A blurb appeared today in a local blog about Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning's fury at the not-so-subtle effort by the state and national Republican Party in trying to force him not to run for re-election.
This effort has apparently been so successful that Bunning is now threatening to resign and allow the Democratic Governor Steve Beshear to name a replacement.
Nice thought, huh?
Updated: What would make this a truly epic Charlie Foxtrot for the Kentucky GOP; something like this maybe...?
Update:
Ron Paul's Kid May Run For U.S. Senate In Kentucky
1:39 PM Fri, Feb 27, 2009
Mark Hebert
The son of former republican presidential candidate Ron Paul may run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky next year. The younger Paul lives in Bowling Green and told the AP's Roger Alford that he won't say anything bad about Jim Bunning but he's weighing the possibility of running if Bunning doesn't. Here's the AP story:
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Yet another Republican is considering a run for U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning's seat.
The latest is Rand Paul, son of U.S. Rep. and former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas. He told The Associated Press on Thursday that he would consider entering the race, but only if Bunning drops out.
Sweet.
End Update
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A blurb appeared in a local blog about Jim Bunning's fury at the not-so-subtle efforts of the state and national Republican Party at trying to force Jim to not to run for re-election.
This effort has apparently been so successful that Bunning is now threatening to resign and allow the Democratic Governor to name a replacement.
Page One Kentucky, a blog that seems to enjoy ticking off everybody, mentioned today that Senator Jim Bunning is so mad at the secret campaign being waged against him by his own party, that he’s almost ready to throw in the towel early and let the state’s Democratic Governor Steve Beshear name a replacement to the seat.
Rumor has it that Jim Bunning is so spitting mad that he’s telling people he’ll just resign and let Steve (Beshear) appoint someone.
How bout them apples?
And can you even IMAGINE?
Ha!
UPDATE: Spoke with one of Bunning’s staffers and they don’t deny it. WTF. Granted, it only means he probably said it. But was it in frustration or was he serious?
Since the recent Lincoln Dinner fiasco, where GOP operatives recorded Senator Bunning's semi-gloating over the illness of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a very public campaign of condemnation and damning praise has taken place in the state media- with conservative blogs NOT rallying around their champion, and republican officials staying glaringly silent.
Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the prince in waiting for Bunning’s seat, has issued a Briar Rabbit like statement; declaring his love for Bunning and foreswearing any thoughts of a primary:
"Recent news reports change nothing about the US Senate race as I am concerned," Grayson said. "Senator Bunning is a friend and mentor. As I have mentoned (sic) before, if he were to decide not to run, I would be keenly interested in the race. Senator Bunning has said that he is running, and I take him at his word. I am not planning a primary."
So what does all this mean? My take is that republican in-fighting and fracturing is alive and well. The national collapse of the GOP is fully filtering down to the state level. And the right kind of pressure here might just send ‘Looney Jim’ over the edge and make good on his threat.
It’s still a long shot, but it’s a nice-to-think-about long shot.