Rand Paul, a relatively unknown Bowling Green ophthalmologist as recently as 18 months ago, is going to the U.S. Senate to take the country back for the Tea Party movement.
Whether the anti-federalism, anti-taxes, anti-spending message espoused by Paul and his fellow Tea Partiers will resonate in Washington remains to be seen.
It is notable that, on the same day Kentucky voters gave Paul a sizeable victory over Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, they returned to Congress such incumbents as Rep. Hal Rogers, a master of the pork-barrel politics Paul condemns.
Indeed, if the pre-election prognostications about Republicans retaking control of the House proved accurate, Rogers stands to become chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, thereby increasing his ability to funnel federal dollars to his 5th District.
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It must also be noted that, barring some surprise uprising, the Senate Republican caucus Paul joins will continue to be led by his fellow Kentuckian, Sen. Mitch McConnell, another master of bringing home the bacon.
But whatever problems await Paul as he tries to deliver on his promises to balance the federal budget and impose term limits on an entrenched crowd of longtime incumbents, today belongs to him.
He parleyed name recognition inherited from his father, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, and the national fund-raising organization his father built during two unsuccessful presidential campaigns into successive victories over the establishment Republican candidate and the establishment Democratic candidate.
He also recognized early on how his political philosophy dovetailed with the voter disenchantment personified by the Tea Party movement.
And despite some setbacks mostly of his own making, he successfully stayed on a message appealing to that disenchantment through two costly and brutally negative campaigns.
While we may differ in many ways with Paul's philosophy, we congratulate him on his victory.
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