The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Rand Paul Rising

Text Size

Rand Paul Rising

By W. James Antle, III on 11.5.09 @ 1:41PM

Yesterday I somehow missed this: for the first time Rand Paul leads Secretary of State Trey Grayson in a poll of Kentucky Republican primary voters. Paul and Grayson are running to succeed Sen. Jim Bunning. According to Survey USA, Paul's 35 percent to 32 percent lead is within the margin of error but combined with his fundraising success -- he has hauled in more money than Grayson -- Ron Paul's son is looking like a very competitive candidate.

View all comments (8) | Leave a comment

Adam Smith| 11.5.09 @ 1:50PM

Great news. I hope he can emerge as a national force soon. We need more like Rand steering the ship away from the icebergs.

S.L. Toddard| 11.5.09 @ 1:58PM

I'm trying my hardest not to get optimistic about this; not to take this as a sign that Americans are wising up and getting back on a Conservative track after decades of wandering through the Liberal/Neoconservative statist wilderness.

I'm trying, but not succeeding. Against my wishes this is giving me... hope.

victor| 11.5.09 @ 9:43PM

Hey Toddy, you forgot the Change!
If wishes were horses, then Toddy would ride.
Hey, How bout them Sox?
Ooops, the season's over.
Better luck next spring time, eh?

Marjorie| 11.8.09 @ 1:26PM

Just what is conservative about Fortress America?
If Rand Paul is like his Daddy, he's not conservative.

Robert| 11.12.09 @ 7:52PM

Marjorie, I hear this all the time from Dr. Ron Paul's detractors. He does not want isolation but a return to the Founders' idea of avoiding foreign entanglements. Dr. Paul favors friendly relations with any nation that wishes the same.

Dr. Paul also supports the policy of not engaging in militaristic nation building that President Bush campaigned on in 2000. And rather than being anti-war (which he so often is accused of) Dr. Paul's Originalist Intent interpretation of the Constitution means he supports a strong national defense which is one of the few powers that document delegates to the federal government. When it is necessary to use military force a Declaration of War should be made by the Congress.

Ronald Reagan in his 1975 Reason Magazine interview declared:
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism...The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals–if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."
http://reason.com/archives/197.....ald-reagan

If we are to use that definition of conservatism (and I am loathe to argue with Ronaldus Magnus) then Dr. Paul was easily the most conservative Republican running for President in 2008.

Joey| 11.5.09 @ 11:59PM

It is exciting news, but be on the lookout! Here in the Commonwealth there are already rumors circulating that the Republican establishment is looking for an establishment candidate (RINO); to run as an independent if Rand takes or appears to be taking the primary. In other words: If the good ol' boys don't get their guy elected (Greyson) then they'll run another Repub as an independent to take votes away from Rand and give the Senate seat to the Dems.

George Hewes| 11.10.09 @ 7:41AM

Are you kidding that Ron Paul is not conservative? He's working to get us back to the constitution, how much more conservative can anyone be?

Anyway, Rand is a bit different than his dad, a little more pro military, and a few other differences. In Kentucky you don't see Grayson stickers, and really the only signs and stickers I've seen so far are Rand Paul stickers and few really know Rand while everyone knows Trey. As a matter of fact, in the parts of Kentucky where the most people know Grayson (such as Grayson's home in Northern Kentucky), Paul leads by healthy double digits. The only other names mentioned to run against Rand will only serve to help Rand get elected. Grayson's few supporters tried to be flaky websites that attempt to make Paul look bad, but instead have begun to make the Grayson supporters look like desperate nuts. Just about everything Trey Grayson has done from cold calls, crazy websites, skipping publicized events, and so on, has come back to bite him more with each month.

Rand does make sense when he talks, and he is the best speaker running in this cycle. The conservatives in Kentucky are coming around and like him once they meet him and hear him speak - which he is doing a lot of. The establishment has recently begun to come around as well, so it may not even be an interesting race any longer by the end of winter.

There is also a rumor based on Trey's apparent lack of campaigning that he will drop out to later run for governor or Lt. governor. Many see him as a career politician, a bureaucrat, and a former Democrat, so that could be a problem running for anything in the next year or so.