Principle or payback?
Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky on Wednesday endorsed upstart Tea Party favorite Rand Paul to replace him in the U.S. Senate — a blow to Kentucky's Republican establishment and its preferred candidate, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson. [...]
Grayson is backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's other U.S. senator, who conducted a campaign last year to force Bunning to retire from the Senate. [...]
Bunning, in the statement, called Paul the one “strong, principled conservative” running in the primary who could stand up to “the liberals and establishment politicians that run Washington.”
Recent polls, including last month's Research 2000 for Daily Kos, has shown Paul's numbers surging with his:
... outsider campaign that is pure teabagger with a dash of anti-war fervor. He is certainly giving the GOP establishment fits, especially the Mitch McConnell machine which is backing the secretary of state. Even Dick Cheney appears involved, panicking at the thought of an anti-war libertarian undermining neocons from within.
And whether Bunning really thinks that Paul is the only conservative in the race or if he just wanted to deliver a kick in the pants to Mitch McConnell, the bottom line is, a sitting U.S. Senator has endorsed a teabagger candidate. Just another reason to say, when talking about Jim Bunning, that's nuts.