Both of the Republican candidates for Senate in Kentucky spent Tax Day courting the Tea Party vote — with Rand Paul’s campaign crediting the movement with his own success in the polls as an insurgent candidate.
Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist and a son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), spoke to two Tea Party events Thursday, one in Louisville and the other in Lexington. Secretary of State Trey Grayson, who began as the frontrunner for the nomination but has fallen behind in the polls, attended the Louisville event and another in Covington.
The TPM Poll Average gives Paul a lead over Grayson of 42.3%-25.3% in the Republican primary, after having started out the race last year in the opposite position.
In an interview with TPMDC, Paul campaign manager David Adams said that the Tea Parties were “very important” in helping to build up support, in that they provided a new audience. “That’s a key issue, because the traditional way of running a statewide race is you get to one of the GOP chairs in Kentucky’s 120 counties as fast you can, and go through the hierarchy,” said Adams. “We’ve gone there, but it’s not where we started, and if we’ve had trouble it didn’t slow us down.”
Essentially, Adams said that Tea Partiers were looking for someone different. “A change from the status quo is the need that Rand filled,” said Adams, who also explained: “The good thing about the Republican Party from an average citizen’s perspective is that they’re the party of fiscal conservatism, they’re careful with money and they do what they say they’re gonna do. When the Republican establishment strikes out on all three of those, people become interested in a different way of doing things.”
A spokesman for Grayson’s campaign said that Grayson was also courting Tea Party activists, and noted his attendance at the Tea Party events in Louisville and Covington. The spokesman did not get back to us as of posting time, regarding what message Grayson was using to reach out to this audience.
Late Update: An earlier version of this piece said that Grayson spoke at the Tea Party rallies. He in fact attended them, but did not speak. We regret the error.
