Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway (D) said in an interview Rand Paul’s comments about the Civil Rights Act this week are fair game for campaign attacks, calling his GOP rival in the Senate race “outside of the mainstream.” Conway and Paul each won their party’s nomination Tuesday night, and it’s been a tough week for Paul since the victory. Conway told me this afternoon he will make sure voters know about Paul’s remarks, especially about his views on the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“What does that say to our disabled veterans coming back from two wars,” Conway said.
At the same time, Conway said his own campaign would focus on the distinctions between the candidates on the economy and the need for “robust” financial reform, and I asked him how the Civil Rights Act comments come into those policy issues. “It’s certainly relevant,” Conway said. “People fought and bled for the ability to be served in a non-discriminatory fashion. It’s problematic and abhorrent that he’d say in 2010 the government would not have a role … I’m happy to have that discussion.”
He also took a whack at Paul’s “accidents happen” comments about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, saying they were “callous.”
