By Adam Bitely –
Have you ever seen your Senator look like this?
Rand Paul, a relatively unknown ophthalmologist, faces off against a well backed opponent, the Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, in today’s GOP Primary. Paul has managed to maintain double digit leads in polls. Supporting Grayson is the GOP establishment of Washington D.C., including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while arch-conservative Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced his support for Paul. The winner of today’s primary will likely replace retiring U.S. Senator Jim Bunning.
Paul credits the momentum in his campaign to the Tea Party Movement. In the anti-incumbent, anti-Washington D.C. atmosphere that has so far characterized the 2010 election cycle, the anti-tax, anti-spend message of Paul has resonated well amongst Kentucky GOP primary voters. A victory for Paul is nearly certain.
With a Paul victory, feathers will be ruffled inside the beltway. The magnitude of Paul overcoming the D.C. GOP establishment will send the message that the GOP insiders of Washington D.C. are being rejected by the voters. With Marco Rubio overcoming an early NRSC endorsement for his then Republican primary opponent Charlie Crist, and now Paul trouncing Mitch McConnell backed Grayson in poll after poll, D.C. based Republicans must be nervous of what will happen at the end of the year when all is said and done.
Not only are Democrats in trouble this year, but the GOP establishment is as well. If Paul and others win victories outright, without the support of GOP establishment forces, those D.C. insiders could become a thing of the past should the Tea Party backed winners arrive in D.C. for a chance at holding power.
Many GOP consultants inside the beltway must be getting under their desks as the picture becomes increasingly bleak for them. Several major losses and botched endorsements will probably not bode well for future business.
