"You are not"!
"I am too"!
Okay, look, Trey Grayson's bizarre comment that Rand Paul is not a Kentuckian clearly made Grayson look silly and desperate. Paul's campaign could have been content to let us "nattering nabobs" in the blogosphere kick the issue around and clear it up. Instead they issued a response citing Paul's long history in Kentucky, questioning Grayson's background as a democrat and dragging Paul's wife into the mess by bragging about how long her family has lived in Kentucky.
What's next? Will Grayson claim that his daddy can beat up Paul's daddy?
Paul's campaign so far has gotten more money and more attention than anybody predicted back in the spring when all the talk was about how Grayson and McConnell were conspiring to push Jim Bunning out of the race.
Paul's openness in discussing issues has served him well to date. It has increased his name identification and clearly he has tapped into a feeling of discontent within the republican ranks. In fact since Paul is the only one discussing issues, some have even questioned whether Grayson is still really running since he has gotten so little press by comparison. (We get mulitple releases from the Paul campaign daily, Grayson has virtually gone dark)
But now people are beginning to speculate whether Grayson is lying in wait, hoping Paul gets overexposed and eventually punches himself out giving Grayson the chance to start running hard, punching harder and getting all the press closer to the election in May, when voters really start to pay attention.
If Grayson's strategy in making a snide remark about Paul was to see how Paul would react, now he knows. Paul has signaled that he is not going to let anything roll off his back and he is likely to counter punch every time Grayson jabs.
Sometimes counter punching is a good thing, but there is a downside. For those unfamiliar with street fighting what they don't know is that predictability works to a more savvy opponents advantage. Knowing how your opponent is going to fight gives you the chance to time your knock out punch.
Grayson may be quiet now but with the more experienced McConnell team on his side Grayson certainly has access to the kind of advice that must be respected, and matched, if Paul expects to go the distance and win the decision.
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