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Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has long been viewed as the hand-picked favorite of Senate Minority Leader and senior Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell. But now McConnell is officially jumping into the race by directly endorsing Grayson over insurgent candidate Rand Paul in a new statewide television ad. This is a big late-game move by the Republican establishment to try to save its preferred candidate, Grayson, ahead of the May 18th primary.
Getting Kentucky Republicans to vote against Paul (son of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX) looks like an incredibly steep challenge and one that even the most powerful Republican in Washington might not be able to pull off. The latest PPP poll has Paul with a commanding 46-28 lead against Grayson. A SurveyUSA poll from last month also showed Paul with a 45-30 lead over Grayson.
It will be interesting to see if this big move by McConnell will pay off. If Paul wins in spite of the endorsement of the most important Republican in the country right now, it will be another sign of how powerful the insurgent anti-establishment forces have become in Republican politics. So far this cycle, one senator, Arlen Specter, and one governor, Charlie Crist, have left the party due to insurgent primary challengers. Another senator, Bob Bennett, is in serious danger of losing his party’s nomination, and even 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain is facing a legitimate primary challenger.
If the Senate Minority Leader is unable to affect who wins the GOP nomination in his home state, it would mean there has been a real shift of power from the party establishment to the grassroots.
3 Comments
I have to agree that McConnell’s task is daunting, particularly now that he has been called out for lying about Ran Paul’s positions to Rev. James Dobson in effort to gain Dobson’s endorsement for his young buddy Trey Grayson. Lying to the preacher is frowned on in Kentucky. Dobson yanked his endorsement of Grayson and handed it to Paul with a stern rebuke against “top Republicans.”
mcclarinj – That McConnell is tied to the bailouts and that so much of Grayson’s money came from AIG’s lobbyist… who in turn employs Cheney’s daughter and ex staff member who endorsed Grayson and had been agitating against Rand Paul….don’t help.
Last breakdown I saw of PAC money contributions, Grayson had over $400,000 in funding and Rand Paul had about $8,000. Moreover, if you watch the debates, you come out knowing exactly where Rand Paul stands on the issues, and clueless, largely, as to where Grayson stands. He mouths platitudes, instead of discussing solutions to issues. It is as if he is afraid of being pinned down on MOST issues. I don’t think THAT plays well in Kentucky, either, at least this year.
“Lying to the preacher is frowned on in Kentucky.”
Only the opposite is acceptable to Kentuckians…