One, two, THREE) events in Hebron, and California, Kentucky.

Rand Paul had a fund raiser/friend raiser and a meet and greet in California, Kentucky. Gage Skidmore has a flicker set of pictures here.  Apparently somebody doesn't like Bernanke or the Federal Reserve.
Then it was off to Hebron, Kentucky for another meet and great. Don't you think this is a beautiful tree?


He got a lot of compliments on his tie after he adjusted it.:) 



Then he was off to the Boone County GOP Christmas Party, also in Hebron, Kentucky.

Rand Paul had a good reception everywhere he went. I think the main thing this proves is that Rand Paul, really is working hard. He's working to make sure everybody knows who he is and where he stands on everything possible.

For those of you who remember Chandler "pancakes" Jenkins. We also met video stalker 2.0.

My guess is we'll be seeing more of this guy. You'd think Trey Grayson would have better things to do with his money then pay people to go around tape recording Rand Paul. Maybe that's just what establishment politicians do though.

I don't have any video of any of these events yet. Will post them as they become available.

Update:
Rand Paul's talk at Boone County GOP Christmas Party.





Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul Speach in Pikeville

Rand Paul in Pikeville: Part 1



Rand Paul in Pikeville: Part 2






Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul: Helping out the Kentucky GOP

Rand Paul was at a fund raising event for conservative Republican candidate, Jimmy Higdon, in Bardstown Monday Night.

Thanks to BlueGrass Bulletin for this photo of Paul being introduced by Senate Floor leader Robert Stivers, flanked by Senator Dan Seum and Congressman Brett Guthrie..

This is really an impressive display I think and goes to show that this disconnect Rand Paul talks about between the national leadership and grass roots Republicans on the local level is real. At an event of local Republican KY state senators and reps, Rand Paul is welcomed with open arms. While at the same time, Trey Grayson (again) is nowhere to be found.

BlueGrass writes:

First, his status as a featured guest shows that he has been taken seriously by the mainstream GOP. Second, it shows that he and at least one other federal candidate, Brett Guthrie, know the importance of keeping a balance of power in Frankfort as the legislature takes up the important duty of re-drawing Congressional Districts and state senate and representative districts following the 2010 census.

Read the rest

Here are parts 2 and 3 of Rand Paul's Jimmy Higdon event.
(Sorry. Part 1 not uploaded yet. I'll update this post as soon as it is.)

Part 2


Part 3






Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

A Little Love for Rand Paul

Thanks to the Daily Paul

Message from a Kentucky Patriot!


Remember, "If you live in Kentucky, you must register Republican by year's end to be able to vote for Rand Paul."






Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul all over Kentucky

I really like seeing the campaign put in so much effort to get around Kentucky and spread the word.





Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Trey Grayson: Sitting for Senate

Speaking of Rand Paul Sprinting for Senate, I thought I'd talk a little bit about Grayson's campaign. I've become convinced that the reason he entered this race, was because he thought he wouldn't have any competition.

I've already blogged about Grayson's "Rose Garden Strategy" of seemingly hiding from the voters and refusing to comment on actual issues.

But newer information about the campaign becomes increasingly bizarre. Recently Derek mentioned that he got contacted to be a volunteer -- 4 months after he volunteered his services. Now, I was always taught in sales and customer service that you need to follow up at least by the next day, or the odds approach zero that you’ll even have a live contact anymore.

I wonder, if Grayson has ever had a business, or been in customer service where that fast response attitude was important? If not, that might partially explain his lackadaisical approach. A more likely scenario though is that he's a bit bummed that he's going to have to work for this nomination and he's only just now realizing it. I think he planning on sitting for Senate instead of actually running. I mean, the last appearance anyone's heard from Grayson is his phone skit because the moderator called him because he couldn't drive 20 minutes to meet with potential voters.

And then when Trey Grayson DOES talk about an issue, he waxes peripheral. His first big issue is that he's a real Kentuckian. His second issue is that he's support Mitch McConnell for Senate Minority Leader (even though his first issue is kind of a slam on Mitch).

But, by itself this 2nd issue by Trey Grayson doesn't make any sense considering Grayson had just told the Wall Street Journal that he was going to be highly critical of Mitch. If Grayson really IS as critical of the bailouts and critical of Mitch for voting for them as he's was pretending to be in the WSJ, shouldn't he be applauding Rand Paul's failure to commit on the issue of. I mean, why would Trey Grayson vigorously support a person he's ideologically opposed to? Unless he really DOES believe what this spoof site says about him not caring about "rigid ideologies" in the picture caption. So either Grayson doesn't care about ideologies and doesn't believe in anything, or he's just telling different groups of people what he thinks they want to hear.

Rush Limbaugh always says it's best for a candidate to have 3 issues they care about. I'm very curious what Trey Grayson's 3rd campaign issue will be.

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul Wants Liberty Really Bad!

I've blogged several times now about how Rand Paul is doing so many events that I'm having trouble keeping up with everything. Almost every day he's got something going on, and many days lately he's had 2 or three events he's trying to attend and juggle.

Well, Derek over at Kentucky Politics noticed this too and says it's the reason behind Rand Paul's meteoric rise in the polls.

Rand and his trusted campaign employees (namely Chris Hightower, Christi Gillespie and David Adams) have been doing events early, often and, well….often. In the month of October, on SATURDAY’S ALONE, the Paul campaign did over 10 events. That’s an event and a half a day. Plus there’s over 20 for the month of October. Taking Sunday’s off, Dr. Paul comes remarkably close to a campaign event PER DAY.

Compare that to Grayson's site. Which, for the most part all he has is Trey Grayson's Jet Tour. I mean, even though he has issues now, these spoof sites here and here have more information about his activities (even though they haven't been updated in a while it seems).

Kentucky Politics continues

I live in Lexington, so let’s just use it as an example. Buck Ryan holds a Citizens Forum Roundtable on UK’s Campus for the Students, and Rand Paul drives over three hours to get there while Trey calls in, being only twenty minutes away. Rand has come back to Lexington for two other events, a GOP Breakfast and a town-hall. . . Last Saturday, after speaking TWICE earlier that morning and scheduled to speak again in just hours, the Campaign got wind of a tea party in the area so they added it to the schedule as well.

Rand Paul isn't running for Senate. He's Sprinting in a Marathon.

UPDATE:
Trey Grayson: Sitting for Senate"

Rand Paul

Rand Paul To Host Fund Raiser For Jimmy Higdon In Bardstown

Blue Grass Bulletin picked up the story about Rand Paul hosting a fundraiser for GOP state senate Candidate.

I think it's healthy that Rand Paul is using his influence to raise money for local candidates. Rand can prove to the party that he can be a valuable asset, while at the same time he spreads his message and builds up his name recognition.

Bluegrass thinks the main issue for Republicans is redistricting.

With a new census next year the legislature will take up the issue of re-districting. In Kelly's old district only a balance of power in the Kentucky Legislature can prevent the potential harm to at least one of Kentucky's current republican votes in Congress, Brett Guthrie, who holds the seat vacated by Ron Lewis.

It's important that districts aren't gerrymandered. There needs to be some competition and gridlock in any given state legislature, or the government looses touch with their voters. Here in South Dakota, we pretty much have a 1 party state, and it creates a sense of "If you want to be in power, join the Republican Party." As such, the Republican party in this state isn't very small government or conservative, compared to states where the party has to work to maintain power. So for the benefit of liberty in Kentucky, it's important that the Republicans hold their seats, so a Democrat majority can't redistrict to their benefit. Especially if Higdorn is a small government conservative, I think this is a great move on Rand's part.


Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Senate Conservatives and Senator Jim DeMint still mull Kentucky Race

I got the following e-mail from Senate Conservatives a couple days ago.

Dear Fellow Conservatives:

I want to thank everyone who joined our conference call last Tuesday night. Over 19,000 people participated in our discussion about eight of the most important Senate races taking place across the country.

--snip--

KENTUCKY - There are several Republicans and Democrats running to fill this open seat. The most viable Republicans in the race are Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Rand Paul, an eye surgeon and son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX). It's not clear yet which candidate conservatives should support.
If you have information about this race, please send us your tips.

http://senateconservatives.com/index.php?p=contact&c=

Personally, I'm a bit confused.

Rand Paul won their web poll: 706 (87.9%) to Trey Grayson's 62 (7.7%) with 19 (2.2%) undecided. 1 person voted "other."

Rand Paul won their telephone conference call poll 79-5% with 16% undecided. I blogged about it here and here.

I can only wonder if the reason for the above wishy-washy e-mail is, maybe they're feeling pressure from big donors and establishment types. It might be a good idea to mention to them, how Rand Paul can help increase their legitimacy and exposure, more then his conservative credentials.

Rand Paul certainly would be a better candidate for them to endorse from that perspective. He can get on national TV fairly frequently, which would help their profile if they endorsed him. He also practices what he preaches, whereas Grayson, by being a career politician likely won't, which will bring them shame in the future. Considering Grayson used to b a Bill Clinton supporter, it's possible he'll hurt their profile in the short term as well.

So, feel free to send them a tactful e-mail, encouraging them to support Rand Paul. No yelling, or screaming, or cussing. It's vitally important that we elect a principled honest Constitutional Conservative in the US Senate. It might be worth mentioning Rand Paul just received the endorsement of the Republican Liberty Caucus, as it shows that Rand Paul is a true small government guy, as well as show that he's a credible candidate who can win.

Updates:
Americans Deserve a Transparent Fed

Rand Paul endorses Jim DeMint's Term Limits Amendment

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Is Grayson campaigning on State time?

A commenter over at Blue Grass Bulletin wants to know. Regarding Grayson's "phone skit" at the University of Kentucky, he writes:

Uh, Marc, are you sure that the voice on the phone in this video was Trey Grayson?

It sounded to me like it was Les Fugate, Trey's spokesperson.

If so, don't forget that Les works on a state salary and if he was pretending to be Trey on the phone, I have a few questions. Was it during a work day?

Was he using a state phone while engaged in political campaign activity for a federal office seeker?

You might want to ask Trey. Or Les. But good luck getting a straight answer.

Leslie Fugate is an assistant at the SOS. Now personally I don't know Leslie's voice from Joe Smoe's, so this is pure hearsay. It wouldn't surprise me however.


Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Video Coverage of Rand Paul at University of Kentucky

I promised video's if I could get them. Enjoy :)

Rand Paul at University of Kentucky Part 1


Rand Paul at University of Kentucky Part 2


How many candidates can you count who are willing to get on stage and promise their potential constituents nothing, but they're liberty. He's absolutely right. What's the point of a $1 Billion Earmark if it can't buy anything because the Federal Government is using currency debasement to pay for all the pork. Rand doesn't just tell you wnat you want to hear. He tells you the truth.

She booed Rand Paul out of Reflex?


Can anyone follow what this woman is saying? "Government is part of the Constitution"? The Constitution was written to keep the government in check. She's booing Rand Paul, because she has freedom of speech? Typically when people exercise that freedom though, they usually have a reason for exercising it. This is a very confusing response to me. Rand Paul -- much more then Trey Grayson -- will be defending freedom of speech. Well, if it makes her happy.

Speaking of Trey Grayson he did do a little telephone interview. . .


And by telephone interview I mean the coordinator had to call Trey Grayson to ask him where he was. Then Trey gave a shout-out to a girl who claims she's never met him before. She seems kind of creeped out in the above video by it. Of course, he was able to send Chandler in his wake. Poor guy.

Update
Kentucky Race: Students for Rand Paul!
Is Grayson campaigning on State time?

Related
More of the 11/19 Rand Paul/Trey Grayson debate.

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul at the University of Kentucky

A Student Blog at the U of K reports on the recent forum at the MIK Library. "Basically, from listening to the candidates, I was able to come away with 3 things:

1) Nothing is more important to Bill Johnson than the American Flag. (That being said, Bill’s a great guy and a solid conservative, but it’s going to be hard for him to win on Patriotism alone, which is what he’s trying to do. The war was the only “issue” I can remember him even discussing.

2) Darlene Fitgerald Price (Democrat) is the ONLY person in the World who has ANY experience with the army and the war on drugs. She had some decent ideas, but it didn’t take me long to lose her.

3) Rand Paul has what we like to call “solutions”. I thought about suggesting these to the other candidates, but I didn’t want to confuse anyone. As the other candidates were clinging to using big words and the blame-game, Rand took a step back and said “Look, we’re all to blame. So let’s stop the partisan bickering and get something done. And as usual, Rand Paul’s calm, collective demeanor (even amongst the boo birds from the back) showed that he’s ready for this job and ready now.

Read the rest

Apparently AGAIN Trey Grayson continues his "Rose Garden" strategy mentioned earlier of not showing up and refusing to talk about actual issues in his weird telephone skit he did with the audience instead of actually being there.

PS. I'll post video clip of the event if I can find one.
UPDATE:
Video coverage of Rand Paul at U of K.
Kentucky Race: Students for Rand Paul!
Is Grayson campaigning on State time?

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Memo to GOP: Nominate A Conservative, or LOSE!

Erick Erickson, editor of RedState.com campaign recently issued a blog post regarding the NY-23 race:

“First, the GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives. In 2008, many conservatives sat home instead of voting for John McCain. Now, in NY-23, conservatives rallied and destroyed the Republican candidate the establishment chose.”

“I have said all along that the goal of activists must be to defeat Scozzafava. Doug Hoffman winning would just be gravy. A Hoffman win is not in the cards, but we did exactly what we set out to do — crush the establishment backed GOP candidate.”

Read the rest

New York isn't the only state with third parties. Kentucky has both a Libertarian and a Constitution Party both of which I'm sure would be more then happy run a hard campaign in the General if the Republican party doesn't nominate a principled conservative.

The Paul Campaign follows up on Eric's post thus:

Rand Paul is leading in the latest public polling because he is gaining the trust of Kentuckians who want balanced budgets, honest, market-based health care solutions, and real job creation spurred by capitalism, not socialism.
Read the rest

I hope the establishment will wake up, and listen to the people. Because one way or the other, the people will be heard.

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul at Eastern Kentucky

Hat tip to Traitor Trey


Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Rand Paul: A Movement Conservative

Could another movement conservative in Rand Paul take out another establishment-backed Republican in Trey Grayson? It's looking like an ever-stronger possibility. National Blog Senate Guru jumps into the fray. . .

Kentucky: How worried about insurgent conservative Rand Paul is establishment-backed Trey Grayson in the 2010 Republican Senate primary? Extremely worried. Grayson has trotted out this weak attack:

He's an outsider, he's not a Kentuckian. You know I'm a 5th generation Kentuckian, educated here in the public schools, raising my family here.

Paul's response to Grayson utterly demolishes him:

Strange and desperate attacks are easily hit out of the park by Rand, quickly responding with what amounts to a walk off home run in one short sentence "I've been a Kentuckian longer than Grayson's been a Republican!"

For those who don't remember, Mr. Grayson was actively campaigning for Bill Clinton way back in the 90's when Trey was a Democrat.

We see movement conservative Marco Rubio preparing to take down the establishment-backed Charlie Crist in Florida.

Could the same thing happen in Kentucky? We can only hope.

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson

Mitch McConnell: Not an Outsider

Except maybe according to Grayson.

According to Wikipedia, Mitch McConnell was born in Alabama. So, since he's not a 5th Generation Kentuckian like Grayson, perhaps Grayson thinks we shouldn't listen to him about who to support in this race? Does Grayson think McConnell shouldn't be a Kentucky Senator? I wonder if McConnell knows this is how Grayson feels about him.

If McConnell's not an outsider, then neither is Rand Paul.

On a related note, in 2008 59% of McConnell's campaign dollars were from out of state and 8% from PACs.

Take from this what you will.

Rand Paul
Trey Grayson