Rand Paul, not just McConnell, has a big stake in Kentucky’s election
By Paul Kane
November 3 at 6:00 AM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will be at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's side Monday in a seven-stop fly-around of Kentucky, seeking to boost turnout for McConnell's bid for a seventh term.
Make no mistake, however: Paul has his own stake in Tuesday's election. Although he's not up for election himself, the freshman senator is hoping to flip control of the state House to Republicans. It would make history, as this is the last Southern legislative chamber in Democratic control, and it has been this way since 1921.
More important, a new GOP majority in the Kentucky state House would revive the chances of changing a state law so that the libertarian-leaning senator could run for both president and his Senate seat in 2016. The state Senate, controlled by Republicans, passed a bill that would allow him to file for both offices but it died when House Democrats declined to take up the legislation.
With a margin of 54 to 46 in the state House favoring Democrats, Republicans here had higher hopes early in the year of winning, but privately some strategists in each camp give an edge to Democrats, whose candidates appear to be better prepared.
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