Rand Paul Wins Kentucky Sen. GOP Primary: Now Democrats Will Want to Make him the Issue
Dr. Rand Paul's 10-length victory in the Kentucky GOP Senate Derby—a runaway victory worthy of Secretariat—is a sure sign that the anti-Obama, anti-federal, anti-incumbent Tea Party vote is going to be a central (if not THE central) story of the 2010 mid-term elections.
It's up to President Obama and the Democrats to make libertarian thinking the issue in the fall—by proving that the philosophy, if actually implemented, would mean the end of Social Security, Medicare, student scholarships and even the Interstate Highway System.
Paul favors shutting down the IRS, the Fed, the American military presence overseas, the Department of Education and much of the rest of the federal government.
Now, Kentucky (where I began my career) is not Berkeley. The anti-"revenuer" tradition is strong there. Sen. John McCain won the state over Barack Obama by 16 points. Still, a big win by a man with such views is remarkable.
If Obama and the Dems are to survive drowning in a Republican tide this November, it will be by making people like Paul the issue. Do we really want the radical dismantling of government that Paul suggests?
The answer is: perhaps. I have been struck in my travels around the country and in conversations with voters of all stripes at the collective disdain for the idea of government—even though (or perhaps because) more people are depending on it in the midst of the Great Recesssion.
President Obama is the symbol of government, and in Kentucky, Republicans have now decided that they want the clearest possible anti-Obama as their Senate candidate.
We'll see who benefits in the end from that GOP strategy, in Kentucky and elsewhere.
Correction: This post originally stated, incorrectly, that Paul is named after author Ayn Rand.
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Howard Fineman is Newsweek's Senior Washington Correspondent and Columnist, senior editor and deputy Washington bureau chief. He is the author of "Living Politics," a column that began on MSNBC.COM and Newsweek.com and that now also appears in the print magazine. An award-winning reporter and writer, Fineman also is an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, appearing regularly on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and "TODAY." The author of scores of Newsweek cover stories, Fineman's work has appeared as well in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic. His 2008 national best-selling book, "The Thirteen American Arguments," was released in paperback by Random House in the spring of 2009.
One of the nation's leading political reporters, Fineman has interviewed every major presidential candidate from (then-vice president) George H.W. Bush in 1985 to (then senator) Barack Obama early and often in the 2008 campaign cycle. His current work focuses on the Obama Administration and its top officials, as well as on Congress and politics throughout the country. Although based in Washington, Fineman travels widely in the U.S. and has covered politics and other events in 49 of the 50 states.
Fineman's work has produced many milestones and awards. A cover story in November 2001 featured President George W. Bush's first extensive interview after 9/11. Another cover, "Bush and God," was part of a series of articles that won the 2003 National Magazine Award for General Excellence. His reporting has helped Newsweek win many honors from the Magazine Publishers Association and the American Journalism Review. Other awards include a "Page One" from the Headliners Club of New York, a "Silver Gavel" from the American Bar Association and a "Deadline Club" from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). In 2006 he received the Alumni Award from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
As a reporter and writer, Fineman ranges widely. Besides campaign-year covers, other projects have included: race and politics, the impact of digital technology on society, the influence of Hollywood on politics, the rise of the religious right and of conservative talk radio. He has interviewed business leaders such as George Soros, Bill Gates, Steve Case and Robert Rubin and entertainment figures such as Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda and Jay Leno.
Although now under exclusive television contract to NBC, Fineman over the years has appeared on major public affairs shows, such as Nightline, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, Larry King Live, Charlie Rose and the NewsHour. He was a regular panelist on Washington Week in Review on PBS (1983-95) and on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday (1995-98). He worked with Ted Koppel on Nightline specials, and has been a guest on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
A native of Pittsburgh, Fineman began his career at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, covering the environment, the coal industry and state politics before joining the newspaper's Washington bureau in 1978. He moved to Newsweek in 1980, was named chief political correspondent in 1984, deputy Washington bureau chief in 1993, senior editor in 1995 and senior Washington correspondent and columnist in 2008.
Fineman holds an A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Colgate, an M.S. in journalism from Columbia and a J.D. from the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. His legal education included a year as a visiting student at the Georgetown University Law Center. He received Watson and Pultizer Traveling Fellowships for study in Europe, Russia and the Middle East, and has traveled to more than 40 countries, among them China, Vietnam, Japan, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey and the West Bank Palestinian Territories.
Fineman is married to Amy L. Nathan, a senior counsel at the Federal Communications Commission. They live in Washington with their two children, Meredith and Nicholas.
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