It took a few weeks, but the man who helped Rand Paul achieve his meteoric rise to the Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky — and then oversaw Paul’s spectacular fall in a series of national television appearances shortly thereafter — is finally leaving the Paul campaign for good.
Back in May, after the string of disastrous national press appearances that resulted in Paul’s high-profile cancellation of an appearance on Meet The Press, campaign manager David Adams was shifted to the role of campaign chairman. Jesse Benton, a longtime Paul family ally and a veteran of Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-TX) presidential campaigns, took the reins as Rand Paul’s campaign manager.
Today, the AP reports that Adams is leaving the Paul campaign all together, and heading to a new campaign job at an unnamed gubernatorial campaign.
Back during the May shakeup, Benton told Dave Weigel that his new role as campaign manager had nothing to do with Paul’s gaffe-prone opening days on the campaign trail.
“David Adams isn’t being pushed out in any way,” Benton told Weigel in May. “This is just a change in roles.”
But speaking to a Kentucky TV station, Benton confirmed that he was taking over to change things up a bit. “We’re going to back up on the national stuff,” he told WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold.
Adams, meanwhile, has no longer been in the day-to-day picture since Benton took over. That’s despite his long history with Paul, which started when Adams was a local political blogger in Kentucky and joined up with Paul right from the start.
Today’s announcement marks the end of that relationship, as the AP reports:
David Adams said Tuesday he’s looking forward to his new role in next year’s governor’s race, and said his departure from Paul’s campaign staff does not reflect any conflicts in the campaign.
As for the Benton strategy of focusing on the local stuff? Though Paul has largely stayed off the national airwaves since Benton took over — if you don’t count Fox, that is — Paul has still put his foot in his mouth now and again since canceling on David Gregory.
