[Peace-discuss] Palin against the war?

[C. G. Estabrook]

[If Palin continues to build her support with paleoconservatives & Ron Paulists, 
  she will be forced ot take a position onthe war.  Here she endorses Paul's 
son, who "is a critic of the Federal Reserve, the USA PATRIOT Act, the federal 
government's bailout of Wall Street, and the erosion of civil liberties. He 
supports significantly smaller government and balanced budgets, and opposes the 
Department of Education, *the war in Iraq*, and the federal income tax."  Could 
get interesting.  --CGE]

	Monday, Feb. 01, 2010
	Sarah Palin endorses Rand Paul in Ky. Senate race
	By ROGER ALFORD - Associated Press Writer

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Bowling Green eye 
surgeon Rand Paul in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race Monday, saying he wants to 
"shake up the status quo" in Washington.

The endorsement gives Paul, son of former Republican presidential candidate and 
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, an inroad into Kentucky's conservative Republican 
base that might otherwise be skeptical of an outsider candidate. The younger 
Paul has never before run for elected office.

"I'm proud to support great grass roots candidates like Dr. Paul," Palin said in 
a statement. "While there are issues we disagree on, he and I are both in 
agreement that it's time to shake up the status quo in Washington and stand up 
for commonsense ideas."

Palin's political action committee also donated $2,000 to Paul's campaign.

Paul is running for the seat now held by retiring Sen. Jim Bunning who opted not 
to seek a third term at the behest of GOP leaders who considered him politically 
vulnerable to Democratic candidates. He faces Kentucky Secretary of State Trey 
Grayson in the May primary election.

Grayson campaign manager Nate Hodson said his boss admires Palin and agrees with 
her that Kentucky needs a senator who will shake up Washington.

"My guess is that if Governor Palin knew Rand Paul's true colors she would think 
twice about offering her support of his misguided agenda," Hodson said.

Bunning, 78, a former Major League pitcher enshrined in the Baseball Hall of 
Fame, hasn't endorsed a potential successor, though he and Grayson have been 
longtime friends.

Paul, capitalizing on his father's nationwide network of campaign donors, has 
banked some $1.8 million in contributions and still has $1.3 million on hand. 
Grayson has collected just less than $1.7 million and has $1.4 million in the bank.

"Our cash on hand lead shows that we're running an efficient campaign that will 
have the resources we need to win in May," Hodson said Monday.

Paul raised $650,000 from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Grayson raised $443,266 over the 
same period.

Meanwhile, two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates spent Monday courting labor 
unions, even going so far as to tout them at a meeting of Kentucky's 
manufacturing executives.

Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo and Attorney General Conway want the support of 
Kentucky's politically powerful labor movement going into this year's Senate 
election. Both candidates said Monday they would support a federal initiative 
known as the Employee Free Choice Act to make it easier to establish labor 
unions in the nation's workplaces. The measure has stalled in the Senate.

"I believe it's every worker's right to join a union," Mongiardo told nearly 100 
members of the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers who listened politely at a 
political forum in Frankfort on Monday.

Grayson and Paul took the opposite tact, telling the executives they would 
oppose the federal legislation, assuring that neither would receive an 
endorsement from organized labor in Kentucky.

Bill Londrigan, president of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, said union workers 
appreciate the support of the two Democratic candidates.

"When you have two friends in the primary, it's very difficult under those 
conditions to have an endorsement," he said. "At this point, we've not held an 
endorsement meeting. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out."

Mongiardo released fundraising figures Monday showing he has raised nearly $1.5 
million for his campaign and that he still has $782,790 in the bank. Conway 
hadn't released his own fundraising totals as of Monday evening, but he 
previously said his overall take would be about $2.5 million for 2009.

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