United Liberty

The rise of the Liberty Movement has had a strong impact on American politics. The 2010 mid-terms and primary races in the current cycle have showed that the grassroots base is not going to stand silently by while the Republican establishment chooses politics over principle.

Some have explained that the Liberty Movement is in the midst of a “hostile takeover” of the GOP. And while we have seen overwhelming success — far more than pundits predicted, there are constant reminders that the establishment is trying to leave its mark on our movement.

Perhaps the best example came yesterday with news of Jesse Benton, who served as chairman of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, signing on to run Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election in 2014.

“Jesse is literally the best in the business at building and organizing conservative grassroots movements, and I’m thrilled he’s chosen to return to Kentucky to lead my campaign,” Senator Mitch McConnell told the Washington Post.

As I noted last night, C-Span broadcast the final debate between the Republican candidates for Senate in Kentucky, and it was quite a thing to watch:

Looking for an opening a week before the Kentucky Senate Republican primary, Trey Grayson used the final debate Monday night to hammer Rand Paul as weak on national security and unreliable on cultural issues

Grayson, who is trailing in the polls, was on the offensive for much of the hour-long session, saying Paul didn’t believe a nuclear-armed Iran was a threat to America, once backed closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was insufficiently opposed to abortion.

Paul shot back by accusing Grayson of distorting his views and running a dishonest, failing campaign.

But the more fundamental disagreement on display throughout the forum, which aired statewide on Kentucky public television, was an extension of the central dispute that has defined the closely watched contest and is dividing establishment and insurgent Republicans nationally: should the party hew to a purist line on fiscal issues, slashing spending and reducing the role of Washington, even if that means taking political risks that may be unpopular with the general electorate?

The contrasts between the two candidates, and between the two strains of the Republican Party, couldn’t be more extreme:

Paul called for eliminating the Department of Education.

“If you send less money to Washington, you’ll have more in your state for education,” he said.

But Grayson said there was a role for Washington in education, citing both the capital needs of the state’s public universities and the students who need tuition assistance.

Rand Paul is the next Senator of Kentucky. The election is all but wrapped up.

Most people will immediately respond that it is way too early to make such a statement; how can we possibly know what will happen over the next nine to ten months? I will concede the point that we can never be sure how an election will turn out ten months before the vote, but all evidence points towards a Rand Paul win come November.

1) Polling
Rand has seen meteoric rise in the polls over the past five months. He went from losing 26-37 in August to establishment pick Trey Grayson, to leading Grayson 44-25 in December. Also, while he was picking up this lead there was an increasing number of undecided voters from 17% in August to 32% in December. The momentum is clearly on Rand Paul’s side.

2) Campaign
From the beginning Rand has arguably run a stronger campaign. Despite never being elected to office in Kentucky, Paul had the advantage of being Congressman Ron Paul’s son. This allowed him to make his announcement on national television that he would be running for Senate. While Trey Grayson attacked this as an example of how Paul was an “outsider” to Kentucky, the famous comeback by Paul swung this war of words in his favor, “I’ve been a Kentuckian longer than Grayson’s been a Republican!”

On the heels of a poll showing Rand Paul with a 19 point lead over Trey Grayson for the GOP nomination for United States Senate in Kentucky comes another survey showing both Republicans with modest leads over their potential Democratic opponents, Jack Conway and Dan Mongiardo.

Rand Paul v. Jack Conway

• Paul: 42%
• Conway: 36%
• Not sure: 22%

Rand Paul v. Dan Mongiardo

• Paul: 42%
• Mongiardo: 36%
• Not sure: 22%

Trey Grayson v. Jack Conway

• Grayson: 40%
• Conway: 33%
• Not sure: 27%

Trey Grayson v. Dan Mongiardo

• Grayson: 44%
• Mongiardo: 35%
• Not sure: 21%

According to a press release that came across last night, Rand Paul will also make his entrance into the race official by filing his paperwork with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.

According a new SurveyUSA/WHAS poll, Rand Paul is leading Republican establishment candidate Trey Grayson.

• 32% Grayson
• 35% Paul
• 2% Johnson
• 1% Oerther
• 3% Thoney
• 10% Other
• 18% Undecided

Cross tabs are available here.

As we mentioned a few days ago, the Republican establishment in Washington is getting behind Trey Grayson over Rand Paul in the primary for United States Senate in Kentucky.

On September 23rd, more than half the Republican caucus in the Senate will host a $500 per plate dinner on behalf of Grayson.

KentuckyFight.com (see the ad on the right) is looking to gather 5,000 liberty-minded folks to give $100 each on the same day to send a message to the elites in Washington, DC.

We here at United Liberty encourage you to give $100 on September 23rd to help put a true believer in liberty in the United States Senate.

In efforts to stem the growing trend of childhood obesity, California lawmakers passed legislation in 2005 that restricted the sugar and fat content levels in food sold on public school campuses.  The law went into effect in 2007, but outcry from parents and students against the regulations is bringing the nutritional restrictions to the notice of the national public.  While the focus is currently on California, over 600 school districts across the country have similar strictures, with Kentucky campuses being subject to the strictest regulations.