Rand Off On Hands Off

When it comes to the Kentucky Senate race in the mountain counties, Rand Paul's deregulate and defund approach to drug enforcement isn't going over well in some of the state's hardest-hit meth and pot areas where Democrat AG Jack Conway is coming across as the strong law and order candidate.

Paul, a tea party favorite, espouses a plan that would put the onus for drug enforcement on state and local governments. His Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, favors using federal money.

"I don't think it's a real pressing issue," Paul told The Associated Press, suggesting that voters will decide who to support based on broader fiscal and social concerns.

"I think we're going to do very well in eastern Kentucky," he said. "They're socially conservative out there, so am I. Jack's not. They're fiscally conservative. I am. Jack's not. ... I think we'll swamp him."

Paul is counting on winning all of Kentucky's rural vote, including the Appalachian region, and keeping the race close in the state's two largest cities, Louisville and Lexington, where voters tend to favor Democrats. Conway, a Louisville resident, has been trying to cut into Paul's rural base by taking him to task on the drug issue.

"Rand will handcuff local sheriffs trying to combat the drug epidemic, and I will make sure Kentucky's law enforcement has the tools they need to protect our families," Conway said. "That's my record as attorney general, and that's what I'll do in Washington."

I'm not really sure how well this will play in out in the far reaches of the Bluegrass state.  After all, "Get that revenuer off my land" is still ingrained where I grew up in the mountains of NC and it's even more so in some parts of Kentucky.  But let's not kid ourselves, Rand Paul's plan as Senator is to cut, cut, cut, cut.

Paul hasn't been shy about speaking his mind on the drug enforcement issue, telling local leaders during a political forum last month that involving Washington in the matter leads to waste. "I think issues like drug use and abuse are best dealt with at the local level," he said.

But Paul hasn't said where state and local governments would get the money needed to fund the drug efforts.

Well that's your problem, rural Kentucky.  Don't have the tax money to enforce drug laws?  Too bad.  The free market reigns supreme. Rand Paul doesn't give a damn.  That's your problem, not his.