Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) continues to feel the fallout from his controversial remarks on the Civil Rights Act; Connecticut holds its state party conventions; and the Hawaii special election nears the finish line.
Paul blames Dems
Paul appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday morning and said this was the Democrats' attempt to "trash" his campaign.
"When does my honeymoon period start?" Paul said.
It's a line he repeated Thursday night on CNN, where he also blamed the media.
"I think what troubles me is that the news cycle has gotten out of control," he told Wolf Blitzer. "It started with my Democrat opponent asserting this, but has never been my position."
And the AP quotes Republican strategists who think Paul's supporters could see the comments and resulting firestorm "as fresh motivation for voting him into Congress."
Meanwhile, NRSC chief John Cornyn (Texas) is defending his new Senate candidate.
"Rand Paul, like every new candidate, is going to get better,” Cornyn told Bloomberg's Al Hunt in an interview to air this weekend. Candidates, Cornyn said, “make mistakes and they misspeak.”
Paul, his GOP primary rival Trey Grayson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are scheduled to attend a unity breakfast in Kentucky on Saturday morning.
Parties gather in Connecticut
Both Democrats and Republicans in Connecticut hold separate conventions Friday and Saturday.
Attorney General Dick Blumenthal (D) will have to defend his military record as he works to get his party's endorsement in the Senate race.
On the GOP side, former Rep. Rob Simmons and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon will fight for the Republican endorsement. Both will compete in the August primary, but the party's seal of approval is an important prize.
Endorsement results should be in around 6 p.m., according to the Danbury News Times.
Aloha, Hawaii
The Hawaii special election for former Rep. Neil Abercrombie's (D-Hawaii) seat comes to a close Saturday.
Republican Charles Djou is expected to win after national Democrats pulled out of the race. When asked Thursday if the party was writing off the election, DCCC head Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said, "Yes."
Voters received ballots in the all-mail election almost three weeks ago and have until Saturday to return them. Also on the calendar
The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet at the Capital Hilton on Friday and Saturday to consider changes to the rules that guide the 2012 presidential nominating process.
The party said that "among the matters to be discussed are changing the window of time during which primaries and caucuses may be held, reducing the number of unpledged delegates and improving the caucus system."
And Sarah Palin will be in Boise, Idaho, Friday to campaign for Republican congressional candidate Vaughn Ward. Ward, the GOP favorite, has been struggling in the days leading up to Tuesday's primary. Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) is a top target for the GOP.
Rand Paul seemed to change his position on outlawing private discrimination Thursday.
After several media appearances in which Paul said the government should not prohibit private businesses from discriminating on the basis of race, the Kentucky Republican seemed to backtrack in an interview this afternoon.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked Paul whether Woolworth's department store should have been allowed to continue separating blacks from whites at its lunch counter in the 1960s.
"I think that there was an overriding problem in the South so big that it did require federal intervention," Paul replied.
Paul clarified earlier Thursday that, despite his criticism of portions of the legislation, he would have voted for the Civil Rights Act had he been in Congress at the time.
Idaho House candidate Vaughn Ward (R) is under a microscope of media attention because of some recent misteps and another that came last night, when he misidentified Puerto Rico in a debate with his primary opponent, Raul Labrador, who was born on the island.
Both men were asked if the self-governing U.S. territory should be made a state. (Its residents are already American citizens.)
They agreed that it shouldn't, but during Ward's answer he called the island a "country."
"I don't care what state it is or what country is it that wants to become a part of America, it's not time, it's not going to be time," Ward said. "Let's focus on us first."
"I just need to correct," Labrador injected. "Puerto Rico's not a country." He suggested Ward take a "civics lesson."
"I really don’t care what it is," Ward replied. "It doesn't matter."
The National Republican Congressional Committee got some good news Thursday, outraising the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in April by pulling in $7.1 million to the DCCC's $5.14 million.
During the same time, the NRCC spent $5.6 million, much of that going to its failed backing of businessman Tim Burns (R) in Tuesday's Pennsylvania special election. The rest went to "prospecting," according to a committee official. The NRCC now has $11.4 million banked for the midterms.
Meanwhile, the DCCC still holds a significant cash on hand advantage. It had $27.3 million banked after spending $3.9 million in April.
Newly anointed Senate candidates Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) will be on NBC's "Meet the Press" this Sunday, the network announced.
The two candidates won their respective primaries on Tuesday.
Expect Paul to be asked about his controversial comments on the Civil Rights Act and the subsequent fallout.
Meanwhile, Sestak, who beat incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), will likely be asked about the job the White House offered him in exchange for dropping his bid.
Sestak said early in the campaign the offer had been made but he declined to elaborate. In his press briefing Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about it but refused to answer questions. Republicans have called on Democrats to say what offer was made.
Both of them will also likely discuss the anti-incumbent mood that helped them get their party's nominations and what kind of national support they expect to get in the general election.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) on Thursday endorsed the popular theory
that she was forced into a primary run-off because of an anti-incumbent
mood among voters.
Lincoln, who faces a June 8 runoff primary
against Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, said she shares voters'
anti-incumbent sentiment.
"I think people are extremely
frustrated with Washington, and I don't disagree with them. I mean,
look at what I go through," Lincoln told The Hill, referring to her
centrist ideology and occasional vote against her party. "I'll be
honest with you. I'm all about working hard to get results, and I think
that's what people are frustrated with."
Lincoln said she
understands and agrees with the frustration, pointing to the Senate's
slow pace. Yet she also said the chamber needs more moderation and
bipartisanship, not less.
"We just produce uncertainty as
opposed to the kind of predictability that businesses need and
individuals need in order to be able to create jobs and put the economy
back on track. They want to see us doing things, and we don't move at
breakneck speeds up here. But the fact is, we all need to do a better
job of finding common ground and moving things forward. Everybody wants
that 100 percent perfection, and life is just not that way. Life is a
journey, a series of small steps, and you've got to start taking them
up here and get things moving."
Neither Lincoln nor Halter reached 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday's Democratic primary, triggering the runoff.
A Democratic congressman from Kentucky ripped Senate candidate Rand
Paul (R) Thursday for giving a noncommittal answer on whether or not he
endorses the Civil Rights Act.
Paul said on MSNBC Wednesday
night that he believes the legislation improperly failed to distinguish
between private businesses and their ability to discriminate based on
race. Paul, the son of libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), said that he
does not endorse discrimination, but questioned the government's role
in desegregation.
"If you decide that restaurants are publicly
owned and not privately owned, then do you say that you should have the
right to bring your gun into a restaurant even though the owner of the
restaurant says 'well no, we don't want to have guns in here,' the bar
says 'we don't want to have guns in here because people might drink and
start fighting and shoot each other,'" he said. "Does the owner of the
restaurant own his restaurant? Or does the government own his
restaurant?"
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), whose district contains
Lousiville, said in a statement that Paul is unfit for office.
“The
comments by Senate candidate Rand Paul opposing the Civil Rights Act
are simply appalling, and make it abundantly clear that he has no place
holding public office in Kentucky in the 21st century," he said. "Rand
Paul has already embarrassed Kentuckians in the eyes of the world. The
Commonwealth deserves better because we are better — and I call on Mitch
McConnell and my other colleagues in the Kentucky Congressional
Delegation to join me in condemning his despicable views."
Paul
released a statement Thursday saying he does not favor repealing the
1964 Civil Rights Act.
Kentucky Senate nominee Rand Paul (R) is pushing back against reports that he would support repealing the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
"Even though this matter was settled when I was 2, and no serious people
are seeking to revisit it except to score cheap political points, I
unequivocally state that I will not support any efforts to repeal the
Civil Rights Act of 1964," he said in a statement Thursday. "I believe we should work to end all racism in American society and staunchly defend the inherent rights of every person."
Paul, the son of libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), said he "overwhelmingly" agreed with the "intent of the legislation."
"As I have said in previous statements, sections of the Civil Rights Act were debated on Constitutional grounds when the legislation was passed. Those issues have been settled by federal courts in the intervening years," he said. "My opponent's statement on MSNBC Wednesday that I favor repeal of the Civil Rights Act was irresponsible and knowingly false. I hope he will correct the record and retract his claims."
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