Mommy

My good friend at Mommy summed up very well what Rand Paul and his out of state supporters are doing .. here is a portion of what she had to say . click mommy to finish the article at the end of this post .

Rand Paul's Astroturf
The man who claims to be the tea party candidate in Kentucky's GOP primary, is having trouble drumming up support from among the grassroots here. There are many reasons for this which I will list below. The campaign's response is to bring in "fake grassroots" from outside the state. A new astroturfing group with the Rand Paul campaign as administrator has set up shop on Facebook. In March, out-of-state Paul supporters will travel here to work for the Paul campaign in what is being billed as Rand Paul's Spring Break in Kentucky.

Why don't grassroots conservatives in Kentucky support Rand Paul?

Political Nepotism -- People are turned off by the fact that Paul is riding his father's coattails. For instance, Gun Owners of America has admitted that the fact that he is Ron Paul's son was part of their criteria for endorsement. A great many of Rand Paul's endorsements are from people and groups who have previously endorsed his father. Rand Paul does not seek to serve Kentuckians by promoting the principles we value. His intent is to promote his father's agenda. In May of 2009, Rand Paul stated (emphasis mine):

"I know that third party candidates can’t win in KY. Although I’m a Libertarian at heart, I’ve decided to run as a Republican. Once I win I’ll be able to promote my father’s principles and work towards reforming the Republican party."

Flip-Flops and Obfuscation -- He's learning that libertarianism doesn't fly here, so he offers watered down speech on abortion, refusing to back off his father's agenda on the matter, but claims to be the pro-life candidate in the race. (His father has voted 56% pro-life according to National Right to Life.) He's been accused of scrubbing his website more than once. Once in regard to the Patriot Act and again in regard to Gitmo.

Alienating the Religious Right -- The Paul campaign has said they won't be engaging with the religious right as questions have been coming about his positions on abortion, releasing drug offenders and expanding gambling.

Ambivalence about genuine racism -- The fact that he is supported by the "White Power" movement has raised, unfortunatey, few eyebrows, but when it was learned that he actually hired a racist to be his campaign coordinator, the damage was palpable.

Out-of -State Support -- The very fact that most of Paul's support has been coming from outside Kentucky is a turn-off to Kentucky voters. The more Kentucky's voters are turned off, the more reason the Paul campaign has to send in astro-turfers.

The Grayson campaign, backed by the McConnell machine, was doomed from the start, no matter how many polls he throws out saying otherwise. Read the rest here :

Mommy