Thread: Rand Paul Raising $2,000,000 To Win

YouTube- Rand Paul on FBN Happy Hour 11/11

The world needs to get used to the sound of "Senator Rand Paul". The man is a natural. He's got the cool. He's got the brains. He's got the smile. He's got both of these hosts charmed. The man is unstoppable.

Mitch and Trey make a deal?

The pure entertainment over in the Republican Senate primary of Kentucky just got even more fun. In the aftermath of the interesting meeting uncovered between Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, comes this juicy paragraph from a Wall Street Journal story about the rift in the Republican Party between the Teabaggers and Republican leadership (i.e. Mitch McConnell, because he's such a Commie happily riding on the Obama Train to tyranny) :

Mr. Grayson said he was confident that primary voters in Kentucky know him as a "true conservative." He said he speaks regularly with Mr. McConnell, but that he is not shy about criticizing him, particularly on the financial system bailout. "I wouldn't have voted for it, and he did," Mr. Grayson said. "He and I talked about it, and I said, 'I'm going to criticize you on the campaign trail."'

Oh dear, isn't this interesting.

Let's run through all of the possible options for explaining this, with a healthy does of irresponsible speculation:

#1- Mitch and Trey thought that he was going to breeze effortlessly to the Republican nomination. He wouldn't have to dare criticize his Jedi Master. But the SUSA poll has them freaked out. They agree that he now has to criticize Mitch on the bailout in order to save his ass. A position that Trey might or might not agree with, but he certainly wasn't going to resort to this if it wasn't for this looking like a real race. Evil Genius Mitch goes along with it, as he wants his Boy with him in the Senate. This insulates (or attempts to, anyway) Grayson from a lot of Paul attacks, which would be (and will be, to some extent) effective.

#2- Again, Mitch and Trey thought that he was going to breeze to the nomination, wouldn't have to criticize Mitch, and the poll freaked them out. But then Trey decided to criticize Mitch, over Mitch's objection. Mitch's giant ego is bruised. Possible rift, making the Rand/Mitch meeting even more interesting?

#3- Grayson was always against the bailout, and never really felt the need to discuss it much. The Wall Street Journal reporter felt the need to ask about it, and Trey answered honestly. Perhaps a little intentional dirt raising by a Teabagger supporting conservative WSJ reporter? (judging from Media Matters, he's conservative-freindly, but I can't detect any Teabagger/McConnell slant to him)?

#4- Mitch saw the latest poll and thinks that Grayson's goose is cooked. That's why he's trying to get friendly with Rand, and when this went public, Grayson decided he'd criticize Mitch in retaliation. (highly implausible, imo)

To make matters even more interesting, Mitch McConnell was on Fox News this morning and completely avoiding talking about the KY race when asked about possible rifts in the party in several Seante races, including KY.

My bet? Option #1. Mitch may be an SOB, but when it comes to looking out after his own hide, he's a smart SOB.

November 16, 2009...1:39 am

Because Rand Paul wants it more…

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The man who's taken the political world by storm.

I’m sure you’ve all seen the recent poll: Rand Paul 38, Trey Grayson 35. It’s becoming known has the “Poll heard ’round the world.” Rand Paul, a constitutional conservative eye doctor, is taking on the Mitch McConnell-backed Trey Grayson, aka Goliath. But Rand’s got more than a few stones in his bag, and deadly accuracy.

It’s unheard of to go from 11 points down to 3 points up. After the initial shock (and excitement), its led me to ask “why?” Are the people of Kentucky actually diving in and looking into the issues? Is it Rand’s superior speaking ability? Is it mistakes and inexperience from the Grayson camp? But I realize it really boils down to this: Rand Paul wants it more.

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.

Now, venture over to Mr. Grayson’s website. Find “Campaign Events” and click on it. You’ll find five separate links (not just for one month, but on the whole site including archives). The first four links are about Trey’s KY tour and kicking his campaign off. The last one is a campaign tour highlights video (below) which consists of, well, nothing. Not to mention he has been a no show since announcing he was running for Senate.

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. I’ve never seen any Grayson events in the area. A great example of this work ethic: 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. He’s as busy as can be ALREADY (remember, it’s not like the primary is in a few weeks. It’s NOVEMBER folks.) with townhalls and dinners already scheduled into April.

If there’s anything in this race that’s clear, it’s that the Paul campaign wants it more. They’ve been non-stop and are out there talking about the issues. It’s clear that Rand has drawn a group of dedicated individuals to work and volunteer for him who are eager to win. By doing so, it’s clear to me that Rand Paul and his campaign just might out work any campaign in America. If that’s not a clear sign that Rand truly wants to get up there and change this country, I don’t know what is.

The ever exciting and ever busy Grayson campaign hard at work.

Campaign-strategist and video-taking master Chris Hightower on how a real campaign works. Notice that this video of Chris talking only about campaign events from November 14th is twice as long as the Grayson campaigns video from the entire campaign.

by Joe Arnold
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Updated today at 6:53




As Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul quarrel over who is the true conservative in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race, GOP stalwart Cathy Bailey appears unconvinced by either campaign and might enter the race, herself.
Asked by WHAS11's Joe Arnold if she is now considering entering the U.S. Senate race, the former Ambassador to Latvia under President George W. Bush said she and other conservatives are "watching it closely."

Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson had been widely viewed as the frontrunner in the Republican primary, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly hosting another fundraiser for Grayson in December.
But, Bowling Green eye surgeon Rand Paul, spurred by libertarian minded supporters of his father, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, has stunned the GOP establishment with more than $1.3 million in campaign cash and a narrow lead in last week's WHAS11/Survey USA poll of the Republican primary.
"I'm confident that when they hear my views, my experience, my track record, we're going to be fine, no matter what those polls say," insisted Grayson.

But Cathy Bailey, is less than convinced, and is questioning Grayson's conservative credentials.

"Obviously, this race is wide open," Bailey said in a statement, "The establishment's moderate choice has slipped and hasn't lived up to the hype. At the same time, what Rand Paul has accomplished is impressive despite some of his extreme positions. I am watching it closely, as are several other concerned Kentucky Republicans who want to keep this seat in true conservative hands."

WHAS11 News has learned that a recent telephone poll gauged voters' opinions on Bailey, who could rely on an extensive GOP donor Rolodex and personal wealth to enter the race months after Grayson and Paul.

"I've talked to mutual friends and I'm comfortable that if she were to run, that our mutual friends would support me because they know I'm the one who has the best chance of winning the primary, the best chance of winning the fall and keeping this seat in conservative hands like it is," Grayson said.

And Grayson says he will not bow out.

"I have zero, zero concern that Senator McConnell or anyone else that's been a big backer of mine or big supporter, or just an advisor of mine is going to jump ship because of what's going on right now. Because of this little phenomenon, where you guys have this crush on this doctor from Bowling Green who has some crazy ideas."
Grayson insists that the underlying premise of doubts about his candidacy is way off. Yes, he will have to fend off the national fundraising support Rand Paul is getting from libertarian minded contributors. But he says that he has more in common with mainstream, conservative Kentucky than the libertarian brand of Republicanism. He says the top priority of any Senate candidate should be jobs.

"One of the things we have to is focus on getting the government out of the way of the private sector. We're curbing government spending so those are kind of all related. Some of these bills that are being talked about are not helping recovery."

Grayson says he will fight for Kentucky jobs, saying employers have told him, "Their health care costs are actually going to go up and not down if cap and trade passes or if the EPA won't let us do any mining in Kentucky that electricity rates in the state are going to skyrocket. These uncertainties prevent job hirings."




U.S. Senate: Grayson confident, but Bailey could enter race | WHAS11 Louisville, Kentucky and Indiana News | Political Blog


Listen to the video on the site above.




A different kind of uncertaintly is on Bailey's mind.

"Hopefully we will all know by January's filing deadline if either the establishment moderate or his insurgent opponent is truly capable of running a campaign that can survive the upcoming onslaught from the National Democratic Party," Bailey said in the statement.

The WHAS11/Survey USA polls so far show only Grayson as the candidate who would defeat either of the Democratic frontrunners.

Rand Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), has surprised a lot of people by surging in polls and fundraising to quasi-frontrunner status in next year’s U.S. Senate race in Kentucky. But Chris Cillizza reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is weighing in against Paul and hosting a fundraiser for Trey Grayson, the young secretary of state, whose “establishment” candidate credentials have been a little banged up by Paul’s campaign.

This just keeps getting better as Rand Paul stomps the Neocon insiders in Kentucky. Jamie Kelso

Rand Paul campaign: Grayson providing "comic relief"

by Joe Arnold
Posted on November 13, 2009 at 9:29 AM
Updated Saturday, Nov 14 at 8:27 AM
Related:

• U.S. Senate: Grayson confident, but Bailey could enter race

Now that Kentuckians are responding so positively to Rand Paul's message of putting America back on the path to prosperity, Trey Grayson has turned his focus to providing comic relief.

Grayson has repeatedly described having ancestors who arrived in Kentucky on horseback as one of his primary qualifications for office. He has attacked Rand for not liking Republican deficits more than Democratic deficits.

And then on Thursday, Trey took it to a new bizarre level by describing on WHAS television his new standard of qualification for office as having to know him and some of his political associates "in a political context," whatever that means.

These political games have to stop. We should all be able to agree that creating jobs in Kentucky and stopping career politicians from bankrupting us is what we should be talking about. Rand Paul is the U.S. Senate candidate who is serious about getting our country back on track.

LOUISVILLE — Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul exchanged sharp words on the issue of Guantanamo Bay, and Democrats Jack Conway and Daniel Mongiardo squabbled about their alliances with coal.

During a heated forum for U.S. Senate candidates Thursday at a Kentucky Association of Counties conference, Secretary of State Grayson criticized Bowling Green eye surgeon Paul for supporting President Obama's policy of closing the $200-million detention facility for terrorists at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Grayson's supporters distributed copies of a page on Paul's campaign Web site in May that said Paul "couldn't agree more" with a comment by U.S. Military Chief Mike Mullen that Guantanamo should be shut down.

Paul, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who ran unsuccessfully for president last year, responded that Grayson should learn how to read.

In a later interview, Paul said the Web site Grayson referred to did not accurately state his position on Guantanamo.

He said the comment attributed to him was on a Web site that two students had used to draft him as a candidate and that the information was not correct.

Paul also apologized for saying Grayson should learn how to read.

"I lost my temper," Paul said. "He was just saying things about me that were not true."

Later Thursday, Paul's campaign posted a statement on his Web site that said he disagreed with the administration's decision to close the Guantánamo center and try terrorism suspects in U.S. civil courts

YouTube- Rand Paul in Louisville 11-19-09

These Graphs Are Live! - Updating Continuously

Check those graphs out in the post before this one. Rand Paul is over $1,800,000 in his fundraising. Rand Paul is going to win and win big in the primary against Trey Grayson on May 18, 2010. And then win big again against either Dan Mongiardo or Jack Conway in the November final vote.

We'll be hearing the name Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in the news a whole lot after that.

Rand Paul Beating Trey Grayson By 15 Points on March 4, 2010
Graphic by Jamie Kelso - White News Now - use freely