Kentucky Gets Another Derby

(Jack Conway, Rand Paul) Kentucky voters knew that tea candidate Rand Paul was going to defeat Mitch McConnell endorsed GOP establishment candidate Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the Republican primary for the US Senate. We did not realize Paul was going to clean Grayson's clock to the tune of a full blown landslide. This has to hurt for McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader supposed to be running the GOP machine in this state.

This is going to be one of the most interesting races to watch in the country.

With 99.5% reporting:
Jack Conway (D)----------226,773
Daniel Mongiardo (D)----221,269
Rand Paul (R)--------------206,159
Trey Grayson (R)---------124,238

The interestingly stronger turnout for the Democratic primary, where both State Attorney General Jack Conway and Lt. Governor Daniel Mongiardo received more votes than Rand Paul, might have one thinking this is a blue cakewalk. Well, not exactly. This is red leaning Kentucky where the McConnell machine backed Tray Grayson could have defeated either Democratic nominee in the general election. But tea doesn't care, so Rand Paul it is.

Now, this is going to be a real horse race. Polls put Conway and Paul in a dead heat, and everything suggests that starting about two months ago, the Jack Conway campaign has been gaining momentum. Dismissed a few months ago (Mongiardo almost won the general in the last election), the Conway campaign has found traction and got where it needed to get in time to win the primary. Congratulations to Jack and his hard working campaign staff on their victory today. I wish them success in continuing to build support and gain strength. May they secure a victory in November.

More later.