Tea party ponders loss in KY gubernatorial primary
ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press
Updated 04:34 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Page 1 of 1
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)
State-level tea party leaders who helped launch U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's meteoric rise from obscure small-town eye doctor to nationally known conservative leader thought they had a sure winner again in Kentucky's Republican gubernatorial primary.
Now, some are miffed that national tea party bigwigs didn't step up to help Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, an articulate political outsider with telegenic good looks and conservative philosophies. He lost Kentucky's GOP primary on Tuesday to state Senate President David Williams, a career politician with more than two decades in the legislature.
"You've got to question how committed they really are to the tea party movement if they're unwilling to come in and help," said Michael Maggard, a factory worker from Boonesborough who took time off to hand-paint signs for Moffett. "If they had focused on this race, we would have pulled it off."
A simple endorsement from the likes of Paul or former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin or any one of several other national tea party figures, Maggard believes, would have generated needed campaign cash for Moffett to pay for TV spots, political consultants, and many other necessities that the campaign went without.
http://www.westport-news.com/news/ar...ry-1385261.php
ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press
Updated 04:34 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Page 1 of 1
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)
State-level tea party leaders who helped launch U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's meteoric rise from obscure small-town eye doctor to nationally known conservative leader thought they had a sure winner again in Kentucky's Republican gubernatorial primary.
Now, some are miffed that national tea party bigwigs didn't step up to help Louisville businessman Phil Moffett, an articulate political outsider with telegenic good looks and conservative philosophies. He lost Kentucky's GOP primary on Tuesday to state Senate President David Williams, a career politician with more than two decades in the legislature.
"You've got to question how committed they really are to the tea party movement if they're unwilling to come in and help," said Michael Maggard, a factory worker from Boonesborough who took time off to hand-paint signs for Moffett. "If they had focused on this race, we would have pulled it off."
A simple endorsement from the likes of Paul or former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin or any one of several other national tea party figures, Maggard believes, would have generated needed campaign cash for Moffett to pay for TV spots, political consultants, and many other necessities that the campaign went without.
http://www.westport-news.com/news/ar...ry-1385261.php
