Free Republic

Polls have closed across a band of Midwestern and southern states that promise a first look at the size and force of the electoral wave expected to carry Republicans to major gains in the House and Senate. Republicans scored two early victories in the upper chamber: Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul, perhaps the year’s most prominent tea party candidate, was declared the winner in his state’s open-seat Senate race. Former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats won an easy victory over Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth, reclaiming his old seat for the GOP.

ABC News projects Republican Rand Paul will win the Kentucky Senate race, based on the exit poll, in what is the first major victory of the night for the Tea Party movement. Paul's victory over Democrat Jack Conway is seen as an early indication of Republicans return to prominence in Congress and a sign of the Tea Party movement's growing political influence. "There is a Tea-Party tidal wave coming to Washington," Paul told reporters after casting his ballot this morning. An ophthalmologist and son of libertarian Congressman Rep. Ron Paul, R- Texas, Paul, 47, became an early face of the...

important race. if it is going to be a blowout, we need this one

It’s very early, but the bellwether races of IN-2 and KY-6 look good for the GOP so far. IN-2′s Jackie Walorksi is over 60 percent with 4 percent in (all GOP counties, but she’s running even with Dan Coats, who’s wiping out Ellsworth in the state’s U.S. Senate race), and Andy Barr is running even with Chandler in KY-6. I picked both of these districts to flip parties, and if that happens, it’s a sign that +60 or more is the new baseline.

Republican Rand Paul, a tea party favorite, has been elected to the Senate from Kentucky in his first run for office. The son of libertarian congressman Ron Paul defeated Democrat Jack Conway. Republicans have captured the first of what they hope will be several Senate seats that were held by Democrats with the victory of Dan Coats in Indiana. The veteran lawmaker returns to Washington in the seat that was held by retiring Democrat Evan Bayh. South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint, as expected, has won re-election to the Senate, defeating Democrat Alvin Greene.

Republican candidate Rand Paul will win the Kentucky Senate race to score the first major victory of the night for the Tea Party movement, according to ABC News exit-poll projections. Paul beat Democrat Jack Conway after a bitter personal campaign that became one of the nastiest in the country.

Breaking On Air: Both are projected by Fox News to win.

Fox: Rand Paul Wins Kentucky

Indiana Results Live reports from everybody, please. ESPECIALLY STATEHOUSE RACES. The trends here could signal what's happening everywhere else!!

Republican Rand Paul still holds a modest lead over Democrat Jack Conway in Kentucky's U.S. Senate contest. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Paul picking up 49% support, while Conway earns the vote from 40%. Four percent (4%) prefer another candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

I just talked to Tyler Collins, who politely declined to comment as he adjusts to life as the subject of a multi-tier campaign of citizen journalism investigating his life as a Democratic activist. You know Collins. He was the guy who dressed up as a slack-jawed "Rand Paul fan," wearing a tinfoil hat and holding a sign that echoed/parodied conservative fears about illegal immigration.Why is Collins lying low? Because he has a long picture and paper trail as a Democratic activist.

Just after his big Republican Primary win last month, Rand Paul led his Democratic opponent Jack Conway by 25 points in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race. Now Paul’s lead is down to just eight points. Now, however, Paul holds a much smaller advantage. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey finds the GOP nominee with support from 49% of the state’s voters while Conway earns 41% of the vote. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided. Almost all candidates receive a bounce following a big victory and Paul clearly lost his post-primary bounce. But he...

Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) is leading his Democratic challenger, Jack Conway (D), in a poll released Thursday. Paul, who recently found himself in hot water for questioning the legality of portions of the Civil Rights Act, is leading Conway 44-40 percent with 9 percent undecided in a Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll taken May 24-26. The margin of error is 4 percent, so Paul, an eye doctor, is statistically tied with the state attorney general. The survey polled likely voters. Paul maintains a 53-33 favorability/unfavorability rating, showing that his comments about the Civil Rights Act have not caused major...

If true, he's a gonner. If not, the Libs still get to smear him. Folks, there's not gonna be any Repub capture of the Congress this year. Obama's gangsters are just warming up with the estimated $ 600M slush fund they have for November.

The knock on Rand Paul from both Republicans and Democrats during the primary was his electability in a general election. His conservo-libertarian views would push the Republican ticket out of the mainstream, allowing the eventual Democratic nominee to grab the center and win a takeaway in the midterms. Rasmussen’s latest poll of likely voters in Kentucky show that the problem may be reversed, and that Jack Conway is in serious danger of being marginalized: Rand Paul, riding the momentum of his big Republican Primary win on Tuesday, now posts a 25-point lead over Democrat Jack Conway in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate...

Rand Paul, riding the momentum of his big Republican Primary win on Tuesday, now posts a 25-point lead over Democrat Jack Conway in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race, but there’s a lot of campaigning to go. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Kentucky, taken Wednesday night, shows Paul earning 59% of the vote, while Conway picks up 34% support. Four percent (4%) percent prefer some other candidate, and three percent (3%) are undecided. Paul consistently led Conway prior to winning the Republican primary, but had never earned more than 50% support. Conway has been stuck in the...

Just heard on Fox that Rand Paul won in Ky.

(CNN) – Fresh off his win in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary, Dr. Rand Paul is welcoming the attention from national Democrats that his insurgent, Tea Party-backed candidacy is generating. Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, took a shot at Paul during a press conference in Washington Wednesday. Kaine said Paul "represents the most extreme elements of the Republican Party - a candidate who has vowed to abolish the Departments of Education and the Federal Reserve; who vows to oppose, oppose, oppose at a time when we need constructive solutions to the challenges we face." Asked about Kaine's comments...

The Major news sources have all called the Republican Primary in Kentucky and Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, has soundly defeated Trey Grayson for the Republic Party nomination for a seat in the US Senate. By the time the votes are all counted it could be a near landslide for the first time Senatorial candidate. Dr. Paul is a family man who has been married to his wife Kelley for 19 years. They have three sons. He is a doctor, and not a politician. That is part of the appeal he had for the voters of Kentucky. There...

Behind the scenes the insider Republican establishment is now in an uproar as the odds are high that Rand Paul wins the Republican nomination for senator from Kentucky. This would be a major embarrassment to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and raises a big question about 2012: Why is Sarah Palin getting so much attention, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) so little, from the national media and pundit classes? Certain pundits appear strangely infatuated with Palin, but it seems to me that if Ron Paul runs for president in 2012, he could win a plurality of delegates in a multi-candidate field....