I just saw video of the speeches from Jack Conway and Rand Paul at Fancy Farm last Saturday. Conway really kicked Rand Paul's butt. Paul is a pretty weak public speaker who wasn't saying much of anything about anything. He wasn't talking about his own ideas, he wasn't talking much about the Obama administration, and he wasn't talking much about Jack Conway. Pretty much all Paul did was recite the number of pages in the tax code and federal regulations and recite the names of President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi.
It was lame and fell flat.
The question, though, is whether any of this makes any difference though. Political scientists have argued for years that campaign managers, political consultants and ad agencies have become the principle figures in political campaigns rather than candidates. Rand Paul's campaign takes this one step further. Given that Paul has by-passed the Republican campaign infrastructure, his campaign is being driven primarily by Fox News.
Conway referred to Paul as trying to be the "prince of cable tv."
It's more accurate to view Rand Paul as the "puppet of cable tv."
I'll be volunteering and giving money to the Jack Conway campaign
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I am amazed that Paul has any supporters left. He has managed to insult, and/or threaten every constituency in Kentucky AND nation-wide. He kicked off his "gaffe-fest", by saying that he opposes parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Had he stopped there, I doubt very much such a statement would have raised too many eyebrows in Kentucky. Indeed, had he stopped there, his opposition to the Civil Rights Act would probably have won him extra voters in this state. But he didn't stop. It is a popular pastime right now, in Kentucky to criticize, demonize, and...well...hate President Obama. (I find it appalling personally and do not agree with most of the criticisms leveled against the President.) One would think that in a Red State like Kentucky, criticizing President Obama would win votes for Rand Paul. The problem is, you don't criticize a President whom you do not like (for no apparent reason), for attempting to hold BP accountable for their negligence in the Gulf which led to the oil spill which has wrought so much havoc and destruction. Rand didn't get THAT memo and he pronounced the President "un-American" because Obama is actively holding BP responsible. Rand even buttoned that one by using the now famous phrase, "accidents happen." (A slogan used to great effect by my U.S. Senate Candidate, Jack Conway at Fancy Farm.) Even that Gaffe might have faded away but Rand Paul, not content to shoot himself in only one foot, aimed and fired at the other when he declared that he would have opposed The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, posing the question, "why can't the physically challenged simply work on the first floor?" Even Mitch (23% approval rating) McConnell is distancing himself from Rand. Whether it's Rand's opposition to the ADA, or his bizarre scheme for underground fences along the U.S. Mexican border, Republican leaders are deserting this guy in droves. And who could blame them? People sometimes ask me why I think Jack Conway hasn't campaigned more aggressively. Aside from the fact that the money will be best spent closer to election day and after the debates, my guess is that the mood of the folks in charge of the Conway campaign feel much as I do. Give Rand Paul enough rope, and he will verbally hang himself. So far it's working. Bottom line, Rand is his own worst enemy. No one could harm his campaign more than he has and no one could have helped Jack Conway more than Rand has. In a year or two, long after Jack Conway is sworn into the U.S. Senate by Vice President Joe Biden, Rand Paul will be nothing more than a bad memory. It is that simple.
Hi Tod. Glad to see you're fired up. The Conway campaign called today. It looks like I'll be on the phones and going door to door.
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