Congress 2010 Thread

Good News, Everyone!

Rand Paul announced on Rachel Maddow's show that he's formed an exploratory committee for a run for US Senate in Kentucky. Awesome.



http://www.randpaul2010.com/

And on that note, this thread will be for discussing the next election cycle for congressmen and -women so that everything isn't mashed into the Obama thread.

Thanks for creating a separate thread, I'm hoping this one can be just as engaging as the other.

Not a whole lot of Congressional news here other than the possibility of Ehlers stepping down here in Grand Rapids (a moderate Republican), and Hoekstra (a conservative Republican, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee) possibly vacating his seat for the governorship of Michigan. I wouldn't anticipate a big shakeup in Holland with Hoekstra, but there stands a fairly decent chance of a Democrat taking my district if things continue to shake out as-is.

Bringing this over from the Obama thread.

FoolKiller

I would like to introduce my future senator, Rand Paul.


Now, if Bunning would just decide to drop out I wouldn't feel like I am possibly going to be wasting time and/or money doing everything I can to support this guy.

Just a warning to those who like the current Republicrat system: I may get to be more annoying and vocal in the upcoming year, if that is possible.

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Adam Kokesh has also launched an exploratory committee.

http://www.kokeshforcongress.com/

Just to build on what some of Rand Paul talked about in the OP video, there is an article over at the National Journal that looks at the shrinking of the Republican party in-depth. For GOP, A Southern Exposure looks at the switch in regional strength for both parties, the GOP going from a mainly northern party of the union, to a distinctly conservative southern movement.

There is a lot of shifting that is going on in and out of the party, especially in California right now. I really have to wonder, on the national scale, what will happen in 2010. For that matter, what the GOP will look like.

Who is Rand Paul?

Solid Fro

Who is Rand Paul?

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I am assuming you are just being funny, but just in case, or for others:

Bowling Green, KY Opthalmalogist, possible Republican candidate for Senate, and president of Kentucky Taxpayers United.

Oh, and the son of Ron Paul.

Well, it looks like my hope to get involved with Dr. Rand Paul's campaign might just become a reality. Today on the Daily Paul I saw this:

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/94605

Rand Paul Announces Economic Council of Advisors
Posted May 28th, 2009 by Michael Nystrom

The Rand Paul for US Senate Exploratory Committee thinks big brains are just as important as big wallets. So, today we are happy to announce our Economic Council of Advisors.

The Economic Council of Advisors

Dr. John Garen
Gatton Endowed Professor of Economics
University of Kentucky Department Chair

Dr. William W. Davis
Chair - Economics
Western Kentucky University

Dr. Catherine Carey
Professor - Economics
Editor -Journal of Applied Economics
Western Kentucky University

Dr. Edward Wolfe
Professor of Finance
Western Kentucky University

Dr. Darrin V. Gulla
Department of Economics
Gatton College of Business & Economics

Dr. Brain Strow
BB&T Chair for the Study of Capitalism
Western Kentucky University

Dr. Claudia Strow
Assistant Professor - Economics
Western Kentucky University

Matt Bogard
Economic Instructor
Western Kentucky University

For more information please visit RandPaul2010.com.

-- Christopher Hightower
Campaign Coordinator
Rand Paul for US Senate Exploratory Committee

chris@randpaul2010.com

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The one I highlighted was a childhood neighbor, graduated high school with me, we both started out at Western Kentucky University at the same time, he transferred to University of Kentucky a year after me and we roomed together in an apartment for a year. We had fallen out of contact the past few years, as living two hours away from each other is likely to do, but as soon as I saw this I sent him an email and he is going to forward my contact information on to the campaign coordinator.

So, not only will I have an opportunity to get involved, but I am starting out with a recommendation from someone already involved.

Excellent! Are his advisers all Austrians, or is it a mixed crowd? I don't know anything about any of them.

Omnis

Excellent! Are his advisers all Austrians, or is it a mixed crowd? I don't know anything about any of them.

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I have only ever heard of Dr. Garen and Dr. Claudi Strow, and Matt of course. I can say that they aren't Keynesians. When Matt and I roomed together I would have called him an Austrian, although it has been a few years, but his Facebook and AgWeb Blog (he focuses on Ag-Econ) posts lead me to believe he hasn't.

Knowing the general opinions at Kentucky universities, I would guess that they are a mix at best. I can't believe they found that many representatives from WKU without one of them being a Keynesian. It's been almost ten years since I have been there, so it is possible that they have had a bit of a change.

Not sure if this is the right spot, but ah well...

H.R. 1207 ("Audit the Fed") will be heading to debate in Congress, with a fair bit of bipartisan support as well. Good on them, I'm looking forward to hearing more about it, and what evidence both sides have for/against it.

I noticed no one has mentioned Retake Congress.com in here yet, so here it is.

http://www.retakecongress.com/home.html

They are supporting liberty-minded Congressional candidates.

From their About Us page.

Retakecongress.com is a true grassroots effort by true American patriots that love their country and what it is supposed to stand for as laid out by our founding fathers. We are Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters and activists, just to name a few as well as hard working Americans.

The reason we founded this organization was to start replacing our elected officials that do not obey the constitution with true Statesman that will not only obey our constitution but will also make sure our rights are protected as written in the constitution and follow it to the letter.

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The only problem is that Congressional seats are often the most-difficult to turn over, especially with the way many districts are set up. That could change with the states themselves end up looking in 2010, who will be deciding how the districts look. That, and the shifts in congressional representation as well (I think we're losing two seats here in Michigan).

Hoekstra's district is probably safe for a "Conservative" Republican, and we still don't know whats going on here with Ehlers.

It looks like they are going for a big money bomb next month and starting early over at runrandrun.com.

IMPORTANT: Bunning calls it quits.

Good thing Rand decided to run after all. This guy has great prescience already! Time to push Rand up to the hill instead of that treasury secretary chump. I'm tired of executive branchers thinking Congress is their next step up the political food chain.

Omnis

IMPORTANT: Bunning calls it quits.

Good thing Rand decided to run after all. This guy has great prescience already! Time to push Rand up to the hill instead of that treasury secretary chump. I'm tired of executive branchers thinking Congress is their next step up the political food chain.

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Rand is planning to make an official announcement on August 20th. Once that is done then I think he will gain a huge amount of support, and hopefully will be able to get in the media spotlight more.

The problem is that the Democrats have recently stolen all local political spotlight as Lt. Governor Mongiardo is running for the seat and so the governor has announced Louisville Mayor (for life) Jerry Abramson will be running with him for Lt. Governor. Abramson is the same mayor who ran out of terms, and then was appointed by the next mayor to be head of the committee to merge county and metro governments. While on that committee he made sure that mayoral terms reset under the new government, thus guaranteeing himself another set of terms. He has been mayor since the mid-80s and his little move there shows he only cares about keeping himself in office.

Anyway, since he is so well known in Louisville, thus a lot of the state, that announcement has absorbed all political coverage in the state.

Hopefully this will get it back on track for the Senate race.


EDIT: There are two polls on local news sites. Rand Paul has a commanding lead.
http://www.wtvq.com/component/poll/...oday-which-republican-would-you-vote-for.html
http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/876301.html

Here is Rand Paul's speech from Fancy Farm (please ignore the Hillbilly Report stuff).




For those who don't know: Fancy Farm is the world's larget picnic and is an old style political stumping picnic. The road to any office in Kentucky goes through Fancy Farm.

It is very reminiscent of the old stumping speeches where one candidate is speaking at podium on one side of the field while his opponent(s) may be at their own podium on the other side at the same time.

He sounds hoarse. Must be busy.

Dodd has prostate cancer now. Poor guy should hang it up already and give his seat to Peter Schiff. Schiff + Paul in the Senate would be fantastic.

Omnis

He sounds hoarse. Must be busy.

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As he mentioned he also had a debate with Jack Conway, and according to his schedule this was his fourth speech in two days. He took the trip to Fancy Farm as an opportunity to do a mini-whirlwind tour of Western Kentucky.

Are any of you guys going out to your representatives town hall meeting during the break? I don't see that Vern has any listed here, but I hope to go out and see him at least once.

YSSMAN

Are any of you guys going out to your representatives town hall meeting during the break? I don't see that Vern has any listed here, but I hope to go out and see him at least once.

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I haven't heard about any around here, but then we are a mostly Republican state and that may not go over very well.



And Rand Paul has gotten the one endorsement that I knew was coming:

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/102002

Dear Friend,

There is big news coming out of Kentucky. Sen. Jim Bunning has announced that he will not seek reelection, leaving the door wide open for my son Dr. Rand Paul to run, win and join me in Washington.

Rand is carefully weighing his options and tells me he will make a final decision very soon. We need Rand on Capitol Hill fighting for smaller government, and we need you to urge him to run. You can contact him through his exploratory website, www.randpaul2010.com. Your encouragement and generous contributions will help him make the right decision to get it "in it to win it."

We need Rand to run in 2010! Please urge him to run, sign up to get news on his campaign and, if possible, send money so he can see that we stand behind him.

The grassroots both in Kentucky and around the country are getting excited and planning a money bomb for Rand on August 20th. Please visit www.runrandrun.com and pledge to participate.

Together, we can help Rand run and elect a true defender of Liberty to United States Senate.

Again, I hope you will go to Rand's website, www.randpaul2010.com and also visit www.runrandrun.com.

In Liberty,

Ron Paul

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The Rand Paul Money Bomb is under way. We are closing in on $500,000 now.

I already donated my $100, and updated my avatar to match.

I had customers in the store the other day from Kentucky and I asked them about Rand Paul. They seemed rather surprised that I knew who he was. After some questioning, I get the feeling that they were aware of his campaign, but not what he was offering. I guess I'm doing ground work all the way up here in Michigan.

YSSMAN

I had customers in the store the other day from Kentucky and I asked them about Rand Paul. They seemed rather surprised that I knew who he was. After some questioning, I get the feeling that they were aware of his campaign, but not what he was offering. I guess I'm doing ground work all the way up here in Michigan.

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Well, he has only officially been a candidate for a couple of weeks, so the media has ignored him. But then recently a poll conducted by a Louisville station, the first to include him, showed him only 11 points behind the established Republican candidate who has been around for 8 years. He is also even with the highest polling all Democrat who have been around even longer.

So, the local news has picked up on his story now and could not avoid discussing how the guy they thought was a nobody is suddenly a contender after only being official for two weeks. Most local news, that is. This morning I was listening to our local news/weather/traffic, and syndicated conservative talk station outside of rush hour, and they mentioned the poll but only discussed the Democrats' polling numbers. They completely ignored the story that every other station found to be noteworthy out of the poll.

I am hoping that his sudden popularity in the polls will actually get him proper attention locally. Right now he can only get national media to pay attention via his father's contacts. This should put the local media spotlight on him, which he really needs.

YSSMAN

I had customers in the store the other day from Kentucky and I asked them about Rand Paul. They seemed rather surprised that I knew who he was. After some questioning, I get the feeling that they were aware of his campaign, but not what he was offering. I guess I'm doing ground work all the way up here in Michigan.

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Rand has been the head of the NTU for a long time.

Well, I went to the Kentucky State Fair yesterday and between corn dogs and funnel cakes I managed to stop by the Rand Paul booth (he was the only candidate with his own booth) where I signed petitions to our senators (Bunning and McConnell) to support an audit of the Fed and was given bumper stickers, information cards, personal stickers, and a yard sign. Oh, and a $1 Trillion bill with Bernanke's face on it.

I am now in full support mode.

In contrast the Democrat and GOP booths just had shirts and whatnot with negative messages directed at the other party. I decided that it wasn't worth the effort to even talk their volunteers. Rand Paul's booth volunteers were talking about what we can achieve to get the country headed back in the right direction and how Dr. Paul is the representative we need in order to work toward that goal.

I don't know a whole lot about Rand. From the few interviews I've seen, I get the feeling that he's not as libertarian as his father. Is that accurate?

By the way, have you guys pre-ordered Ron Paul's latest book, End the Fed, on Amazon yet?

It's not really accurate because "not as libertarian" doesn't really mean anything specifically.

I think it's safe to say that Rand is not as eager as Ron to scale back on the military. Rand thinks the military is the only true function of the federal government, and I think is more comfortable with a standing army the size of what is currently maintained. So he is by no means a warhawk but doesn't so strongly share Ron's plan of scaling back military and overseas spending to tide over the system for those with a dependency on the government. To Rand's credit, it makes a lot of sense because, the way we're going now (as opposed to with Bush, where Ron's argument was directed at the time), it's not even the foreign expenditures that will account for the savings with which to tide people over. The important thing is the spending itself, and both guys are out to put an end to such spending of money we don't have.

msgt-sd

I don't know a whole lot about Rand. From the few interviews I've seen, I get the feeling that he's not as libertarian as his father. Is that accurate?

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I know he is keeping it a bit more low key than his father, which is good for Kentucky, but his points are very similar.

When asked what his differences are it comes off like he doesn't feel the direct fix it all immediately approach is the way to go. His is more of a process of working to make Congress obey the Constitution and educate the American people on what that means. Ron Paul seems to be fighting an uphill battle to just make the changes happen now.

The biggest difference I have seen is that Rand mentioned, in the Fancy Farm video I posted above, that he wants to propose a bill requiring legislators read a bill before voting on it. Ron Paul's take on that is a bill he recently introduced HR 216, which he recently called the Sunlight Bill. That requires bills to be available in both electronic and printed formats for at least 10 days (exceptions are made for emergency actions) before being voted on. It doesn't require it be read, but allows time for them to be read and for constituents to read them and comment. Basically it prevents the travesty that was the Stimulus and Bank Bailouts, and very nearly health care reform.

I think their goals are mostly the same but their approaches differ.