Public concern about uncontrollable government has found an outlet in the Tea Party movement. Rand Paul has been a leader in that movement and the overwhelming support for his positions against bailouts and for term limits and balanced budgets help explain the success of his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
The Kentucky Enquirer picked up the story about shifting the movement from rallies to the ballot box:
Rand Paul campaign manager David Adams, 42, was also inspired by Santelli to organize a Tea Party rally in Lexington in February.
The campaign has been among the first to openly embrace the Tea Party, and Adams says the movement’s future lies in electoral politics.
“It has to coalesce around a candidate. In order to change things, we have to change the people (in office),” he said. “Rand was quick to recognize that, and I think the campaign has capitalized on that fairly successfully - and we’re just getting warmed up.”
The Tea Party could also be a larger force in 2010.
“It looks like this discontent with rapid, large-scale government growth will hurt the Democrats in 2010, both throughout the country and in Northern Kentucky,” Baranowski said. “It’s clear that as far as a lot of voters are concerned, the Obama administration is simply trying to do too much, too fast.”
Rand’s campaign represents a necessary and timely departure from business as usual in Washington D.C.
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