With over 84 percent of voting precincts reporting, Rand Paul has won the Republican primary in Kentucky for US Senate. His father, Ron Paul, is a US Representative and was the Libertarian Party’s 1988 presidential nominee (Rand worked for this campaign, and is therefore at least aware of, if not sympathetic to, the legal hardships which third parties face). Paul faced four opponents in the primary, including Trey Grayson, the Kentucky Secretary of State, who now has about 35 percent of the vote, compared to Paul’s 59 percent.
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Derek, right. none of the parties face each other in any race. One party of them against the dem & rep making almost always a 3 way race. Even better if 2 way. Bringing in the CP alters the equation since the progressives & nationalists are mortal enemies. However if agreed to at least temporarily to defeat the dems & reps might work. Try to get a candidate to announce support for this alliance/strategy & see what happens!
Robert: My dream would be to have the GP, LP and CP all unite as one alliance. Running fusion tickets should start in states with fusion voting like Connecticut, South Carolina, New York and Vermont. None of the parties face each other in any race.
Derek @40, interesting question/scenario. I hadn’t thought much about it because it appears to be impossible. Also it doesn’t fuse because Paul isn’t a libertarian. But he seems to be accepted as a libertarian and be getting the libertarian vote in republican primaries-@13-20%. So venturing a little further with it, which of these fusion clueless candidates would have proposed it to the other? Which would present his butt to the other & accept the vp position? But, further, suppose Nader had dumped Gonzales for a libertarian vp & Paul was offered/volunteered? Let’s say he lost his ego & stubbornnes & realized the possibilities & accepted? Well, after all that, yes, they may very well have done very well. The next step would be to mix & match downticket progressives & libertarians. Without doing that I don’t see them winning & even if they did win it would be useless as they would face a Congress full of hostile dems & reps.
Rand Paul is not a libertarian and he does not understand the complexities of either of these issues.
If before last week’s Rachel Madow/Rand Paul encounter you’d concluded that libertarianism was opera buffa, now you’ll have a hard time not concluding that it’s sociopathogy writ large. Whether its his clearly staked out position on lunch counter segregation or his lust for oil spills, Rand Paul stands in a long line of libertarian crack-pots supporting everything from a revival of the Confederacy to baby-killing. But with a schmegeggie like Ron Paul for a father, maybe Rand looniness become comprehensible: It’s in the genes. Wonder why no one at this site has broached the topic of the Madow/Paul interview to date. Is the embarrassment all that profound?
Robert:
What would’ve happened if Ron Paul had run with Ralph Nader in 2008 as a Fusion Ticket?
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2010/05/19/Mark-Souder-Out-Rand-Paul-In-A-Good-Trade-for-Republicans.html
It’s a very notable state.
According to Politics in the Zeros todays:
Wyoming is #1 in the US for meth use.
Jose,
Well, there’s a difference. Rand Paul is a Republican, Wayne is a Libertarian now.
Also, the problem some of us have with Wayne is not that he reaches out to the right, it’s that he does so far more than he does to the left and center.
I’m not as sure about Rand, but his dad has done very well in reaching out to the left and center, especially in his recent presidential campaign.
Chuck,
Positioning is fine. He has not said he’s pro-war by any stretch. He has equivocated, that’s for sure, but I expect he’ll be almost as good as his Father.
However, I hope post-primary he stops spending his money on awful un-libertarian advertisements. He has positioned himself as much less anti-war than Ron Paul.
Rand Paul can campaign, speak, and reach out to conservatives and to the right but when Wayne Root does it (so it is alleged), oh the horror! Just sayin . . .
Re #27….
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/05/18/mark-souder-there-is-no-right-to-privacy-except-mine/
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/05/18/transcript-mark-souder-explains-to-his-mistress-how-to-keep-marriage-between-one-man-and-one-woman/
Yes. Although some people say it was not firm enough and that he gave himself an “out.”
“And what the hell does this have to do with Wayne Root, who has vowed that he will not run for president if elected chair?”
Did he?
Wyoming isn’t a real state Paulie, that’s just silly.
Many people get them confused. Sort of like Mississippi and Alabama, North and South Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming…
#23 – how humiliating. Tennessee and Kentucky are different states?
In other Republican Party news, President Obama is acting more and more like a Republican all the time. Some would even say he is trying to out-Republican the Republicans.
The future’s so bright, I gotta wear a gas mask…
O=W=OW
Ron Paul was/is one of the worst things to happen to the LP. Now his son is taking his place & perpetuating the historic mistake. Isn’t politics wonderful?
LP=morons & losers.
@7
In other GOP news, Radley Balko writes…
Someone not donating thousand of dollars and/or hundreds of hours of volunteer time that they don’t have.
I’m not recalling that. I seem to recall something about kicking out an ultraconservative staffer who had ties to racism, and another woman who quit the campaign because she was publicly blamed for things that she says she had nothing to do with. If there was anything at all about 9/11 truth I don’t remember it. Got a link handy?
BTW I am not sure why you classify Zack Bass as a “left lib” or what this has to do with Dr. Ruwart (if she is a 9/11 truther, she has not expressed that opinion anywhere that I know of).
And let’s just say for the sake of argument you are correct. How would this “prove” anything about what a completely unrelated campaign could or could not do?
And what the hell does this have to do with Wayne Root, who has vowed that he will not run for president if elected chair? This is a Republican primary. You are comparing apples and icebergs.
Never mind, I know I’m being silly to even engage Dauben at all.
He’s not a senator yet. So what will it take for the LP of Kentucky to stay out of the race in November? Not being a “spoiler” should be worth something.
…I’m quite sure it was Tennessee that sent Crockett to Congress.
Rand Paul is the best political news out of Kentucky since they sent Davy Crockett to Congress.
MN Indy
I hear Rand Paul speak at that End the Fed rally in Minneapolis, as well.
I was one of the speakers. I spoke right before Rand.
This is fantastic news.
“Joey G. Dauben // May 18, 2010 at 11:29 pm
Um, could I just be forgetting something that all of the hardcore Ruwart-Zack Bass-left-libs in the 9/11 camp were kinda disgusted — ON THIS WEB SITE — when the Rand Paul campaign kicked out a 9/11 truther?
Tell me I’m just dreaming that part up…tell me that there wasn’t a hoopla surrounding earlier in the campaign season that the fringe 9/11ers didn’t go apesh crazy over the Paul campaign firing someone for those views.”
I’ve got no recollection of this but even if it happened it is not relavent to your previous conclusion.
“And yes, Ron Paul’s name and fundraising list definitely scored A-plusses tonight.”
This is the primary reason that he won and I’m glad that he was able to take advantage of the Paul name and fundraising list.
Um, could I just be forgetting something that all of the hardcore Ruwart-Zack Bass-left-libs in the 9/11 camp were kinda disgusted — ON THIS WEB SITE — when the Rand Paul campaign kicked out a 9/11 truther?
Tell me I’m just dreaming that part up…tell me that there wasn’t a hoopla surrounding earlier in the campaign season that the fringe 9/11ers didn’t go apesh crazy over the Paul campaign firing someone for those views.
If I’m wrong, I’ll admit to it, but I think that was a big issue *early* on in this watching of the campaign…
That and people attacked Rand’s more pragmatic logical approach to foreign policy.
And yes, Ron Paul’s name and fundraising list definitely scored A-plusses tonight.
“Joey G. Dauben // May 18, 2010 at 10:02 pm
This is proof positive that you cannot be a fringe libertarian whack-job who believes in the 9/11 Truth movement and still win an election.”
This does not prove that. That is a ridiculous ascertation. If the right candidate with those views came along in the right race and with enough money they could very well win.
I think that the main thing that Rand Paul had going for him is his father’s last name and his father’s fundraising list.
All right!
“This is proof positive that you cannot be a fringe libertarian whack-job who believes in the 9/11 Truth movement and still win an election.”
How does this prove that?
For the record, I mostly agree, but how does THIS prove that?
Dauben
I know I shouldn’t bother but….huh?
In other news…
http://www.ballot-access.org/2010/05/18/specter-loses-democratic-primary-for-u-s-senate-in-pennsylvania/
If anything, this should prove to be better odds for Wayne Allyn Root in the national chair race *and* the LP 2012 prez nomination.
This is proof positive that you cannot be a fringe libertarian whack-job who believes in the 9/11 Truth movement and still win an election.
I’m not saying there isn’t a time or a place for such investigation and discussion, but electoral politics on the national stage is precisely the place where this left-libertarian, anarchist-libertarian Republic of Texas-like nonsense is not going to get you elected. Ever.
Ha, I would, but I’m going to sleep now.
“Also, FWIW, Peg Luksik lost the Republican US Senate primary in PA. She’s been a Constitution Party candidate here several times.”
You should make a post about this (just trying to get some CP balance, lol)
RPl, keep up the work that you’re doing.
WPL, from what I’ve heard there is a candidate running for the Missouri US Senate seat by the name of Martin Lindstedt. http://users.mo-net.com/mlindste/
Sieg Heil From White Russia!
Great Success American Libertaryans!
14 Words!
This man is the real deal, I don’t care what party label he carries. I saw him speak at an End the Fed event here in MN about a year and a half ago. If he makes it to the Senate, it will be a big blow to the money machine.
Applause for the great Republican Party story.
A great victory for liberalism in the Republican Party.
In other Republican Party news, President Obama is acting more and more like a Republican all the time. Some would even say he is trying to out-Republican the Republicans.
Maybe in 2012 Obama will go Republican, and dump Biden to have Rand Paul complete his liberal Republican ticket.
Also, FWIW, Peg Luksik lost the Republican US Senate primary in PA. She’s been a Constitution Party candidate here several times.
fffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-
I think if you look at the speeches he made in 07, 08, 09–you see the real Rand, he’s very libertarian. Presenting those beliefs in a way that appeals to conservatives was key to his victory.
Chuck,
Positioning is fine. He has not said he’s pro-war by any stretch. He has equivocated, that’s for sure, but I expect he’ll be almost as good as his Father.
I don’t really care about the advertisements…I hope he adopts much more libertarian positions and I hope his true colors are closer to that of his father than Trey Grayson! I was looking at his website a few minutes ago and he’s much more conservative than libertarian.
This is great news for libertarians!
However, I hope post-primary he stops spending his money on awful un-libertarian advertisements. He has positioned himself as much less anti-war than Ron Paul.