Rand Paul has been gaining ground in the Kentucky Senate race, where his $1.1 million haul in the third quarter was nearly twice that of fellow candidate Trey Grayson.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul raised more than $1 million in the year’s third quarter, becoming the second candidate in the race to break the million-dollar mark during a three-month fundraising period…

[Grayson] raised nearly $602,000 during his first quarter of fundraising, while he was still exploring a Senate race. He and Paul both entered the race after Republican Sen. Jim Bunning announced July 27 that he would not seek another term.

Cavuto

In an August poll by Survey USA, Paul was found to be within 11 points of Grayson. A general election match-up polled in October by Rasmussen found Paul leading the Democratic candidate Mongiardo by 5 points and statistically tied with the other contender, Conway.

Now with his fundraising momentum, Rand is poised to pass the Secretary of State. This has been made even more impressive by the fact that Paul’s donations have come from small donors, while Grayson has relied on the establishment circuit.

Trey is backed by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who voted in favor of the $700 billion bank bailout and has received political contributions from a slew of institutions that were given government aid. Firms including UBS, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase gave McConnell more than $65,000 each before being compensated up to $25 billion.

Clearly threatened by Paul’s campaign, the Grayson group has sent a spy to monitor his activities.

Grayson Campaign Spying on Rand

This is behaviour unbecoming of a public official. If Trey insists on running surveillance of political opponents before even getting elected, he cannot be trusted to protect the fourth amendment of our Consitution in Washington. There are already too many stories of ‘enemies lists’ coming out of DC.

The politicization of domestic security and intelligence entered the media spotlight last week when it was revealed that Congresswoman Jane Harman, who had sought the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, was being subjected to an ethics investigation for influence peddling.

A House Democrat who once claimed to “live and breathe security” has been under investigation this year for allegedly promising to use her influence to gain leniency for two “pro-Israeli lobbyists” in exchange for support of her own effort to gain the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, the Washington Post reported Friday.

Rep. Jane Harman, an eight-term member from Venice, California is one of 30 representatives and several aides being investigated by the House Ethics Committee on issues that include defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to the Post. She has come under the scrutiny of committee investigators due to wiretapped telephone conversations she had in 2005 with an “Israeli operative,” in which she allegedly offered to intervene on behalf of the accused lobbyists in exchange for help in getting the coveted committee chair. The Post did not identify the lobbyists or say what they were accused of, but a Los Angeles Times story earlier this year referred to reports that “Harman was heard on a wiretap speaking to a suspected Israeli agent about two AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobbyists accused of illegally passing classified information to foreign officials and reporters.”

Harman received $32,000 in political contributions from Northrop Grumman, which was then awarded a government intelligence contract of $430 million.

In our free society government officials should not be peddling influence, selling intelligence, and spying on their political opponents. Earlier this year, however, we saw the fourth amendment violated when patriotic veterans were ordered to be snooped on by bureaucrats.

The next front in the government’s war on the free sector is health care. As an eye doctor, Rand understands how onerous federal legislation can disrupt his practice and thus he believes in a capitalist approach which preserves the relationship between physician and patient.

Washington Journal

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