After what has been a long and hard fought campaign, US Senate Candidate Rand Paul captured the hearts of Kentucky TEA Partiers and Republicans and in a stunning upset against the establishment, won the Republican primary in Kentucky.

Since day one, I told you Rand Paul was sprinting a marathon. I wondered at first if it would last–and did it ever. The first poll released showed Dr. Paul down 15 points and losing to a candidate backed by popular Senator and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. But Rand and his ideas of personal and economic liberty prevailed. Not only did Rand win. Not only did Rand win handily. But Rand won by a jaw-dropping 25 percentage points. This speaks amazing volumes to the work ethic of the campaign (including campaign manager David Adams and Candidate Rand Paul) and of the numerous volunteers from around the state who were able to make calls, knock on doors as well as be a walking advertisement for Rand Paul.

Tonight, the people of Kentucky took the first step on the national stage of bucking the establishment and begin the uphill climb to take back our Government. When I first began my work with this campaign, I believed it to be more of an ideological, issues-based campaign that would just hope to get it hands dirty and keep Grayson honest. I was right about one thing–it was most definitely issues-based and Rand never strayed from his message, even while parrying attacks from his opponent. But this was most certainly a campaign run to win. And win we did.

Many of time I have doubted the general electorate of the United States and Kentucky. Many times, I question the voters decision on certain issues and wonder what they were thinking when they pulled the lever. I question if they even made informed decisions. Not tonight. Tonight, common sense prevailed. Tonight, liberty prevailed. Term limits prevailed. Balanced budgets, lower taxes and sound, non-partisan decision making prevailed. Tonight is not a night when I question the voters choice because I know the voters made the right choice by choosing Dr. Rand Paul as their representative for the Republican Party and to be the next Kentucky Senator for the United States of America!

In a battle royal, it is hard to know who would win in the endorsements of Trey Grayson and Rand Paul. In one corner, we’ve got Sarah Palin. The spunky Alaskan, known as the Barracuda in Wasilla, is a lean, mean bear killing machine. In the next corner, we have Rudy, not the hardworking football player, but the New York mayor who wants to take your gun. Then we have Senator Bunning, the flame-throwing Hall of Fame pitcher in one corner and Dick Cheney, the only nationally recognized politician in history from Wyoming and the only one in this fight who’s shot another human.

Lucky for Palin, Rudy and Bunning, these 4 don’t have to fight. But it does bring up an interesting question, who’s winning the battle of the endorsements?

Trey Grayson’s Posse: Trey’s big endorsements are from Rudy Giuliani and Dick Cheney. Both are considerate moderate republicans, and in Rudy’s case, maybe even liberal. Endorsements are graded on two scales: national recognition and popularity. Both get an A+ for being nationally recognized. The former Vice President is the end of more jokes than just about anybody in the County not named Tiger Woods and Rudy is still known for his leadership during the difficult time of 9/11. It is hard to argue that these two aren’t well known. If only that were all there was to it…

Popularity. Dick Cheney’s and Rudy Giuliani’s approval ratings among conservatives probably resemble the score of a baseball game. I’d be shocked if Cheney’s national approval rating reached double digits. In fact, Cheney is so unpopular, that he endorsed John McCain in 2008–because he hates him. Close Cheney aides laughed when they heard he was endorsing McCain. Most thought it was an olive branch of peace, Cheney aides said it was Cheney’s way of flipping McCain the bird. Neither are particularly popular, which is why they get a C+ for popularity. They’ll win Trey Grayson some moderate republican votes and would help in the general if he were to get there, but they don’t help when the candidate they’re endorsing keeps runnign to the right to keep up with his opponent.

Rand Paul’s posse: The big endorsements for Dr. Paul are Former Phillies great Jim Bunning and former Governor-turned-Rockstar Sarah Palin. Both are pretty far right on the political spectrum and both help tremendously in solidifying Rand’s conservative principles. In terms of National Recognition, both perform very well. Palin is as well known as it gets in the political realm, but you’re just as likely to see Bunning on ESPN as CNN…unless he’s filibustering. They get a solid A- in national recognition.

Both are becoming increasingly popular among conservatives. Palin is considered a frontrunner in the race for the Republican nomination in 2012 and has a conservative base that is as big as it gets. She is also has a pretty big hate group, but she’s not going to lose any voters because of her endorsement, because she isn’t running for President. Bunning’s popularity has been growing since his principled filibuster and will help Dr. Paul tremendously. The pair gets an A for popularity.

It doesn’t take much to see who wins the battle of endorsements between Dr. Paul and Grayson. It is very similar to the race himself–outsider conservatives vs. the establishment. It should be a good race in the polls, but it’s not a good battle in endorsements as Rand wins in a blowout. (Unless of course Cheney gets a gun. Did you see the picture? Dude’s scary.)

Paul also picked up an endorsement from the Northern Kentucky Right to Life. This one is especially important politically because his opponent Trey Grayson has been constantly attacking Paul, especially on matters of abortion. It really says something that the Kentucky Right to Life endorsed Paul and people should have no doubt about where he stands on this issue.

What has been a nationally recognized race of the TEA Party vs. the Establishment (much like what we have here in Kentucky), has turned into a one-man race. After receiving endorsements from…well, pretty much any person or PAC that considers themselves “conservative”, Marco Rubio has a pretty tight lock on the Republican Nomination. Charlie Crist, the moderate republican Governor, hasn’t helped with his siding with Obama on more than one issue, and the Rubio campaign is feeding Crist his video of him and Obama at a Florida rally for lunch.

Now Crist, who is still fairly popular in the state and would figure to do well in any general election, is considering dropping out and running in the general as an independent. So, like I told you, Florida is getting crazy. The crazy thing is, Crist just might win, barring a solid democrat emerging from the primary. With very high approval numbers across party lines, I would be very surprised to see him finish third in a race between him, Rubio and Generic Democrat A. I might even be surprised if he didn’t win.

The danger, of course, is that Crist, who has run to the right during the campaign and not by choice, and Rubio split republican votes and the democrats win with a plurality. Kentuckians should take note of this race. Although I certainly don’t see Trey Grayson bowing out and running as an independent (although maybe he could have Former President Clinton come and stump for him?), the danger is that the republicans are so divided and beaten up after a brutal primary that they can’t win a general election.

As Rand Paul campaign manager David Adams noted at the start of the campaign: “It is absolutely essential that the republicans keep this seat.” Whether you are a Rand fan or a Trey fan–whoever wins, we need to rally behind them. We can not have another Harry Reid puppet occupying a seat from Kentucky. This Florida race maybe hundreds of miles away, but it is looking all too familiar. Continue fighting hard and pushing for your candidate to win, but begin preparing yourself mentally to support the other guy come May 19th.

Let’s be honest with each other for a little while. Since the end of the Bush days, everyone who follows politics absolutely knew that, barring something out of the ordinary, America was going to have a Democrat as President. George Bush’s horrid poll numbers, a tanking economy and an unpopular war all led to a chain of events that pretty much made an Republican winning near impossible. Think about it–the democrats nominated a liberal, African American, with a funny name and no experience while the Republicans nominated an experienced, familiar, moderate, war-hero–and the democrats still won. Not to mention this after Obama came out after a bloody battle with Hiliary and had more sketchy ties (Ayers, Wright, Acorn, etc.) than can be counted– and the democrats still one. Republicans never had a chance.

We can all conjecture about how our country would look if McCain one or Bush got four more years (which had about the same likelihood of happening), but that is essentially useless. Maybe in a dream world we can dream of our Country under the leadership of Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln, but this isn’t a dream (unfortunately). It is reality. So, in this reality, when one party wins, the other parties take a back seat for four years. Period. Republicans weren’t going to like the outcome of 2008 and they all knew it. The question is, how bad did we get? In other words, how does Barack Obama compare to a Hiliary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Evan Byah or generic democrat A?

The Good

Believe it or not, there have been some good come in the last year or so. (NOTE: Continue with the entire post after reading this. Wouldn’t want you thinking I’m a lefty-communist.) And Remember, this is in comparison to other democratic candidates. Let’s begin by the President’s largest domestic policy and one of the biggest ever–healthcare. It’s easy to attack. It’s humongous and brings uncertainty.  But one point of emphasis that I would say is mostly good is that it is the public option and not the single payer (ok, so lesser of two evils). At least the public option works from the free-market idea idea of competition and is certainly preferable to the Government run single payer, which would literally be a step to socialism.

One of his better moves is to put a three year freeze on discretionary spending to help put a dent in the budget deficit. I find it hard to believe we would get the same under another liberal. Although republicans like to criticize him for his position in Afghanistan because it “took him too long” he made the right move regarding Afghanistan and regarded that decision as his highest priority and took ample time in gaining facts and details before making a decision. Also, beginning to cut the nuclear power of some of nations by putting limits on ourself and negotiating with others is a step in the right direction for peace.

END NOTE: I also have a feeling I could add to this list the President’s next Supreme Court appointee. It is expected to shift the court slightly to the right of the political spectrum.

The Bad

The stimulus bill, now known as the “porkulous bill” has too much unnecessary spending. I expected a stimulus bill under any democratic president and probably under most republican ones, but the size and content of this one was too large. Pieces of pork flowed in the stimulus bill and that’s not the way America works–not under republicans, not under independents and not under democrats.

Barack Obama was elected on the promise of changing Washington, but he must have “changed” his mind when he hired Rham Emmanuel. Commonly known as the prototype of the city, his rough tactics and below the belt campaigning are exactly what Obama railed against before the election. When trying to pass the largest domestic initiative in decades, the President and his team fought public opinion and played Washington’s game (brilliantly, I might add) to pass their bill. If you have an extra hour (after you read my post of course) watch PBS’s Frontline Video “Obama’s Deal” about the back-room working Obama did to pass healthcare.

The Ugly

One thing that comes to mind is again, in the healthcare bill, that requires everyone to buy health insurance. And personally, I don’t like anything that begins with “the Government requires”. Health insurance is a choice and it is a personal choice–not the Government’s choice. Perhaps that is why the number of uninsured was so high. Granted, there are some that couldn’t afford it and that needed to be addressed. But many simply chose the big-screen TV or the nice car over health insurance and it’s their choice, not Barack Obama’s.

Despite also being elected to break racial tensions and transcend racism, the President ignited a racial battle when he called Sgt. James Crowley of the Caimbridge, MA police “stupid” for arresting Henry Gates Jr. on his own porch then called for a “beer summit” to mend things up. Regardless of your views on the situation and the facts of what happened, anyone should know that an African America sticking up for an African American in a racially tensed situation and calling a White cop “stupid” is going to ignite a race-fused battle–especially someone with the political savvy of Barack Obama. Big mistake that could have been easily missed that took attention off things that actually matter.

Other than these policies, there is not much else that I would put under any label. Of course, there are always mistakes and missteps of any President and this one is certainly no different.

Overall, the President has been about what I would expect from most democrats, maybe even slightly worst. Had he worked harder to change Washington and transcend race and politics, he could be doing much better and received far more bi-partisan support than he has now. As a republican or independent or anyone who is not a member of the Barack Obama fan club, just remember–this is what happens when you don’t win elections. The way to really “change” it? Win next time.

From the looks of things, this crowd on UK's campus of over 100 people takes the largest crowd award on Rand's bus tour. This was also supplemented with good media coverage.

See the rest of the photos from Rand Paul’s Bus Across the state here.

The end of the marathon is finally here

Back in the waning months of the campaign in October and November, I told you Rand Paul was sprinting a marathon. Now that marathon is coming to a close. With officially less than a month before the Republican Primary in May, Secretary Grayson and Dr. Paul are trying to beat each other to the finish in the last mile of this long, grueling race.

Today, on April 19th, the Rand Paul campaign hosted what could be its final moneybomb. With plenty of successful moneybombs behind them, the Paul campaign has now eclipsed 2.5 million dollars for the campaign.

The Grayson campaign keeps throwing mud in their recent mail outs in the final weeks of the campaign. But it should be a tough, close battle regardless and something worth keeping an eye on.

Logo for the Conservative Christian Coalition

Matt Lockett (Running for Congressman from KY-6th) has paired with Lee Bias (Running for spot in the WV-3rd) have founded a Coalition of Conservative, for incoming Freshman to the US Congress. From the website:

Simply put, this coalition will act as a compass in Congress.  The principles on which this coalition was founded will guide Congress into 2011 and beyond.  When you vote for one of the candidates in the coalition, you are voting for the entire coalition and the principles on which they come together.

This is a very interesting idea and a good thing for Governing after the election is over. More candidates should take this pledge and join this Coalition. The newly-formed Coalition already has 17 members and don’t be surprised to see it grow very fast. The “CFC” requires members to take “the Pledge” which is as follows:

I, ________________________________, hereby pledge, as a member of the 2010 Conservative Freshmen Coalition, to execute the oath of my elected office by:

·Upholding, supporting, defending, and advocating the Constitution of the United States of America.
·Supporting the passage of an amendment to the Constitution to pass a balanced and fiscally responsible federal budget.
·Supporting lower taxes for small businesses, the lifeblood of our economy, and by fighting to repeal harmful and excessive taxes that limit these small businesses from creating wealth.
·Supporting an amendment to the Constitution that requires term limits on all members of Congress.
·Supporting an authentic package of immigration reform in which immigrants will embrace America’s civic and political institutions by learning our founding documents and learning the English language.  Furthermore, I believe it is the duty of our federal government to enforce our nation’s preexisting immigration laws and continue to heighten the security surrounding our borders to ensure the legal entry of immigrants into our country.  I will not, under any circumstance, support amnesty for illegal aliens.

These five basic principles will preserve the institution of Congress and preserve this historic body as it was originally intended by our founders as written in the Constitution.  We will strive to execute each of these principles at the will of the constituents we represent, and we will faithfully, responsibly, and honestly accept these guiding principles as our motto during our freshman year in Congress.

If you support the CFC, consider visiting the website and becoming a fan on facebook. If you are a believer of this cause, help get it off the ground!

Coverage of the TEA parties fair as usual.

In an article in the Lexington-Herald today, Ryan Alessi reported that Rand Paul is calling for an expansion of the TEA Party platform. Paul was quoted as saying:

“To me, they’re reform issues. I see them as having great popularity,” he said later in Lexington. “I think they’re things that not only would attract Republicans, but Democrats and independents too.”

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/16/1226120/paul-wants-tea-party-movement.html#ixzz0lI8ME41D

This is another example of why Rand Paul is bucking the establishment tradition of politics and fighting for all Kentuckians. In the middle of a two-way horse race that has pushed the Republican primary to the right of the political spectrum, Rand Paul’s proposal is that the TEA Party should appeal to Republicans, Independents and even Democrats.

Just days after being called “The only conservative in the race” by Senator Jim Bunning, it also appears Dr. Paul is going to appeal to a broader group of voters during the general election as well. However, as the Dr. Paul campaign team noted today in an email, despite the 15 point lead, there is no time to slack off and finishing strong is vital.

It should be fun to watch this primary as it winds down, finally finishing on May 18th.