
The last 10 days produced two noteworthy events in this race. The first occurred on January 26 when Democrat Jim Gray, the Mayor of Lexington, jumped into the race. It was the last day for candidates to file so to say that Democrats got a candidate at the last minute is not an exaggeration. The second event came Wednesday morning when Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul dropped his bid for the GOP presidential nomination. Paul placed a disappointing fifth with 5 percent in the 11-way field in Monday night’s Iowa Caucuses. He is now turning his attention to his bid for a second term in the U.S. Senate. Paul’s first challenge is to replenish his Senate war chest. This will require hours of phone time on incumbent’s part, but there is no reason that he shouldn’t be able to report a healthy cash-on-hand number at the end of the first quarter. As Gray just got in the race, he won’t have a head start on the incumbent. Paul’s second challenge isn’t related to the Senate race, but to the presidential
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