Underdogs' Senate Bids Put Pressure on GOP = Rand Paul

WASHINGTON -- Underdogs trying to ride a wave of anti-establishment fervor are mounting challenges to the Republican Party's hand-picked Senate candidates in several states.

A wave of conservatives are challenging front-running Republican candidates in important Senate races for next year. WSJ's Peter Wallsten says the GOP is feuding in at least five states over its preferred candidate.

The trend suggests that conservative surges in a New York House race and a Senate primary in Florida were not isolated incidents and pose a dilemma for the GOP. Party leaders have stopped endorsing candidates, and in some cases establishment candidates have shifted to the right.

Challengers are seizing on the fact that their rivals were recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party organization that finds and vets candidates. They are presenting such links as evidence of coziness with party leaders unpopular with conservatives for supporting Wall Street bailouts and other spending programs.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, the son of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, is ahead in fund raising. He is competing with a candidate backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also of Kentucky. ...... more
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Washington Wire: Q&A With Rand Paul
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/11/12/qa-with-rand-paul-s...

video: http://online.wsj.com/video/conservative-underdogs-challenge...