Just Before Easter Unholy Hell Breaks Out In Kentucky Senate Race

It is beginning to read like the presser of a Hollywood movie.

"Ancient battles are fought anew."  "Gigantic forces collide in an epic struggle for power over the world."  "Out of the depths of history shadowy forces plot their revenge."  Of course I'm talking about the rhetoric being thrown around in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary.

It kinda sorta began with a piece in POLITICO which highlighted the fact that Rand Paul is leading in the Kentucky GOP primary race for the United States Senate seat being vacated by the retiring two term senator and baseball hall of fame pitcher, Jim Bunning, over the establishment favorite of Mitch McConnell, Trey Grayson.

The piece went on to discuss how a former Dick Cheney aide was going to bat for Grayson.  Oh, my goodness.  The Internet went nuts.  The Paul folks began their assault, the Grayson folks fired right back.

Here are a few nuggets which added fuel to the fire.  Edit them together and you've got quite the movie trailer.

1.    Recognizing the threat, a well-connected former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney convened a conference call last week between Grayson and a group of leading national security conservatives to sound the alarm about Paul.

“On foreign policy, [global war on terror], Gitmo, Afghanistan, Rand Paul is NOT one of us,” Cesar Conda wrote in an e-mail to figures such as Liz Cheney, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, Dan Senor and Marc Thiessen. [POLITICO]

2.    Rand Paul takes a little less relish in arguing with neoconservative foreign policy hawks than his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), does. But supporters of both Pauls generally despise the GOP foreign policy establishment.[Washington Independent]

3.    There you have it, folks, on excellent authority — Rand Paul is not one of them! And who are they? They are the people who destroyed the country (if they’re all in one place, perhaps we should tell Petraeus). They hijacked the GOP. They delivered the entire governmental machine to a massive majority of radical socialists — whom they now support! In sum, their blind fanaticism has led the country to the brink of ruin, and they cheer it on. [Before It's News]

4.    This morning I attended what you might call a ‘pro-coal’ rally in downtown Louisville. A number of Republican candidates in upcoming elections were speakers.

A few minutes before the event started at Jefferson Square Park, a large number of people walked up, being generally boisterous and carrying Rand Paul signs. Their loud and very vocal support for the U.S. Senate candidate continued throughout the press conference, and the Republican even took the opportunity at the beginning of his remarks to “thank Trey Grayson (his opponent in the primary) for coming to the Rand Paul pro-coal rally”.

About 15 minutes later when the event was over, I approached the crowd of Rand Paul supporters and asked one guy if he was from Kentucky. He wasn’t. Neither was the next guy. So I asked if they knew any of the people there who were from Kentucky. They looked away.

As the group of people started walking away from me, I raised my voice, “Are any of you from Kentucky?” I was met with turned backs and heard one guy say, “There is one guy. Where’s that kid from Kentucky?” [WFPL Gabe Bullard]

5.    Dick Cheney's inner circle is apparently sounding the alarm bells in private emails to neo-con leaders, warning that "Rand Paul is NOT one of us". It's funny, because that's exactly why he's winning![Swing State Project]

6.    [N]eoconservatives still set the foreign-policy agenda for the GOP. But they’re genuinely worried that the combination of a grassroots movement and an independently-minded candidate will deliver a blow to their power — especially if Rand Paul becomes only the first of many by showing that there is an alternative to Bushes and Kristols. [The American Conservative]

7.    Here's an excerpt of the release from the Grayson campaign, which sent a "gift basket"to welcome all the non-Kentuckians that Paul has brought in:

“With all the out-of-state Ron Paul volunteers coming to Kentucky to try to help elect Rand Paul to the Senate, we thought a Kentucky gift basket would be a nice gesture. They can drink Kool-Aid out of the UK cups we sent, and they’ll definitely need the Kentucky highway maps,” said Grayson campaign manager Nate Hodson. [Elephants In The Bluegrass]

Coming to a TV screen, a computer monitor and a mailbox near you

SPRING 2010!

Comments

[John Jay]

Yeah, I agree with River City in just about everything he said.

One thought I have which hasn't been raised is this: how do you get 100 or so college students to leave their colleges and come to a State they don't even live in to learn about how to run political campaigns, and then to campaign for a candidate most of them have no connection to in an off-year election? That's a tall order, and I think it goes to demonstrate why in KY Paul is leading. There's a massive enthusiasm gap in this primary, and even if Grayson somehow manages to find an attack that will stick, I think the writing is on the wall, and this type of candidate will, as times goes on and these "kids" mature into donors, hold a distinct advantage.

Being able to run a multimillion doallar campaign on $25 donations is nothing to scoff at. Grayson should have remembered that when he took a shot at those civic minded kids yesterday.

[River City Racer]

I must confess I've had some of the same concerns about Rand with regard to national security and the war on Islamic terrorist as the establish types. Debbie Schlussel, everything but an establishment type, has posted several of these concerns on her site. That said I don't believe the Republican Wizards of Smart in Washington have learned their lesson from Obama's and the Democrat victory in 06 & 08. In stead of following Reagan's admonission of "Bold" "Bright" colors the Wizards of Smart prefer pastels. Redstate idenified those in the NRSC who believe Republicans need to moderrate; this has given us candidates like Charlie Crist and Dan Coates to mention a few. This hasn't gone over too well with the grassroots which explains why the establishment candidates are either in trouble or in the fight of their live like John McCain in Arizona .

I wanted to bote for Bill Johnson but won't have that opportunity but I won't vote for a candidate chosen by the Wizards of Smart in Washington no matter how imperfect Rand Paul . I just hope he can be persuaded to rebuke the Truthers who seem to be attracted to his and his fathers campaign.

[Proud Conservative]

Paul has "it."

[Taika]

I thought it was awesome to be surrounded by so many young Republicans at the coal rally. They are determined to stop the EPA from undermining our coal industry and to protect property rights. What could be more encouraging than that, or better for Kentucky's interests?

It is a great sign that our future leaders who care deeply about our future volunteered to support Rand Paul. This is the type of enthusiasm his Establishment opponent could never hope to generate, so he's just being bitter about it.

The Rand Paul contingent made up about 80% of the rally, what would it have been like without them?

[spinnikerca]

With Trey Grayson getting his money from fundraisers thrown by AIG's chief lobbyist, it shows real stones on his part to belittle out of state students giving up spring break to highlight to Kentucky a candidate they only wish they had the opportunity to vote for. Rand Paul's donations, unlike Grayson's, average about $100 each. With this disparity, people ARE trying to do what else they can to get Rand Paul's message out to compete with the establishment choice. Only Kentucky can decide who wins, but shouldn't they be able to hear both sides?