If Rand Paul is merely exploring the U.S. Senate race and will not run against Jim Bunning…
Why does he need a full-blown campaign staff, including blogger David Adams? And why did he need a full-on campaign staff to be present at Louisville’s tea bagging party on the 4th of July? Why would someone in exploratory mode need “grassroots support”?
Just wondering.
Cause he seems to us to be running a full-on campaign, not just that of a candidate in exploratory mode.
UPDATE: Comments closed thanks to some Paultards going batshit insane, flooding with comments, making threats to other commenters. Nice job, folks. Niiiice.
23 responses so far ↓
1 E // Jul 7, 2009 at 10:27 am
If he’s full on…good!
It’d be about time someone man up and take Bunning on rather than play the game of polite party politics, worrying more about upsetting the hierarchy than presenting the people with a choice and an opportunity for better representation.
2 Larry West // Jul 7, 2009 at 10:53 am
You can explore a lot with $100,000.
3 E // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:11 am
Trey can explore more with $600,000
4 Mike Calvano // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:20 am
Get your facts straight. That “full-on campaign staff” were 5 volunteers, me included, handing out flyers Kyle printed on his own dime. We all met through meetup.com. Rand neither supported us or asked us to be at the Tea Party. We support him because it’s the right thing to do for Kentucky; and so should you!
http://www.meetup.com/Rand-Paul/
5 jake // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:24 am
Uh, my facts are straight. David Adams IS an employee of Paul’s “exploratory” campaign.
And there were people staffing the teabagger event. I spoke with Republican Party officials to confirm. If you were merely volunteers, then party officials were not aware.
Further, when you disseminate information advocating the election of or defeat of a candidate for elected office, those materials must clearly indicate who paid for them. And they must be reported as in-kind contributions to the candidate to be in compliance with FEC regulations. Hope you followed the law.
6 jake // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:26 am
P.S. David Adams attended several of those tea bagger events on the 4th. And he’s a PAID STAFFER. Dun dun dun.
7 TJ // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:42 am
Same goes for Grayson. Why does his exploratory committee need a spokesperson?
8 Mike Calvano // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:45 am
“And there were people staffing the teabagger event..”
That is an intentionally misleading statement. Staff implies paid positions. Nobody was paid to print those leaflets or stand in the rain to hand them out. All five of us are volunteers and had no idea about FEC regulations. No there was no “paid for by” on the leaflets, an honest mistake.
“I spoke with Republican Party officials to confirm. If you were merely volunteers, then party officials were not aware.”
Who exactly did you talk to and what did they tell you? I met the head of the Republican party (young guy in glasses wearing a “Liberty” tshirt, can’t remember his name) and he was fully aware that we are volunteers.
This piece comes across as a smear campaign against Rand and the Tea Parties (tea baggers as you’ve referred to them).
9 jake // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:50 am
It’s your legal responsibility when advocating the election of or defeat of a candidate to know and follow the law. Honest mistake or not, you could (not saying you will be) be fined by the FEC. “Honest mistake” is just an excuse and won’t fly here. Read my hundreds of articles about campaign finance.
The head of the Republican Party is not a young guy. The local party is young, however.
Oh, yeah, it’s a total smear campaign. Because all we do is smear candidates 24/7 by writing about their actions and the actions of their supporters. SMEAR SMEAR SMEAR!
Don’t play stupid if you wish to comment here.
10 motelbill // Jul 7, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Jake, what is this teabagging? Are you a homo boy?
11 Bruce // Jul 7, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Here’s what’s going on, for those who want all the angles.
The Republican Party does not want Rand Paul to run because Rand Paul represents the people and stands for liberty, something the Republican Party has not done in a long time. Senator Bunning opposed Senator McConnell back in late 2008 when McConnell was twisting arms in the Senate to get the votes for the socialist TARP-1 bailout. The Republican Party likes socialism, as long as they’re in power. Bunning went before national television audiences and denounced McConnell’s TARP-1 bailout and called it what it was… “socialism”. So now, McConnell is kicking Bunning out of the Senate. The contributions from the corporations and well heeled individuals that are controlled by the Republican Party of Kentucky have dried up, but Bunning is being left in place as the incumbent to make it difficult for good candidates like Rand Paul to campaign. Meanwhile, McConnell has picked Trey Grayson to be Bunning’s replacement. At the last second, Bunning will bow out, and Trey Grayson will be inserted, and the Kentucky GOPbots will once again vote for whoever is anointed by the RPK.
The Democrats do not want Rand Paul on the Republican ticket, and for the same reason that the Republicans don’t want him. He truly represents the common sense conservative values and beliefs of the vast majority of Kentuckians and if Rand Paul survived the sabotage of the Republican Party of Kentucky and won the Republican primary, he’d be very difficult to beat in the general election. The Democrats would much rather run against Trey Grayson, who was previously a Democrat and was a delegate for Bill Clinton. People are waking up all over the country and they’re shocked to find we’re living in a socialist country, and most Americans and almost all Kentuckians don’t like that. As the sheeple awaken, public sentiment is swinging back toward smaller government, much lower taxes and free market economics, and Rand Paul is the one who resonates with the people, and the Democrats do not want that, and that’s why this blog post is smearing Rand Paul.
12 Josh // Jul 7, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I am always curious why people who supposedly claim to stand up for homosexuals, often make fun of them. I saw a movie called Chuck and Larry where it felt as though the writers were self-rightously proclaiming they were standing up for the rights of gays, yet repeatedly made fun of them.
Doesn’t the same hold true calling tea party attendees tea baggers?
13 Bruce // Jul 7, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Clarification: When I referred to “The Republican Party” and “Democrats”, I was thinking of the corrupt and self-serving leadership of those parties and not the rank and file members.
The point I was trying to make was that the members of both parties need to stop accepting the poor candidates their parties pick for them. That’s why we’re forced to choose between the lesser of two evils, that continues to grow more evil with every general election.
We the People need to become involved earlier and select good candidates in the primaries and reject the party hacks being promoted by the party leadership. Otherwise, we’ll keep sending these non-representatives to Congress.
14 Conservative // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I am for none of the above in the GOP Senate race. Can’t vote for Bunning, won’t vote for Grayson, won’t vote for Paul, won’t vote for Bailey. Might vote for David Williams.
Please oh please, Hal Rogers or Geoff Davis or even Ron Lewis, run for the Senate!!!
15 Josh // Jul 7, 2009 at 11:37 pm
How can someone claiming to be a conservative consider voting for David Williams? In the last session he voted to increase taxes four times, killed gun rights legislation, passed mandatory ATV registration, and raided to the state retirement system.
How is David Williams conservative?
16 Larry West // Jul 8, 2009 at 12:07 am
Conservative:
There’s always Bill Johnson (see http://kentuckybill.com/) and Roger Thoney (http://www.rogerthoney.com/default.aspx) and probably a few other candidates that no one knows about.
I had great respect for Ron Lewis until his last minute withdrawal shenanigans during the last Congressional race. If Jim Bunning does the same thing in 2010, as some say he will do, I will lose respect for him as well.
17 Hosea Sanchez // Jul 8, 2009 at 1:03 am
Exploratory or not, Rand should run for the position because he is the best potential candidate who will follow the consitution to limit government waste and spending while maximizing and defending everyone’s Liberty and a free market economy. A Republic if we can keep it, or the USSA. No other candidate will do that.
18 John // Jul 8, 2009 at 2:20 am
Looks like someone is worried here.
And of course, follow the FEC laws, put in place to squelch any chance third party candidates would ever have, ha.
Boring.
19 Liberty // Jul 8, 2009 at 3:40 am
Hey Jake, come up with a new term, ‘tea-bagger’ is so April. BTW Trey Grayson might have more money at this point from the typical dinner fundraisers, but wait for the internet and grassroots support to go into full gear, 600k will be a drop in the bucket.
20 Mark Gailey aka LibertyFelix // Jul 8, 2009 at 8:27 am
Jake,
While the crooked election laws may attempt to govern and regulate federal campaigns which reach a funding or spending threshhold, it has no authority over my free-will spontaneous actions, at least until thousands of dollars are involved by me independently. And I doubt the constitutionallity even of that. Legal disclaimers do help streamline the actual campaign’s ability to show that they are in compliance and not directly in cooperation. Otherwise Jake-booted thugs could just break the law blantantly as a false flag operation and the Rand Campaign would be culpable for things they never did.
Don’t you believe in the 9th and 10th amendment? Or how about the 1st.
Hey everybody, the election is on. We all have to shut up now! I don’t think your officious claims hold any water!
21 Rich // Jul 8, 2009 at 8:56 am
What’s the big deal? So what that Rand’s campaign may be kicking into full gear. Trey is doing the samething so let the best man win.
As for the money. You guys that are anti Rand Paul you ain’t seen nothing yet. Rand may just set the record for the most money raised in one day by a candidate running for U.S senate before this is all over with. I don’t doubt Greyson will be able to keep because he’s got the machine behind him. But the machine will have to spend a lot more money on this race than they want to I gurantee you that. They will be forced to.
22 jake // Jul 8, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hahaha – so now Paultards claim FEC regulations are moot and put in place to keep third-party candidates from running?
Actually, FEC regs help the little guy and force the big moneyed folks to be a little less corrupt.
But if you want to spin things to your own benefit purely because you don’t understand campaign finance and feel it’s unfair or whatever, be my guest.
23 Matt // Jul 8, 2009 at 10:59 am
“Oh, yeah, it’s a total smear campaign. Because all we do is smear candidates 24/7 by writing about their actions and the actions of their supporters. SMEAR SMEAR SMEAR!
Don’t play stupid if you wish to comment here.”
…
“Hahaha – so now Paultards claim FEC regulations are moot and put in place to keep third-party candidates from running?”
…
Yeah, there’s clearly no bias here.